Rally Islas Canarias was bad for Hyundai, that much nobody is denying.
Even it is aware and seeing the light side with some amusing Uno-based social media content in the lead up to this week’s Rally Portugal.
But quite what its self-titled “midfield finish” in the Canaries means for the rest of its World Rally Championship campaign will only begin to become clear through the course of the next events.
The clever money is on ‘not much at all.’ Sure, Hyundai dropped a healthy haul of points to Toyota in what’s so far been a one-sided race for the manufacturers’ championship, but nobody within the team is expecting the struggle of Canarias to continue on gravel.
“On gravel I’m not so much concerned, to be honest,” world champion Thierry Neuville told DirtFish.
“I believe that we have a bit of time before the next Tarmac round, which probably has nothing to do with Canarias which is a specific event. So we can be a little bit less worried for Germany [Central Europe] and Japan.
“Nevertheless, if you can get the same performance as Toyota, the fights will be much more interesting.”
Hyundai’s off-season recruit Adrien Fourmaux pinpointed Hyundai’s problems to a differential that was “too aggressive” and the dampers not being right for Tarmac.
He agreed with Neuville that Canarias should be a unique case, but cautioned: “We don’t have to forget and we need to understand why and make it better for the other rallies because at some point, there will be some kind of similar characteristic anyway.”
The upgraded specification of i20 N Rally1 hasn’t yet competed on gravel in the WRC, but the Frenchman pointed out: “In Sweden the car was performing well, so we’ll see.”
Fourmaux benefited from a run on Portuguese roads at Rali Terras d’Aboboreira as well as his pre-event test to discover things too.
However it’s telling that both Neuville and Fourmaux’s quotes in Hyundai’s pre-event press directly mentioned Toyota and the need to outscore it in Portugal.
Hyundai will be hoping Toyota's new silver livery resembles it being second-best this week
“We need to be stronger than the Toyotas and we need to outscore Elfyn,” said Neuville, “he has a big lead in the championship and we haven’t been able to fight back as much as we would have hoped, so he will be our main target to beat in Portugal along with Kalle.”
Fourmaux added: “As a team we need to stop the domination of Toyota and get a really good result with all three cars. I want to be back on the podium to help with the charge – this is crucial for the rest of the season.”
Ott Tänak meanwhile labeled Portugal a “huge event”.
He said: “Every time we go to a rally, we always target to be on top in the fight, but you are only as good as your last result, which in our case wasn’t the strongest. We need to keep our head down and work our way back on top.”
Hyundai Motorsport president and team principal Cyril Abiteboul wasn’t present in Gran Canaria and isn’t expected in Matosinhos either.
Abiteboul is confident gravel will suit the car better, but wants to see a response
But he knows more than anybody how vital a response is from his team this week, referencing the need to get “back” into the championship fight.
“We are looking to turn the page on a disappointing last round as we go to compete at Rally de Portugal,” Abiteboul said. “It’s the second gravel round of the season, and although it is a completely different kind of profile to Kenya, we have demonstrated that we have the pace to perform well on this surface.
“The team has a lot of experience in Portugal and I know that everyone will push hard to claim a solid result at the end of the weekend. We need to continue applying pressure across the championships and close the gap to Toyota.
“Securing another strong finish is key, but we’re aiming for a full team result that puts us back in the championship fight.”
