Hyundai Motorsport customer results round-up bulletin - A podium for Pepe López at the Rally Villa de Adeje allowed him to provisionally clinch the title, with only his attendance to the Rallyshow Madrid needed to officially secure the crown
- Customer Racing Junior Driver Fabrizio Zaldivar finished the national season in Paraguay with a victory and a second place from a double-header weekend for the series
- Elantra N TCR customers BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse and driver Mikel Azcona sealed the teams’ and drivers’ titles in FIA WTCR in a superb finale weekend in Saudi Arabia.
The closing events of the season bought more excellent results for our i20 N Rally2 customers in national series around the world, with one crew provisionally securing the Spanish Superchampionship crown, while others scored wins in the final rounds of action in France and Paraguay. The last-ever season of FIA WTCR came to an end at the Race of Saudi Arabia with a superb weekend for Elantra N TCR driver Mikel Azcona and BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse as they collected the drivers’ and teams’ titles – the first accolades for both at the highest level of international Touring Car racing.
Podium finish leaves Hyundai España crew with one hand on Spanish title
Hyundai España-supported driver Pepe López provisionally secured the Spanish Superchampionship title after he finished on the overall podium at Rally Villa de Adeje (November 24-26). Avoiding costly mistakes was the key to the rally for Lopez and co-driver Borja Rozada in the i20 N Rally2 as the pair focused on protecting the comfortable lead they brought into the weekend thanks to season that has included three victories. Still, the pair won one stage on the Canary Island event as they finished third overall – second of those contesting the national series. Though the event was the final points’ scoring round of the championship – where Hyundai teams had already secured the manufacturers’ title – the final results will not be confirmed until later in December at the Rallyshow Madrid.
Surhayen Pernía took his i20 N Rally2 to fifth overall after a consistent performance to end the season fourth in points. Francisco López finished eighth overall to put three i20 N Rally2 in the top ten on the event. In another of the five Hyundai cars on the entry list Iván Ares started well and held a top five position after the opening two stages. However, a mechanical problem on the following stage ended his weekend early. |
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i20 N Rally2 driver finishes French season with overall victory
Customer Racing Junior Driver Nicolas Ciamin ended the French tarmac rally championship in the same excellent form he started it in, by taking the overall win at Rallye du Var (November 25-27). Sharing his 2C Competition i20 N Rally2 with Yannick Roche, Ciamin won more than half of the 15 stages on the rally and led the event overall for all but two of them, after losing the top spot during the opening leg.
They regained the lead after the first stage of the following morning, and held the position through to the end of the rally, despite a spin during Saturday’s stages.
The victory – their fifth podium of the season – secured third in the standings for the crew, finishing only a single point behind the second place crew. |
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Zaldivar takes strong results from double-header weekend in Paraguay
The Paraguayan national rally championship season came to a close after two events – Rally Alto Paraná and Rally de Cordillera – on the same weekend (November 24-27). Customer Racing Junior Driver Fabrizio Zaldivar was among the contenders for both rallies. In the short Rally Alto Paraná the i20 N Rally2 driver was fastest on four of the five stages to score victory by over 20 seconds.
Five more fastest times came on Rally de Cordillera. After a consistent first day to the contest Zaldivar and co-driver Marcelo Der Ohannesian took the lead when action resumed the following morning. However, no sooner had they taken the lead than they were forced out of it by a puncture that dropped them to fifth. Still, their pace, and that of the Automotor Rally Team-run car, was unaffected. Stage victories on three of the last four stages fueled a great comeback that left them second overall, having taken more than a minute out of the overall lead since their delay. |
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Munster scores podium on Belgian season finale
Customer Racing Junior Driver Grégoire Munster returned to the Belgian rally champion for the final round of the season, the Spa Rally (December 3-4). Alongside co-driver Louis Louka, the Rally Japan WRC2 winner was very consistent on the tarmac stages in his BMA-run i20 N Rally2.
The pair held second place for the entire rally, and their pace put them either first or second on all of the event’s 18 stages. After reaching the overnight halt 25 seconds behind the leaders they gained over the final day of the season. Four fastest times allowed them to gain on the crew ahead, taking five seconds out of the overall advantage before the end of the event. |
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Elantra N TCR celebrate double FIA WTCR title win
Mikel Azcona and BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse won their first WTCR – FIA World Touring Car Cup titles to finish a superb season at the Race of Saudi Arabia at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit (November 25-27). Both driver and team carried healthy leads into the final event, but nonetheless continued the form they had shown throughout the season.
Their performance in qualifying – third for Azcona, and second to team-mate Norbert Michelisz – was enough to clinch both crowns and spark the celebrations for the Spaniard and the Italian squad.
However, there was work still do to, with the last two races of the WTCR era on the Sunday and the team maintained the form that had seen them score at least one podium at each race weekend of the campaign. Though Azcona lost ground on Race 1’s opening lap Michelisz held his front row position to take second place. He was able to keep the pressure on the leader for the first part of the race, but increasingly had to turn to defence to maintain his position, surviving contact from behind to make a third consecutive trip to the podium while Azcona and Nicky Catsburg finished sixth and seventh.
From fourth on the grid, Catsburg was part of the fight for the lead early in Race 2. Unfortunately, the Dutch driver – competing under the BRC Hyundai N Racing Team banner – was taken out as the victim in a three-car crash on lap three. The incident helped Azcona and Michelisz make further progress up the order after both had made up spots already in the opening laps.
Azcona moved into third, with Michelisz one spot behind in positions they would remain in until the end of the race, which came behind the Safety Car following another on-track collision. |
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Hyundai Motorsport Deputy Team Director Julien Moncet said: “The end of the season is always a busy, and exciting, time with the last events for our customers in their series and hopefully some final wins and championship success to celebrate. The titles for Mikel Azcona and BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse were a perfect way to finish the 2022 season, and the FIA WTCR era, where Hyundai Motorsport customers have often been the dominant force. Even after securing the titles in qualifying they continued to push, and were rewarded with podiums to maintain their remarkable record this season. Our customers’ official celebrations for the Spanish Superchampionship title must wait a few more weeks, but Pepe López has shown the best of the i20 N Rally2 in the series this year, with three wins, and his title continues our rallying customers’ excellent for in the country. Further wins in both France and Paraguay for our Customer Racing Junior Drivers added to the recent strong results, and are already making us look forward to the 2023 season.” |
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