Rally Japan – Day Three Report
- Hyundai Motorsport has completed the 2022 FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) with an emphatic 1-2 result at Rally Japan
- Thierry Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe scored their second victory of the season – and the crew’s fifth – on a rain-affected last day, forward of Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja in second
- Tyre selection performed an vital function on the last day, as the Hyundai i20 N Rally1 crews excelled to safe the crew a aggressive end.
SEOUL, South Korea, Nov. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Hyundai Motorsport has concluded the 2022 FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) with a 1-2 result in Rally Japan, securing the crew its fifth victory of the season and the second of the 12 months for Belgian crew Thierry Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe.
Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja completed the last day of the new tarmac occasion in second place general to say their eighth podium of the season – and 16th in complete since becoming a member of Hyundai Motorsport again in 2020. It represents a becoming finish to the Estonian crew’s three-season tenure with the squad, which pulls a detailed with this constructive result.
On the last day on the picturesque Japanese roads, crews negotiated 5 tough assessments in difficult circumstances with rain arriving throughout the morning. The schedule started with the quick 7.52km run by way of Asahi Kougen (SS15), which additionally acted as the season-closing Power Stage (SS19). The longest check of the day, Ena City (SS16/SS18, 21.59km) adopted, with a single cross of Nenoue Plateau (SS17, 11.60km) sandwiching the two repeated levels.
Both Hyundai Motorsport crews opted to take moist climate tyres as a part of their last day bundle, in anticipation of rain which duly got here mid-morning. Neuville noticed his lead initially decreased to 0.6 seconds however a stage win on the subsequent dry check, and drama for Elfyn Evans, noticed the Belgian earn a cushty one-minute benefit – now over his Estonian team-mates. From there, each crews adopted a cautious strategy as the rain arrived to safe a 1-2 result.
In phrases of pure statistics, the 1-2 result is an historic one for the crew with many notable milestones. It is the 25th victory for Hyundai Motorsport since becoming a member of the WRC in 2014, and with the high two positions, it scores the crew its 99th and 100th particular person podium outcomes. Adding to the celebratory numbers, the crew has additionally scored 5 wins in a single season for the first time (following success in Sardinia, Finland, Ypres, and Greece) – all in the first season with its Hyundai i20 N Rally1, a a number of rally-winner on gravel and tarmac.
Fore extra data, please go to: globalpr.hyundai.com
SOURCE Hyundai Motorsport
