Hyundai Motorsport ended a challenging outing at Acropolis Rally, the tenth round of the 2023 FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) season, with Dani Sordo and Cándido Carrera finishing third after a tantalising final fight.
It was a bittersweet ending to a punishing event on Sunday 10 September, in which the Hyundai Shell World Rally Team was a genuine contender for victory. The team looked on course to successfully defend its fantastic 2022 win prior to Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe’s retirement from the lead on the Saturday.
Sordo and Carrera continued their close battle with Elfyn Evans from Saturday, and although they lost second place on the first stage, SS13 (Tarzan), the Spaniards responded emphatically on SS14 (Grammeni 1). A stage win brought the gap down to just 2,7 seconds heading into the Power Stage. The pair tried everything to regain the position with a last gasp attempt on the final test, but ultimately had to settle for third place.
With an unsurmountable gap to fourth, Esapekka Lappi and Janne Ferm’s target was to bring their Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid home in fifth place. There were no repeats of the issues that hampered them earlier in the rally, and the Finns were able to enjoy clean drives through the morning loop. Having saved their tyres for a final Power Stage push, the crew successfully claimed an additional point from the weekend.
Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe returned on Sunday to tackle the final three stages in a bid to salvage some points for the championship. The crew swung into action on SS13, setting a top-three stage time. The final result fails to reflect the pace and performance of the #11 Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid crew, who were in a commanding lead of the event prior to their retirement.
Crew notes: Dani Sordo/Cándido Carrera
Sordo said: “I tried everything in that final stage. Elfyn had a little bit of bad luck during the rally but he has driven very well. I’m not really happy with my performance this weekend, but we managed to finish in third place. Today we were able to go for it, which I really enjoyed, so I’d like to give a big thanks to the team for giving me another opportunity to drive like this.”
Crew notes: Esapekka Lappi/Janne Ferm
Lappi said: “It was good to finish the rally in the way that we did. I was enjoying the final stages; I was aggressively attacking, but lost some time as well because of that approach. Still, after two days of problems it was good to have a trouble-free day and an enjoyable drive. Today was OK overall, but it was not our weekend. We need to get better, and next time we will be.”
Crew notes: Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe
Neuville said: “Luck wasn’t with us this weekend; yesterday, we were in control of the lead, had a good tyre strategy, and the car was working well. Everything was going perfectly until our suspension failure, and unfortunately that cost us a victory. I enjoyed the driving today, the car was feeling good, so that’s a positive to finish the weekend. This may be the end of our championship title hopes, but now we target some victories in the final events of the season.”
Hyundai Motorsport team principal Cyril Abiteboul said: “We wanted to make sure we finished this event on the podium, which Dani and Cándido achieved, but we are all a bit disappointed with the overall result of the weekend. The whole team wanted to do well at Acropolis Rally, particularly as it was the best result of the season in 2022, and we all wanted to replicate that success. We still demonstrated that the car was working, the team was well prepared, and the crews were highly motivated.”
Next rally
The WRC heads to South America for the 11th round of the 2023 season, Rally Chile from 28 September to 1 October, which returns to the calendar for the first time since 2019.