Dani Sordo Gaines Victory at Rali Serras de Fafe | Hyundai N
- Hyundai Motorsport’s WRC crew Dani Sordo and Carlos del Barrio have clinched the win at Rali Serras de Fafe – the first round of the Portuguese rally championship - in a Hyundai i20 R5
- The Spanish duo won 13 stages out of 14 and showed a dominant performance throughout the weekend
- Sordo and del Barrio have used the event as part of their preparations for Rally México next month, their WRC debut this year.
23 February 2019 - Dani Sordo and Carlos del Barrio have taken an assured victory at Rali Serras de Fafe in their first outing with the Hyundai i20 R5 on gravel.
The duo set the fastest times on 13 out of the 14 stages contested and won the rally by 1m14s over Portuguese driver Ricardo Teodósio.
Rali Serras de Fafe was only the Spaniards’ second competitive event with the Hyundai i20 R5, after scoring a podium on tarmac at Barum Rally last year. They used this weekend’s rally as an opportunity to get into competition mode ahead of their first WRC event of the 2019 season in a few weeks.
Sordo was fastest on Friday morning’s qualifying stage and was selected to start 12th on the road for the opening tests. The Spaniard dominated the first four stages, finishing the day in the lead by 18.1 seconds. Being first on the road on Saturday added an extra challenge but using his extensive experience - and feeling more and more comfortable with the i20 R5 - he continued to amass stage wins to give the car the overall victory after more than 124 competitive kilometers.
Sordo and Hyundai Motorsport worked closely with Hyundai Portugal backed drivers Armindo Araújo and Bruno Magalhães who finished seventh and sixth respectively, proving once again the performance and reliability of the Hyundai i20 R5.