Thursday | 05 Feb 2015

Injured Sordo misses Sweden

Hyundai Motorsport’s Dani Sordo will miss next week’s Rally Sweden (12 - 15 February) after falling from a mountain bike and breaking two ribs.

The accident happened while Sordo was training in Spain and he informed Hyundai yesterday that he would not be fit for the rally.

Hayden Paddon and John Kennard will step up from the second-string squad to replace Sordo and co-driver Marc Marti in the main team alongside Thierry Neuville and Nicolas Gilsoul.

Test driver Kevin Abbring, whose original four-rally programme was only confirmed earlier this week, will make his Hyundai debut for the second team in Paddon’s No. 20 car. Abbring will be co-driven by Seb Marshall.

It is expected that Sordo, who finished sixth in the WRC’s opening round in Monte-Carlo last month, will return to the line-up for the third round, Rally Guanajuato Mexico (5 - 8 March).

Kevin Abbring will make an early debut in Sweden

“We have decided that it’s best for Dani to miss Sweden in order for him to recover and to be 100% fit for Rally Mexico next month,” said team principal Michel Nandan.

“We have also opted to run Kevin in the No 20 car so we can continue with our three- car approach to this second rally of the 2015 season,” he added.

In an ironic twist, Sordo was a late replacement for Jari-Matti Latvala in Ford’s line-up for Rally Argentina in 2012 after the Finn broke a collarbone in a ski-ing accident.

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