Hyundai Motorsport switching to its older specification i20 N Rally1 will be a one-off for next week’s Safari Rally Kenya.
Hyundai debuted an upgraded version of its World Rally Championship challenger at February’s Rally Sweden, with weight reduction and a revised suspension layout among the key updates.
But it has elected to revert back to its 2024-spec machine (which it used on the season-opening Monte Carlo Rally) for the Safari Rally.
Drivers Thierry Neuville and Ott Tänak explained to DirtFish that this was due to concerns over reliability of the new package, but Hyundai’s senior WRC engineer, Gerard-Jan de Jongh, has said availability of parts was also a factor.
“It’s a combination of production availability of the parts and also reliability,” de Jongh told DirtFish.
Hyundai could not guarantee total reliability of its new suspension, de Jongh confirmed
“When we had to make the decision for production, how many parts we were going to order, we simply did not have enough mileage on our upgraded suspension parts to, with full confidence, say ‘yes this is going to withstand the biggest test in rallying.’
“So that’s why we choose to stay with our 2024 car, like we used in Monte Carlo. It’s pure confidence in the reliability.”
Asked if we can expect to see Hyundai switch between its two homologated specifications on future rounds this season, Jan de Jongh suggested that would not be the case.
“Yeah, I’m pretty confident this is the swansong, as they say,” he replied.
Hyundai is yet to win Safari Rally Kenya, with Toyota winning all four editions (including two top-four lockouts) since it returned to the WRC calendar in 2021.
Hyundai’s only podium at the event came courtesy of Tänak, who finished third in 2021.
“I think if you were to ask my colleague [Toyota technical director] Tom Fowler, he loves it [the Safari]!” de Jongh smiled.
“We haven’t been very successful over the last few years and I don’t think it’s down to not trying enough. So at the moment I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with Safari, but maybe I’ll give you a different opinion after the rally. That would be good!”
