Hyundai Motorsport continues development of i20 WRC

As the 2014 FIA World Rally Championship season rapidly approaches, Hyundai Motorsport continued to prepare for its upcoming challenge during October, testing the i20 WRC for a total of 15 days and driving more than 1000km on both gravel and tarmac.

October's testing kicked off with a four-day gravel test in the south of Spain, where the team continued to assess the behaviour of the i20 WRC in warm weather conditions with both Juho Hanninen and Chris Atkinson on duty.

"During this test we took the opportunity to continue the development of the car on gravel conditions, similar to the ones we will find in Portugal and Sardinia next year. We tried several configurations for these kinds of terrains and evaluated some new components which we hadn't tested before," explained Hyundai Motorsport Team Principal Michel Nandan.

The Hyundai Motorsport team then moved from the south of Spain up to the Catalonia region for a five-day gravel test. This was followed by a tarmac test in Baumholder, Germany, home of the iconic Arena Panzerplatte, which forms part of Rallye Deutschland's itinerary.

In the final week of October, the team continued tarmac development in Catalonia on the roads of Rally de Espana, the penultimate round of the WRC, which was held last week. "Testing on the same roads as the rally allows us to start to have some references on the stages we will tackle next year," concluded Nandan.

This month marked also the beginning of another important process for the Hyundai Motorsport team. The dossier for the homologation of the i20 WRC needs to be compiled and lodged by the FIA by the end of October.