The Hyundai Shell
World Rally Team has today claimed
its maiden victory in the
FIA World - Rally Championship (WRC) with an
historic 1-2 in Rallye Deutschland, its ninth WRC event. Thierry Neuville took his debut WRC win with a fantastic
performance in the #7 Hyundai i20 WRC car. - Last year’s Rallye Deutschland
winner, Dani Sordo, finished second in
his Hyundai i20 WRC to give the team something remarkable to celebrate in its
home rally.
The Hyundai Shell World Rally Team has today scored a
sensational maiden victory in the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) with Thierry Neuville leading team-mate
Dani Sordo home for an historic 1-2
finish in only the team’s ninth WRC event.
The team, run by
Hyundai Motorsport from
its factory in
Alzenau, around 225km
from Rallye Deutschland’s service park in Trier, has only
been in existence for just over one year and a half so today’s result is even more
poignant.
The script for this
weekend’s rally was straight out
of a fairy tale: from a
major crash in shakedown on Thursday
that threatened Neuville’s
participation in the
event, the mechanics
working a remarkable 18 hour
shift to fix the car in time for Friday
morning’s start to winning the team’s
debut WRC event on Sunday afternoon. It
has been a dramatic rally but one from which the Hyundai Shell World Rally Team has
emerged victorious.
Neuville (#7 Hyundai
i20 WRC, co-driver Nicolas Gilsoul)
put the drama of
shakedown firmly behind him when the stages got
underway on Friday morning. The
Belgian has not
put a foot wrong since and
has determinedly made his way up through
the classification since the opening day. He was
fully in contention for a podium
at the start of
Sunday, embroiled in a
close battle for
second but the retirements of the
two leading cars in consecutive stages elevated the Belgian
to the rally lead.
Neuville then kept his focus to bring the #7 Hyundai i20 WRC
car home for the win – his first in WRC. The Belgian
brings home also two extra points for being second fastest in the Power Stage – the
last stage of the rally.
Neuville said: “I
am really happy for the entire Hyundai Shell World Rally Team and everyone back
at the factory in Alzenau. Everyone has worked so hard in the past year to get
us to where we are this season so to
celebrate my debut WRC win with them is very special. It is even better that we
have a 1-2 in our home event. I am
particularly thankful for the team’s hard work this weekend. They did a
fantastic job after our
roll on Thursday
to get the car
repaired which makes
this result more incredible. We
have had three competitive
days and we have been able to put
the pressure on. Of course, it was a
shame to see Jari
Matti (Latvala) and Kris (Meeke) retire this
morning, but that reinforced the
need for us to remain focussed and concentrated. The conditions were very
difficult so we had to take it steady to the end. It’s
a great result and one which we
will certainly never forget.”
Sordo (#8 Hyundai i20 WRC, co-driver Marc Martí) also had a competitive rally in
Germany, an event he won so
memorably in 2013. The
Spaniard, in his first
WRC event since Argentina in
May, got quickly reacquainted with the
car and the team to post
impressive stage times from the start
of the rally. He was in the hunt
for a podium
at the end of Friday but
he lost a lot of time
on Saturday afternoon when he
aquaplaned into a spin. Nonetheless,
he kept going and benefitted from others’ misfortune in Sunday’s opening
stages to take second place behind
his team-mate. He then drove
masterfully not only
to keep the car on the
road but
also to defend his second place – his first podium of 2014 and contributing to the team’s incredible 1-2
result.
Sordo said: “This is a great result for the
whole team and a testament to all the people who work so hard in the team and
at the factory. To get our first 1-2 is fantastic. Normally, I
would prefer to be the one scoring the win but I am happy with second and I am pleased for Thierry. It has been a tough
rally so we were focussed on getting to the finish safely. I have to say
the team has really developed a lot
since I was last
competing, both in terms of
the operations and the car performance. We can really use this result to continue our
momentum and our learning in our first year.
Bryan Bouffier (#20
Hyundai i20 WRC, co-driver Xavier Panseri) completed Rallye Deutschland under
Rally 2 regulations following his coming
together with a Hinkelstein on Saturday’s final stage. The
mechanics worked their
magic to allow
the Frenchman to
rejoin the rally
this morning but unfortunately he went off at the start
of the Power Stage and was unable
to complete the event.
Bouffier said: “I am disappointed that I haven’t been able to complete this rally. The
conditions have not been easy and I was
just caught out in the final stage. The positive fact is that the team has been
rewarded with a fantastic 1-2 result, so congratulations to Thierry for the win and
Dani for second. This result will represent a huge motivational boost for the
entire team, who have worked so hard in
the past year and a half. Having been
part of the journey since last
year, I feel very close
to this team and I share in the joy of this result with all of
them.”
The Hyundai Shell World Rally Team is understandably
overjoyed with the 1-2 result and
becoming a winning WRC manufacturer so early in its young programme. The team
has demonstrated its intent to the WRC and
shown steady improvement
throughout the season but winning
was never on the agenda in this learning year.
Team Principal Michel
Nandan said: “I feel a little bit like I am still dreaming. We could never imagine
that coming here, in just our ninth WRC
rally, that we would
be celebrating a 1-2
result. It is quite remarkable and very special. It has
been a busy weekend with some tough
conditions and requiring everyone to be
at the absolute top of their
game. Our team has been absolutely first
class and it is
thanks to each of them – here and at Alzenau – that we have
this result today. The drivers have been
on competitive form since the first stage and they thoroughly deserve this. To see Thierry take his first
win and Dani on the podium is wonderful. We wanted to use this year as a learning
year and we won’t let this result carry us away. However, we have made
continuous progress and our Hyundai i20 WRC
is improving all the time. We benefitted from the unfortunate retirement of
other drivers tod ay but we were genuinely
fighting for the podium and that reflects the progress
we have made as a team. For now,
we will enjoy the moment and thank everyone for their support of our young
team.”
Overall Final
Classification
1. T. Neuville / N. Gilsoul (Hyundai i20 WRC) 3:07:20.2
2. D. Sordo / M.
Martí (Hyundai i20 WRC) +40.7
3. A. Mikkelsen / O. Floene (Volkswagen Polo R WRC) +58.0
4. E. Evans / D. Barritt (Ford Fiesta RS WRC) +1:03.6
5. M. Hirvonen / J. Lehtinen (Ford Fiesta RS WRC) +1:10.5
6. M. Østberg / J. Andersson (Citroën DS3 WRC) +1:22.7
7. M. Prokop / J.
Tomanek (Ford Fiesta RS WRC) +4:52.8
8. D. Kuipers / R. Buysmans (Ford Fiesta RS WRC) +9:18.1
9. P. Tidemand / E. Axelsson (Ford Fiesta R5) +11:35.4
10. O. Tanak / R.
Molder (Ford Fiesta R5) +11:37.2
2014 FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers’
Standings
S. Ogier 187
points / J.M. Latvala 143 / A. Mikkelsen 110 /
M. Østberg 74 / T. Neuville
73 / M. Hirvonen 73 /
E. Evans
57 / K. Meeke 54 / M.
Prokop 37 / H. Solberg
26 / J. Hänninen 20 /
B. Bouffier 18 / D. Sordo 18 / R. Kubica 12 / O. Tanak 11 / B. Guerra 8
/ H. Paddon 8 / C. Atkinson 6 / P.
Tidemand 6 / J. Melicharek 4 / D.
Kuipers 4 / N. Al-Attyiah 3 /
M. Gamba
2 / C. Breen 2 / J.
Protasov 2 / L. Bertelli 2 / J. Ketomaa
1 / K. Al Qassimi 1 / K. Kruuda 1
2014 FIA World Rally
Championship for Manufacturers’ Standings
Volkswagen
Motorsport 305 points
/ Citroën Total Abu
Dhabi World Rally
Team 138 / Hyundai Motorsport 131/ M-Sport
World Rally Team 128 /
Volkswagen Motorsport II 109 /
Jipocar Czech National Team 42 / RK
M-Sport World Rally Team 21 / Hyundai Motorsport N 12
All results remain subject to official FIA confirmation
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