Hyundai Motor at WRC
Hyundai Motor’s new possibilities and challenges
on the world’s toughest roads
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About WRC
The World Rally Championship, more commonly known as WRC, is one of the world’s most grueling motor sports series. 13 events are held each year on 4 continents, as part of an extreme motor racing event in which cars need to show durability and driving performance on various road surfaces, ranging from asphalt through to rough mountain terrain and snow packed roads, from burning heat of Mexico to -25℃ snow storm of Sweden.
Officially known as FIA World Rally Championship, the WRC competitions are on between January till November every year. Hyundai Motorsports team is one of the main contenders among competing manufacturers including Citroen, Volkswagen and Ford. -
Meeting challenges posed by the most rigorous roads
The biggest difference between the WRC and F1 is that the cars in the WRC are those that are built from the average commercial car, rather than machines exclusively designed and built to race. They are not allowed to be specially constructed. Only models that are manufactured “for the mass public” with over 25,000 units sold every year are eligible to compete in the WRC. Special materials such as titanium, magnesium, and ceramics cannot be used.
To emerge victorious from the tough racing in the WRC, all participating brands mobilize their full technology base to convert their commercial cars into “rally machines.” Hyundai Motor levied its technological know-how to refine the i20 into a high performance race model, the i20 World Rally Car.
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Hyundai i20 WRC
The i20 WRC is mounted with suspension specially optimized for the WRC, as well as featuring new and enhanced torsional rigidity. The cooling function was renewed with a new rear wing and spoiler, a turbo-charged 1,600cc engine, a six-speed sequential transmission built for racing, and a four-wheel-drive system. In short, it is the culmination of the latest high performance technology.
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The Hyundai Motorsports Team
The team with its base in Alzenau near Frankfurt, Germany, is composed of 120 staff members from 23 different countries all over Latin America, Europe, Southeast Asia, Russia and Korea. Hyundai Motorsports is one of the most truly international team in WRC.
50 people in average travelled 100,699 km in total across continents from Mexico, Argentina to Australia.
![[Hyundai N] The beginning of N I TVC I High Performance Brand](/upload/brand/view/V000010065/D000010063/P000032852_E000057265.jpg)
Hyundai Motorsports Team’s Third Season Begins
“We’re entering an exciting phase in our journey, which I think will reinforce our commitment and ambition in the competitive WRC community.” – Michele Nandan, Team Principal
Hyundai Motorsport Team’s third WRC season, 2016 began. The participants at 2016 WRC season will be competing 14 rounds, including newly added rally in China. Hyundai Motorsports will enter three cars into every 2016 WRC round, with Dani Sordo, Thierry Neuville and Hayden Paddon, team’s goal being the second-place winner out of all teams.
The New i20 WRC running the roads of 2016 WRC
The New i20 WRC rally car, finally revealed after 8,000 km of testing out on the roads throughout the full year, is the new gear for Hyundai Motorsports Team’s 2016 WRC season. The car, the result of Hyundai Motorsports evolution since 2013, features optimised weight distribution, greater powertrain efficiency and enhanced aerodynamics.
The team will continue developing upcoming R5, preparing for 2017 WRC with rising Dutch star Kevin Abbring. New generations of rally cars will continue to demonstrate Hyundai Motor’s ability to enhance its high-performance DNA, and will continue to compete in motorsports as Hyundai N builds towards producing a full road-going line-up of cars.
Find out the latest rally results of Hyundai Motorsports
GO >Review of Hyundai Motorsports team’s 2015
열고닫기Hyundai Motorsport raising its game in the second WRC season
Hyundai Motorsport which secured an historic 1-2 and two further podium finishes in its debut season, has established itself as a genuine contender in the tough WRC environment. Throughout 13 rallies of the season, Hyundai Motorsport Team demonstrated further improvements, ending the season with 3rd highest points.
The Hyundai i20 WRC is continuously adopting the lessons learned on the harshest road, and next generation i20 Rally Car is also gearing up for 2016.
Hyundai Motorsports Team’s continued podiums in 2015
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The first podium of 2015, Rally Sweden
Thierry Neuville/Nicolas GilsoulThe Hyundai Motorsport team stepped onto the WRC podium for the fourth time in its short history, first time this season, as Thierry Neuville and Nicolas Gilsoul stormed to second place in Rally Sweden.
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Double Podium at Rally Italia Sardegna
Hayden Paddon (2nd) and Thierry Neuville (3rd)An impressive double podium was rewarded for Hyundai Motorsport - second and third positions have enabled the team to close the gap to the second in the Manufacturers Championship.
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The Spaniard Dani Sordo
Leads the way with podium at homeHome hero, Dani Sordo of Hyundai Motorsports Team claimed valuable Championship points with his third-place finish In Rally de Espana.
Review of Hyundai Motorsports team’s first season
열고닫기HYUNDAI at WRC - YEAR ONE FACT FILE FOR 2014
For the Hyundai Motorsport Team, the year 2014, its maiden season, has been full of highlights, memories and firsts. With its continuously improving i20 WRC, the team has bravely carried out its journey along the extremely competitive and fierce WRC season. Hyundai achieved its first victory in Rallye Deutschland within 9 attempts and has taken four podiums in three rallies.
Hyundai began its debut season in January 2014 in Monte-Carlo, with the shortest preparation time for any new manufacturer ever. It was just 394 days after the formation of Hyundai Motorsport GmbH, prepared by 8,000km of i20 WRC testing across 16 sessions.
Start of a new era for Hyundai i20 WRC
We could never imagine that coming here, in just our ninth WRC rally, that we would be celebrating a 1-2 result. We wanted to use this year as a learning year and we won’t let this result carry us away. Our Hyundai i20 WRC is improving all the time.
- Michel Nandan, the Hyundai Motorsport Team principal-
A sensational maiden victory in the first year of its challenge
August 24 2014 ? Four drivers of Hyundai Motorsport Team stood on its 1-2 of the podium in Trier, Germany. The team has scored a historic maiden victory in the FIA World Rally Championship with Thierry Neuville leading team-mate Dani Sordo home for an 1-2 finish in only the team’s ninth WRC event. Considering that the team has only been in existence for 18 months, this result is even more poignant.
The script for this rally in German was straight out of a fairy tale: from a major crash in shakedown right before rally, the mechanics working a remarkable 18 hour shift to fix the car in time for first day, to winning the team’s debut WRC event on Sunday afternoon. The four days in Trier shows dramatic improvement of the team just within 18 years, making the world to look forward for its journey onward.
Stepping up to the podium
- With its maiden victory in Rally Deutschland in August, Hyundai became just one of two manufacturers to win a WRC event in 2014, the other being Volkswagen.
- In its debut season, Hyundai has taken to the podium in three rallies (Mexico, Poland and Germany) with four podium finishes.
Find out more about Hyundai’s challenge for the WRC on the official Hyundai Motorsports website.
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