Another Double Podium in Turkey | Hyundai N

2020.09.22

On a dramatic final day of Rally Turkey, we have taken another double podium result in WRC with Thierry/Nicolas in second place and Sébastien/Daniel in third after twelve thrilling stages.

Our crews had been leading for most of the weekend but were cruelly denied victory in the opening run on Sunday, the longest stage of the rally Çetibeli (38.15km), after picking up punctures.

Fight to the finish

Overnight leaders Thierry and Nicolas saw a 33-second advantage eradicated as they were forced to stop to change a tyre mid-stage. Nonetheless, our Belgian crew fought back to finish in second overall, taking the maximum five bonus point in the Marmaris Power Stage.

“I have the feeling we deserved to have taken more away from this weekend, but it is still a great feeling to be back on the podium again,” said Thierry. “Unfortunately, we were among the unlucky crews to pick up a puncture, which prevented us from taking the victory.”

Sébastien and Daniel lost over a minute with their puncture, but also kept their cool to secure third place – their first podium since Rally Chile last year. The nine-time world champions had led the rally on Friday evening, and showed their experience with a measured performance.

“A tough final day,” said Sébastien. “The first stage this morning was a bit of a lottery and we didn’t get the right numbers! Our aim in the second loop was the get the car through safely and we were able to do that to secure third place – and a great podium finish.”

Power Stage salvage mission

It was a tough weekend for our Estonian crew Ott and Martin, who were forced to retire on Saturday morning with steering issues. They re-joined on Sunday morning in a bid to claim Power Stage points.

“Since the beginning of the weekend, it has been a very challenging event,” said Ott. “We had a target of getting something from the Power Stage. I didn’t really have the full commitment to go flat out but got four extra points which is much better than nothing.”

In total, our crews took eight stage wins from a possible 12, including five 1-2s, underscoring the performance of our i20 Coupe WRC. The double podium allows us to keep up the pressure in the manufacturers’ championship, with only nine points separating us from the lead.

“Not the result we had hoped to score here, even if second and third places are not so bad,” admitted our Team Principal Andrea. “We had some reliability issues this weekend which shouldn’t happen and that has cast a shadow on our result. My crews have done all they possibly could, and my thanks go to them. Our job now is to give them a better car for Sardinia.”

Rally Italia Sardegna, round six of the 2020 season, takes place October 8-11, an event we have won on three previous occasions.