Hyundai is taking a novel approach to making its i20 N Rally2 a front-running car again: it’s planning to turn it into a primarily asphalt-oriented machine.
Gravel has not been the i20 N Rally2’s friend in WRC2 this year. Rally Italy Sardinia painted a difficult picture: on the second pass of the Tula stage, both Teemu Suninen and Emil Lindholm ground to a halt only a couple of miles apart.
A month later, Hyundai went testing with a newly-built development chassis, with Dani Sordo, reigning European Rally champion Hayden Paddon and former WRC factory driver Eric Camilli sharing driving duties. They’d been dispatched to validate a raft of updates: in addition to the suspension, the car’s engine and differential had upgrades to be trialed.
After those tests, Hyundai now has a clear idea of what to use its five homologation jokers for 2024 on – and is currently set to roll them out on January 7 next year. But there’s an interesting twist to the development work and subsequent upgrades: it’s primarily (though not exclusively) aimed at elevating the car’s asphalt prowess.
Bodywork changes are coming to the i20, including the roof vent (pictured)
“It’s not a big secret that the [suspension] travel on gravel is a big disadvantage for us,” Benôit Nogier, Hyundai’s customer racing manager, told DirtFish. “And it is the main reason why the car is not as fast as we would like on those rough events, because when you increase the ride height, you reduce the travel, and then you lose a lot of motricity and traction.
“We think we have a better card to play on the Tarmac and we are definitely focusing on the Tarmac. We are still working to improve the travel a bit but, as the car has been designed, we cannot create a major improvement on this. We will carry on to work on it, but it cannot be magical. That’s why we prefer to focus on the Tarmac.
“In Belgium, we are now close to winning the championship. In France, we had a difficult end of rally in Mont-Blanc [where Camilli bent his i20’s rear axle on the penultimate stage], but we are as fast as Citroën, which is the reference on Tarmac at the moment. It really pushes us to carry on.”
This year had already promised a step up in engine power and performance through upgrades to the i20’s pistons and variable valve timing. But in WRC2, the effect of those changes outwardly appeared negligible at first glance.
A rule change at the start of 2024 had some knock-on effects that led to those upgrades’ effectiveness not being fully realized: pre-chamber spark plugs had been outlawed, which meant performance gained by the new upgrades was offset by performance lost from the rule change.
“I think we lost a bit of performance in WRC2 because we were developing a new technology with the spark plugs last year,” explained Nogier. “We introduced those new spark plugs during the WRC2 season last year. Unfortunately for us, this spark plug was not allowed anymore at the end of 2023; for sure this cost us a lot of performance and particularly in WRC2, where we use synthetic fuel.
A change in regulations for 2024 have hurt Hyundai in WRC2, says Nogier
“I think in the national events and championships, we saw that the evolution we brought for the engine in 2024 really helped us to stay in the game – and the customers are really satisfied. We are still working on the software and mapping, etc, trying to get as much performance as we can. But I think already this first step really helped us too.
“Unfortunately, as we lost this opportunity with the spark plug, it’s maybe hiding a bit what [the performance] should be. And Ford I think had a bit the same problem, as they were working on the same kind of technology. Now we cannot use these spark plugs anymore, it has been a big disadvantage for us.”
Faced with a set of circumstances not favorable to closing in on the front-running Škodas and Toyotas at world championship level, Hyundai is instead pivoting to making its Rally2 car a championship-contender in national series, especially on asphalt. Paddon is on the verge of clinching a second ERC title – but notably his only win of the season came on Rali Ceredigion, an all-asphalt event.
“If you have a look at the [world] championship at the moment, it’s difficult to really compete if the car is not really performing in Sardinia, Portugal, Greece,” said Nogier. “For sure our car is struggling on those kind of conditions.
“When the road is much more soft, as in Finland, we saw the car was able to be at the same level as the others. On the Tarmac, we saw for example on Saturday in Croatia that we were able to fight. But if you analyze what the championship is, it’s difficult to be competitive in the world championship.
Hayden Paddon leads ERC with an i20 N Rally2, though its calendar consists predominantly of Tarmac events
“So that’s definitely why we now take the opportunity to work much more on the national events, especially on Tarmac. And it is the heart of the competition for customer racing activity.”
It’s now almost certain that the set-up of Suninen and Lindholm running i20 N Rally2s with factory backing won’t continue into 2025. With Hyundai pivoting its focus to asphalt-heavy national championships, drivers campaigning for titles in WRC2 is no longer on the agenda.
But next year’s WRC season-opener will still represent an important event for the i20 N Rally2. It is likely to mark the competitive debut of the raft of homologated upgrades currently in development.
“We are trying to find good partners for WRC2 but definitely it is not an objective for next year,” Nogier confirmed. “If we can find good partners, a good program, for sure we’ll be happy to build something, even in WRC2. But at the moment, it’s not the objective. The objective is the national championships.
“It doesn’t mean that, for example, we will not see any more Hyundai in WRC2 on Tarmac. It will probably not be a full program, but just rally by rally.
“For example, Monte Carlo, we know we have good French drivers and we will try to be at Monte Carlo for sure. And it will be a good point to show what the jokers can bring to everybody.”
