Former Hyundai Motorsport boss Andrea Adamo says Dani Sordo could be the key to bringing the manufacturer much-needed points across the next two rounds of the World Rally Championship.
Sordo replaces Oliver Solberg in the third i20 N Rally1 for next week’s Rally Portugal, making his competitive debut aboard a hybrid rally car, and the Spaniard will also compete on next month’s Sardinia event.
Adamo is the man who guided Sordo to two of his three career wins when he topped the Sardinian podium back-to-back in 2019 and 2020. He’s confident the Spaniard can do a good job for the Alzenau-based squad next week.
Adamo told DirtFish: “When I was there, I thought Dani deserved the possibility to do tough rallies. My plan was for him to do Sardinia, Safari, these kind of rallies where his experience would help to bring the car to the end.
“Normally I think Sordo could be Mr Reliability and in rallies like the ones mentioned it would be good to have him.
“I would always plan to have him starting in Portugal where he could start behind and take advantage of the road position. Like I say, on these kind of rallies, you can usually plan on him bringing the car back home and maybe in a place on the podium.
“Don’t forget, Dani was winning Sardinia for two years with this kind of strategy.”
Asked if he thought a Portugal victory could be a possibility for Sordo, Adamo said: “To win, maybe he needs more time in the car. That’s something I don’t know.”
Adamo steered clear of commenting specifically on his former team’s performance, but admitted Sordo’s team-mate Solberg has had it tough.
“It’s been a difficult start to the year for Oliver, this we can see,” Adamo added. “The worst thing you can do now it put a guy like this under pressure – but at the same time it would be good for him to start to bring some results.”
