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Hyundai well prepared for Sardinia challenge
The boss of Hyundai Motorsport insists his team is well prepared and well motivated ahead of the upcoming Rally Italia Sardegna (11-14 June).
The team will field three i20 World Rally Cars on the all-gravel event, with Thierry Neuville and Dani Sordo representing the main Hyundai Shell World Rally Team, and Hayden Paddon in the second-tier Hyundai Mobis squad, one year on from his team debut in Sardinia.
The team prepared for the events in Sardinia and Portugal with a single test in Portugal in April.
Team Principal Michel Nandan said: “We have made a lot of preparation for this event and our team is coming in with a lot of motivation from Portugal, where both Dani and Hayden completed the rally in the top eight.
“We learned a lot last year in Sardinia and claimed our first stage 1-2 so we hope to show that we have improved in that time. The Hyundai i20 WRC has now claimed nine stage wins, giving us encouragement that we can compete against the top runners in the championship.”
Nandan added that Neuville especially had been ‘preparing hard’ for Sardinia after crashes on the two most recent rounds in Argentina and Portugal. “He will try his best to get back his rhythm,” he said.
Neuville had a successful start to the 2014 Rally Italia Sardegna, making the most of an advantageous position in the start order to take the lead on the opening morning. However his good work was undone on SS5 when he stopped to repair broken suspension and dropped 23 minutes.
