Hyundai Motorsport Preview: Round 12 – Central European Rally
- Hyundai Motorsport will take to the tarmac at Central European Rally (October 17-20), round 12 of the 2024 FIA World Rally Championship, looking to bounce back after a tricky weekend at Rally Chile
- Thierry Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe are looking to defend their 2023 win at the event as they chase down the drivers’ and co-drivers’ championship titles
- Andreas Mikkelsen and Torstein Eriksen return to the Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid for the first time since Rally Poland to aid the team in its manufacturers’ title pursuit.
Alzenau, Germany
October 11, 2024 – Hyundai Motorsport will return to European soil for one final time next week for round 12 of the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) season, Central European Rally. With the drivers’, co-drivers’ and manufacturers’ championships in close contention, the team will do everything it can to bring home all three titles following a highly competitive season.
Despite a challenging weekend, Hyundai Motorsport managed to maintain its lead in the standings at Rally Chile. Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe sit 29 points ahead of fellow Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team crew of Ott Tänak/Martin Järveoja in both the drivers’ and co-drivers’ standings with just two rounds remaining.
With the event debuting on WRC calendars in 2023, the only previous Central European Rally was won in style by Neuville/Wydaeghe, Neuville’s 19th career victory at the time. Tänak/Järveoja rounded off the podium in third.
Alongside the Belgian and Estonian duos, Hyundai Motorsport’s three crew event line-up is also set to feature Andreas Mikkelsen/Torstein Eriksen for the fourth time this season. The Norwegian crew stormed to WRC2 championship victory at the European event almost exactly 12 months ago, a feat that stands the pair in good stead for this year’s outing in Rally1.
Similarly to last season, Central European Rally will take place across Czechia, Germany and Austria. The unique border-crossing rally traverses 302.51km in competitive distance and covers a contrasting variety of tarmac across the three countries. Crews will rely on pace notes more than ever as car setup becomes less manageable with the constant change in surface. With autumnal conditions descending on the region, the weather could alter the terrain across the stages, turning what should be high-grip roads into slippery surfaces with little traction.
An additional obstacle for the crews is a change in itinerary for 2024. Three new stages will grace this year’s schedule: Granit und Wald (SS9/12, 20.05km), Beyond Borders (SS10/13, 24.33km) and Am Hochwald (SS15/18, 14.87km). Strašín (SS4/7, 26.69km), a reworking of last year’s Zvotoky, will feature on Friday with a new stage start and end.
Neuville/Wydaeghe will be facing the Austrian tarmac at the Herbst Rally, providing essential understanding for car setup and conditions that the crews will be facing the following week after seven back-to-back gravel events. The remaining two crews of Tänak/Järveoja and Mikkelsen/Eriksen joined the Belgians in a pre-event test in Czechia earlier this week.
Hyundai Motorsport President and Team Principal Cyril Abiteboul said: “The whole team is very excited to competing on home soil again, especially as we are now at the crucial point of the season. We need to maintain our lead in all three championships, and a clean performance at Central European Rally is essential in eventually bringing them home. Thierry won here last year, and we know how strong he is on tarmac, so anything is possible across the weekend. As well as the push for the drivers’ and co-drivers’ titles, we also have the fight for the manufacturers’, and we have three strong crews fighting for that too. Ott finished third here last year, and we know tarmac is a surface that Andreas can push on, particularly following his WRC2 title win at the event in 2023. We want to leave CER having taken advantage of our road positions and made the most of the weekend – something we could not do in Chile.”
Crew Notes: Thierry Neuville/ Martijn Wydaeghe (#11 Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid)
- Crew has led the drivers’ and co-drivers’ standings since Monte Carlo
- Belgians return to tarmac ready to defend 2023 victory
Neuville said: “Last year we had a great victory at the very first Central European Rally. We know we usually perform well on tarmac, and winning in Germany was super cool for the whole team. Despite difficult conditions, we performed well. Because of the stage changes we need to do some video work, so we will be studying those as much as possible to get a good feel of the new areas. We will test at a small pre-event rally in Austria to have enough time to get back into a rhythm and also work on the car setup. The main goal is to manage our championship so we can take many points as possible. Of course, we would like to get that title in our pocket, but our first focus will be having a consistent run.”
Crew Notes: Ott Tänak/Martin Järveoja (#8 Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid)
- Estonians continue to push in aid of manufacturers’ championship challenge
- Crew looking to better its 2023 third place finish at the European event
Tänak said: “I personally enjoy the type of roads at Central European Rally the most of all tarmac rallies. Large sections of the roads will be new again this year, which should make it interesting. Last year road position was very important on the first day; because of the wet weather, the road was getting dirty quickly from every car that came through. The weather will certainly play a critical role this year as well. Austria and Germany are very similar to each other with roads in between fields and many junctions, but the Czech roads are usually in the forest with broken tarmac and many cuts. We will only find out during the recce what the roads look like this year. The manufacturers’ championship is in an interesting place, and we are going there with the target of scoring maximum points and putting pressure on our competitors.”
Crew Notes: Andreas Mikkelsen/Torstein Eriksen(#9 Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid)
- Mikkelsen/Eriksen return to scene of 2023 WRC2 championship win
- Norwegians aiming for top-five finish in Rally1 category
Mikkelsen said: “I remember Central European Rally very well from last year, it’s the rally where we ended up clinching the WRC2 title. Overall, I would say it is a difficult rally because there’s so much gravel and mud being pulled out from the road. The conditions are very demanding; there’s a lot of cutting going on and very easy to make a mistake. I’m really looking forward to the rally because I will have a pretty different approach compared to Monte Carlo and Croatia. At that time, the car was still quite new for me so there were still things to get used to. I will have that new approach in Central European Rally, go there and give a good result to help the team maintain its lead in the drivers’ and manufacturers’ championships.”
Weekend at a Glance
- Competition begins on Thursday with the 2.55km SS1 Velká Chuchle and the 11.78km SS2 Klatovy 1
- Friday’s stages are set to cover 110.64km of Czech roads and includes the longest test of the weekend: SS4/7 Strašín (26.69km)
- 123.46km of competitive running on Saturday forms the longest day of the event, featuring the innovative new SS10/13 Beyond Borders (24.33km) – crossing the lines between Germany and Austria
- Four stages make up the final day of action in Europe: SS15/17 Knaus Tabbert Am Hochwald (12.17km) and SS16/18 Passauer Land (14.87km).