Moncet: We haven't given up

Hopes of a fourth FIA World Rally Championship event win in succession were blown when the i20 N Rally1 came up short against its Toyota rivals on the Auckland-based 11th WRC round of the season.

Despite lacking the outright pace to challenge for victory, Ott Tänak made the podium with third place, with his team-mates Thierry Neuville and Oliver Solberg following directly behind him.

“It was a quite frustrating rally for us and definitely not the result we came here for," Moncet mused. "We had too many issues and a general lack of pace.”

The team was hit hard by time penalties, with all three cars penalised for a mistake which led to overboosting in the hybrid system. Tänak and Neuville were the hardest hit - each being lumbered with 15sec worth of penalties.

Moncet added that the team would be working on the issues as soon as they landed into Europe from the Southern Hemisphere.

“We will have to deeply analyse everything that went wrong and find solutions for the next events,” he said. “Still, we haven’t given up and all three cars made it to the finish. Ott showed again how competitive he is, keeping pressure on the drivers in front and fighting until the end to secure another podium.

“Thierry scored valuable points for Hyundai and Oliver did another strong rally finishing fifth overall, avoiding mistakes and showing promising times despite the tricky conditions and issues we have faced all weekend.”

Hyundai currently trails Toyota by 81 points in the manufacturers' title race. To stand any chance of staying in the fight, the Korean manufacturer relies on GR Yaris cars having poor results in Spain later this month.