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Ott Tanak: Hyundai 'gone all in' on WRC car upgrades
Hyundai has “gone all-in” to improve its World Rally Championship car as much as possible, according to 2019 world champion Ott Tanak.
The Korean manufacturer will debut a highly anticipated evolution of its i20 N Rally1 car, to be piloted by Tanak, reigning world champion Thierry Neuville and new signing Adrien Fourmaux, at Rally Sweden this weekend.
Hyundai has spent four of its homologation jokers [upgrade tokens] on improving its car in a bid to close the gap and overtake rivals Toyota. The exact details of the upgrades remain shrouded in secrecy with the team stating they are focussed on weight saving and improving the car’s suspension.
Tanak, a two-time Rally Sweden winner, has already been impressed by the refreshed Hyundai following Thursday’s shakedown stage.
“We always look for improvements, and I would say that the team has gone all-in to improve as much as we could [on the car],” said Tanak, who was third fastest in shakedown behind team-mate Thierry Neuville and M-Sport-Ford’s Martins Sesks.
“Let’s see now on the rally. There’s a lot to discover still and a lot to get used to, but so far – at least on shakedown – the feeling was nice.
“We tried [to learn more about the car in testing]. We had one day before Christmas and now some other days and we have had some different conditions to test in. I had a good feeling in the test and this morning [in shakedown], so I would like to believe we have improved,” he added.
“We need to drive a bit more as we have been only testing at our [test] base, so we haven’t really seen any other roads. I think when we go to random roads we will get the feeling as to how it [the upgrades] are working.”
Tanak is however confident that if the car is working well he will be fight for victory in Sweden. The only unknown for the Estonian is how the WRC’s new Hankook control tyres will perform in the snow and icy conditions.
“We definitely want to do well and at least be in the fight for victory,” said Tanak. “I like the rally and if the car works, and I have a good feeling, then I don’t see any reason why we shouldn’t be able to compete.
“You actually don’t know how it [the tyre] is going to last but obviously those are the conditions we have.
“This year we should have the easiest conditions for the tyre but there is no question the tyre doesn’t like snow. It is just for the ice, but luckily we have icy conditions.”
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