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COMÉRCIO & INDUSTRIA - HYUNDAI É NOTICIA

Domingo, 29 Abril 2018 05:43 | Actualizado em Sábado, 09 Dezembro 2023 04:32

Hyundai Motorsport customer results round-up bulletin
 
  • i30 N TCR customers lead the FIA World Touring Car Cup (WTCR) points’ standings after taking two wins on a sensational opening weekend to the brand new championship
  • Hyundai America supported team Bryan Herta Autosport finished 1st and 2nd in both Pirelli World Challenge races at the Circuit of the Americas on the TCR category’s debut in the series
  • i20 R5 crews celebrate victories in France and Spain after a busy few weeks for Hyundai Motorsport customers.
 
Hyundai Motorsport customers continue to showcase the capabilities of their cars on the national and international level, with i30 N TCR teams taking wins on their debuts, and i20 R5 crews challenging for top stage times around the world.
 
i30 N TCR makes history at WTCR opener
 
Hyundai i30 N TCR customer teams lead the FIA World Touring Car Cup (WTCR) points after a spectacular performance across the opening three races of the brand new championship at the Race of Morocco (April 7-8). With two wins from the weekend, as well as the five points on offer for taking pole position from Sunday’s qualifying session, BRC Racing Team driver Gabriele Tarquini leads the championship.
 
Having already taken victory in Saturday’s historic first race around the Marrakech street circuit Tarquini led four i30 N TCR to lock-out the front two rows of the grid in the weekend’s second qualifying session, with his BRC teammate Norbert Michelisz and the pair of Yvan Muller Racing cars lining up behind him. After a battling Race 2, where their stellar one-lap pace put them at the back of a reversed top-ten, the Hyundai-running teams returned to the front for the finale.
 
Tarquini led from lights to flag to earn his way onto the top step of the podium ahead of the two YMR entered drivers, led by Team Manager Yvan Muller. Unaffected by the brake issues that dogged rival manufacturers thought the weekend, despite the series’ Balance of Performance regulations making the i30 N TCR one of the heaviest cars on the grid, the teams hold a handsome lead in the standings.
Gabriele Tarquini - i30 N TCR - BRC Racing Team
Yvan Muller - i30 N TCR - Yvan Muller Racing
Double 1-2 from Pirelli World Challenge debut
 
The sensational debut on the world stage completed an incredible few weeks for i30 N TCR customers. Opening the Pirelli World Challenge season at the Circuit of the Americas (March 24-25) in Texas, Bryan Herta Autosport dominated the first event for the TCR category in the championship. Drivers Mark Wilkins and Michael Lewis swept the front row in qualifying for the Hyundai America backed team – beginning their first season in touring cars - and then went on to take 1-2 results in both races, with each man taking a victory in a perfect start to their campaign.
Mark Wilkins - i30 N TCR - Bryan Herta Autosport
Race 2 podium - Bryan Herta Autosport
TCR class podium on first Nordschleife run
 
The same weekend a pair of Hyundai N entered i30 N TCR took on the Nürburgring Nordschleife in the first round of the VLN championship. Despite being left facing the wrong way at the very first corner of the four-hour race Tarquini and Korean driver Jae Kyun Kim fought back to finish third in a very competitive TCR class on the incredibly demanding 25km circuit. The experienced pairing of Nicola Larini and Manuel Lauck also fought back after problems early in the running, after Larini slid off track on oil dropped by a competitor and damaged the right-rear corner against the barrier. The team was able to repair the car, returning the pairing to the action for a sixth placed finish in class.
Hyundai N - i30 N TCR - VLN 1
Hyundai N - i30 N TCR - VLN 1
Young driver shows i30 N TCR pace in TCR UK
 
With Lewis Kent and his Essex & Kent Motorsport team the i30 N TCR was part of the first weekend of the TCR UK championship at Silverstone (March 31-April 1). One of the youngest drivers in the series Kent qualified a very impressive fourth fastest in mixed conditions. Unfortunately, a minor issue during race day kept him from converting his pace into a deserved result. However, his pace on a single lap gave a signal of intent for his first season in the TCR category.
Lewis Kent - i30 N TCR - Essex & Kent Motorsport
Lewis Kent - i30 N TCR - Essex & Kent Motorsport
French crews among the top times on Tour de Corse
 
Two i20 R5 crews lined up at the start of the Tour de Corse (April 5-8). Both Pierre-Louis Loubet and Nicolas Ciamin showed their pace, challenging for top times against the more experienced, manufacturer backed crews in the championship. Unfortunately, despite the obvious speed shown by both car and crew combinations minor mistakes on the famously demanding Corsican stages led to both teams losing time and positions in the overall standings.
 
Twice Loubet and co-driver Vincent Landais were second fastest among the WRC2 crews, including on the penultimate stage, a mammoth 55km test, proving the talent of the young French motorsport federation backed driver and the performance of the i20 R5. Ciamin was able to record the same result to end Saturday’s stages before an accident on Sunday morning forced him out of the running.
Pierre-Louis Loubet - i20 R5 - Tour de Corse
Pierre-Louis Loubet - i20 R5 - Tour de Corse
Hungarian crews reap rewards for consistent runs
 
The Hungarian crew of Ádám Velenczei and Csaba Szedő returned to their national championship for a second season in Korda Racing’s i20 R5. A consistent run through the stages of the Eger Rallye (March 23-25) gave the pair a fifth place finish to begin their season. Lovász Pál, aboard his own LPWM Sport entered i20 R5, made a similarly consistent start to the season, finishing in 14th overall.
 
Pál was back in competition in Austria at the Lavanttal Rallye (April 7-8), the second round of the Mitropa Cup competition, as well as the third event of the domestic championship. Alongside Tamás Kürti he narrowly missed out on a top-ten overall to finish fourth in the Cup competition that includes rallies across central Europe.
Adam Velenczei - Eger Rallye - Korda Racing
Adam Velenczei - Eger Rallye - Korda Racing
Hyundai Portugal backed crew bags points from the Azores
 
Fourth place was also the result for Carlos Vieira and Jorge Eduardo Carvalho as they continued their Portuguese championship season at the Azores Rallye. The Hyundai Portugal supported crew battled against the difficult conditions, as well as the large entry at the event, which was also the first round of the European Rally Championship, to take a good haul of points from the event to maintain their challenge for the national title.
Carlos Vieira - Hyundai Portugal Motorsport - Azores Rallye
Carlos Vieira - Hyundai Portugal Motorsport - Azores Rallye
Sarrazin Motorsport crews take French national honours
 
Sarrazin Motorsport customers Quentin Giordano and Nicolas Ciamin recorded France Cup wins on back-to-back weekends. Giordano dominated the Rallye National Epernay Vins de Champagne (March 24-25), winning seven of the first day’s eight stages. He and co-driver Yannick Roche were then able to measure their pace on day two – though they added another top time – to take victory by over a minute.
 
The following weekend Ciamin and Thibault de le Haye performed a similar feat at the Rallye National Pays de Grasse - Fleurs et Parfums (March 30-31). The pair took overall victory by more than two minutes after winning six stages on event, as they prepared for the Tour de Corse.
 
Brice Tirabassi added further to the domestic success of the i20 R5 in France, with third in the R5 category at the Rallye Terre des Causses (March 31-April 1), the first round of this year’s French Gravel championship. Tirabassi and Loïc Declerck set the best time among the R5 crews on two stages on his way to claiming sixth overall to go with their class podium.
 
Overall victory in the Canaries
 
There was also success in the Canary Islands for Antonio Ponce and Rubén González on the Rally Ciudad de Telde (April 6-7). Running with the local Hyundai importer the duo were in the top-three throughout the rally, before taking the overall lead on the penultimate stage and sealing victory with the best time to complete the event.
 
i20 R5 crew take stage wins in Italy and Denmark
 
i20 R5 customers also made their seasonal debuts in the national championship in Italy and Denmark. Both drivers, Andrea Nucita running with the Bernini Rally team at the Rally Il Ciocco e Valle del Serchio (March 23-24) and Jacob Madsen aboard a Fruilmotor owned chassis in the Horsens Rally (March 31) were able to set stage winning times on the tarmac stages to lead busy R5-class entry lists. Both, however, were forced out of their respective events after incidents on stage, Madsen having to forfeit second position on his debut in the car.
Jacob Madsen - i20 R5 - Horsens Rally
Jacob Madsen - i20 R5 - Horsens Rally
Hyundai Motorsport Customer Racing Deputy General Manager Andrea Adamo said: “For i30 N TCR customers to be leading the FIA WTCR standings after the first weekend is an enormous achievement both for them and for Hyundai Motorsport Customer Racing. We have seen in Morocco, as well as in America that the i30 N TCR is an incredibly competitive package in the category. Now we must work to support them through the season ahead to enable them to maintain that performance throughout the season. Of course, we must do this alongside our continued work with our i20 R5 customers with our dedicated customer engineers offering both race and rally teams all they need to compete for victories.” 
 


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