Dani Sordo says he does not yet have a 2022 program in place, as he looks to extend his 16-year stay in the top flight of the World Rally Championship.
The three-time WRC event winner has had either a full or part-time program with Hyundai since 2014, and this season and last has shared the manufacturer’s third i20 Coupe WRC with Craig Breen.
Team principal Andrea Adamo suggested Hyundai is not sure whether it will keep its policy of rotating the third seat between drivers or have a third full-time occupant next year, when hybrid-equipped Rally1 cars are introduced.
Sordo said “at the moment, I don’t know what I will do” when asked by DirtFish whether he had a deal for 2022, but insisted his desire was to continue driving in the WRC.
“I want to be competitive,” he said. “The day I am not competitive, I will not drive, because I don’t like that.
“I like to fight and I like to drive rally cars, but I like to be at the top.
“The day I feel like I’m pushing really hard and all is good, and I am not fighting for the good positions, of course I will stop. But for the moment, maybe next year [I hope] to do some more rallies.”
Asked if that meant he felt he was still at the level needed in the WRC, Sordo – whose most recent WRC finish was fourth on the Acropolis Rally – said: “I think I’m competitive.
“In some rallies I’m competitive, on this rally [the Acropolis] I was not really good. But it’s like this, it’s why I don’t do all the championship, [why] I’m not on all the rallies.”
Alongside Esapekka Lappi, Sordo was one of two contenders to share a Toyota Yaris WRC with Sébastien Ogier in 2022, when the WRC points leader scales back his involvement.
But Lappi is now favorite for that seat; his deal to drive a fifth Yaris on next month’s Rally Finland is seen as a precursor to a part-time program next year.
