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Kevin Abbring completed the first test of Hyundai Motorsport’s new R5 rally car in southern France last week.
The car is based on the five-door new-generation i20, like the team’s World Rally Car which made a podium-winning debut at Rallye Monte-Carlo last month.
It will be homologated in the summer after which it will be eligible for WRC 2 competition alongside Citroën’s DS 3, the Skoda Fabia and Ford Fiesta R5 models.
Abbring took to the wheel at the Fontjoncourse test track and development will continue over the next few months before the car is made available for customer use. There are no plans for Hyundai to compete directly as a works team in any championship.
Hyundai’s newly-appointed customer project manager Andrea Adamo said initial testing would focus on reliability.
“We are on target to deliver the first R5s around the end of summer. We are entering an important phase now, ramping up our testing programme and recruiting more staff to join our experienced team.
“It’s an exciting period and we hope to see the car competing as early as the end of this year in regional and national championships in the main European markets, and to see it more widely in 2017,” he said.
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