Drivers have given Hankook’s range of Monte Carlo tires a cautious thumbs-up following last weekend’s Rallye National Hivernal du Dévoluy and testing through this week.
The Korean firm replaces Pirelli as the World Rally Championship’s sole tire supplier from January 1, but agreement with the Italian firm has permitted the teams to run Hankook rubber through its round one preparations.
Adrien Fourmaux admitted he was happy with most aspects of the tires he’d used to win on his Hyundai debut in the French Alps last weekend.
“The slick tires are good,” he told DirtFish. “And I was happy with the winter tire, but they just need a little bit of development to get it right for Monte.”
The drivers are hoping Hankook can make a further cut to the tread of the snow-pattern Monte Carlo tire in an effort to bring improved – and more consistent grip.
“The good thing,” Fourmaux added, “is that Hankook is really open-minded about everything. This is what we were talking about with them [cutting the tire to open it up]. I hope we can find a way to do something with the FIA (which needs to regulate any tire changes) – after all this is a safety thing. On the whole, it was positive.”
Fourmaux and Rovanperä both got to try Hankook's Monte tire last week
Asked how the slick compared with the Pirelli used on the final round of the season in Japan, Fourmaux pointed out that conditions made such a comparison tricky.
“The slick, like I said, we are quite happy,” he said. “But this was a test for Monte Carlo, so it was cold, wet, some snow and some ice – in Japan is was different. It’s difficult to compare. In Japan it was much more corners and different grip, higher in some places and not others. It was really positive to drive the Hankook slick.”
Kalle Rovanperä finished second to Fourmaux in France last weekend. The Finn’s thoughts on the weekend were: “It was good. The conditions were good in the rally, this was what we needed for the testing for Monte. We were testing the new Hankook tires [and it was a] pretty good weekend overall. We did a lot of testing and took a lot of important information for next year.”
Hyundai has continued its test program this week with all three drivers taking control of the test i20 N Rally1.
