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MUNDIAL - HYUNDAI MOTORSPORT COM NOVIDADES

Terça, 25 Maio 2021 11:53 | Actualizado em Segunda, 18 Março 2024 01:38

Hyundai Motorsport customer results round-up bulletin
 
  • Luca Engstler won both races of the opening weekend of the TCR Germany season in a very strong start to the year for the Hyundai Deutschland-backed Hyundai Team Engstler squad
  • The Hyundai Elantra N TCR scored its first victory in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge at the head of a 1-2 for the Bryan Herta Autosport team at Mid-Ohio
  • At Rally de Portugal Customer Racing Junior Drivers Oliver Solberg and Josh McErlean took top-five results at the start their 2021 campaigns in WRC 2 and WRC 3 respectively.
 
Hyundai Motorsport’s TCR customers have scored excellent results with all three of the cars built by the department, including in the first racing weekends of national series in Germany and Russia. The most recent WRC round also began the main international campaigns for two Customer Racing Junior Drivers with top-five finishes, promising a successful season to come.
 
i30 N TCR drivers show excellent performance in TCR Germany season opener
 
Seven i30 N TCR were on the grid for the first weekend of the new TCR Germany season at Oschersleben (May 14-16). The group was led by the four cars of the Hyundai Deutschland-supported Hyundai Team Engstler squad. Their line-up for the year includes Luca Engstler, who will combine commitments in the national series with his WTCR – FIA World Touring Car Cup drive, and Martin Andersen, who joins the series after finishing as runner-up in TCR Denmark in 2020.
 
The pair locked out the front row for the first race – surprisingly with Andersen taking pole as he quickly adapted to the very different demands of German circuit, compared to the tight confines of Danish venues. Engstler made the best start of the teammates to move to the front and led every lap on his way to the win. He would repeat the feat in Race 2 in more dominant fashion after claiming pole position from the separate qualifying session for Sunday’s event. A strong weekend for the Engstler team was rounded off by Nico Gruber, who joined Engstler on the Race 2 podium in second and gentleman driver Roland Hertner who won both races in the Trophy category.
 
On their own series debuts Jonas Karklys and Robin Jahr took top-ten results – Lithuanian Karklys finished eighth and sixth across the two races and Jahr eighth on Sunday. On his return to the series Patrick Sing came home for a best result of ninth in Race 1.
Luca Engstler - TCR Germany - Oschersleben
Hyundai Team Engstler - TCR Germany - Oschersleben
Elantra N TCR scores first IMSA win with Hyundai USA-backed team
 
Drivers Parker Chase and Ryan Norman scored the first win for the Elantra N TCR in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge at Mid-Ohio (May 14-15) – fittingly the same track where the Veloster N TCR scored its debut victory in 2019. The two-hour contest, the third round of the series’ season, was hugely successful for Hyundai customer teams with three different Alzenau-built cars leading laps during the encounter. 
 
Chase, taking the start in the #98 Elantra N TCR, swapped the lead back-and-forth with Rory van der Steur in his Veloster N TCR – the latter leading for much of the first half of the race before a round of pitstops made during a safety car period. Following the stops it was Customer Racing Junior Driver Tyler Maxson who picked up the lead in the Copeland Motorsports Veloster N TCR started by his fellow Junior Tyler Gonzalez.
 
The pair would narrowly miss out on the final podium spot in fourth, as they were passed by both defending series champion Norman in the Elantra N TCR and Michael Lewis in Bryan Herta Autosport’s Veloster N TCR to give the Hyundai USA-backed squad a superb 1-2 finish. Second place also extended Lewis and co-driver Taylor Hagler’s advantage at the top of the championship points. Harry Gottsacker and Mark Wilkins combined for fifth place in the second of the Elantra N TCR on the grid, completing the four Hyundai cars in the top five of the final results.
Double podium begins new TCR Russia campaign
 
The LUKOIL Racing Team’s i30 N TCR drivers scored a double podium at the Smolensk Ring (May 15-16) on the first weekend of TCR Russia competition in 2021. In Race 1 Andrey Maslennikov came out on top of a fraught battle for third that also included Zakhar Slutzkyi – in his first start in an i30 N TCR.
 
Carville Racing man Slutzkyi looked to have taken a maiden podium in Race 2, but was penalized after the chequered flag, lifting Ivan Lukashevich into third ahead of Maslennikov and Grigory Burlutskiy in the second of Carville Racing’s entries.
Junior Drivers show strong pace to start campaigns in Portugal
 
Hyundai Motorsport Customer Racing Junior Driver Oliver Solberg showed impressive pace in first his WRC 2 action with the Hyundai Motorsport N-entered i20 R5. The Swede finished fifth in class on Rally de Portugal (May 20-23) after a consistent run on the event’s gravel stages. Twice he was fastest in the category – including on Friday evening’s Lousada Super Special – as he made his way up to third in the class by Saturday afternoon. However, by stalling the day’s penultimate run he lost over a minute and dropped to fifth in class, where he would remain.
 
There was also an impressive performance from Josh McErlean in his first WRC 3 start of the season. Despite coming from a largely tarmac rally background the Irishman was able to show his strong potential on the loose surface – regularly outpacing more experienced drivers as well as crews running in the Portuguese national championship that shared the stages on the rally. After gaining experience on the opening day the Customer Racing Junior Driver finished top-ten in class on every stage during Saturday and Sunday. Importantly, he was also able to avoid costly mistakes to take a career-best WRC 3 result in fifth.
 
Running second of the crews registered for the national championship on the final day of the rally Hyundai Team Portugal driver Bruno Magalhães was on course for a first podium of the season. Sadly, a mechanical issue on the penultimate stage put him out of the event.
Oliver Solberg - Rally de Portugal
Josh McErlean - Rally de Portugal
i20 R5 crews claim first podium of the year in Spain
 
Third position on Rally Villa de Adeje (May 13-15) gave Surhayen Pernía his first podium of the Spanish Superchampionship campaign. Alongside co-driver Alba Sánchez González he matched up well against local crews on the Canary Islands event. The Hyundai España-backed crew set a number of top-four times, including the fastest time on the final stage to secure the position. The rally finished with three i20 R5 crews in the top ten, with Francisco López seventh overall and Canaries-based crew Ángel Bello and Anna Tallada eighth.
 
Iván Ares – in another Hyundai España-supported i20 R5 won the opening stage, but crashed out on the final test of the opening day while running second overall.
Surhayen Pernia - Rally Villa de Adeje
Ivan Ares - Rally Villa de Adeje
Trio of i20 R5 crews score top tens in Italian event
 
Three Friulmotor-run i20 R5 crews finished in the top ten overall on Rally Bellunese (May 22-23), led by Filippo Bravi in second position. He was joined by Rok Turk in fifth place – preparing to defend the national title in his native Slovenia – and Claudio de Cecco in sixth after consistent performances of their own on the seven-stage event.
 
Consistent run takes Danish crew to the brink of overall podium
 
Driver Simon Vallentin Hansen finished fourth in his Kowax 2BRally-prepared i20 R5 on Rally Stoholm (May 15), the second round of the Danish national championship. After a comfortable start to the event he and co-driver Peter Egholm quickly climbed the overall standings towards the podium positions. They were fastest of all on SS7 and ended the rally less than two seconds from the final step on the rostrum.
 
Turkish i20 R5 drivers display top-ten pace in Bulgaria
 
Turks Mustafa Cakal and Erkan Gürel were among the entry for International Rally Bulgaria (May 14-16) as part of their Balkan Rally Trophy campaign.
 
After ending the opening loop of four stages in 11th, Cakal rose up the order to fourth to lie fourth in class after the penultimate stage, where he was second fastest. However, a slow time and a 30-second penalty on the final stage dropped him to fifth in class and seventh overall in the final standings. Gürel had his own run in the top-ten in class ended by a mechanical problem on stage 10 of 16.
 
Hyundai Motorsport Customer Racing Operations Manager Andrew Johns said: “The 2021 season is now fully underway, as the spring brings the start of more championships for our individual customers. In both Germany and Russia – countries where our Hyundai i30 N TCR customers have had great success in the past – teams have made strong starts to the season, which promises another successful year to come. Victory for Bryan Herta Autosport in the USA continues a great string of results for Hyundai Elantra N TCR drivers in recent weeks, which is very encouraging with the start of the FIA WTCR season fast approaching. Rally de Portugal also saw two of our Customer Racing Junior Drivers show good pace and take good finishes in the first events of their seasons with the Hyundai i20 R5 at the global level.”




About Hyundai Motorsport GmbH
Established on 19 December 2012, Hyundai Motorsport GmbH is responsible for Hyundai’s global motorsport activities, including the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC), Customer Racing and electric racing projects. In WRC, Hyundai Motorsport quickly established a strong reputation taking victory in its debut season in 2014. The team finished as runners-up in the manufacturers’ championship on three consecutive occasions between 2016 and 2018 before claiming its first title in 2019 and repeating the feat in 2020. Since the establishment of its Customer Racing activities in September 2015, Hyundai Motorsport has become a trusted partner for teams and drivers looking for success on the rally stages or on racetracks around the world. From its competitive i20 R5 rally car to the competitive i30 N TCR, Hyundai Motorsport-built cars have claimed victory in several championships, including national rally series in France and Spain, as well as consecutive titles in the FIA World Touring Car Cup (WTCR) in 2018 and 2019. Designed and built at its Alzenau headquarters, the Veloster N ETCR was unveiled in September 2019 and heralds an exciting new era, in which electric racing is set to become one of the company’s pillars. Unified under Hyundai Motorsport, WRC, Customer Racing and electric racing are together playing instrumental roles in driving Hyundai’s global high-performance N brand and are supporting an important perception shift for the Hyundai brand around the world.
 
Further information about Hyundai Motorsport is available at: 
http://motorsport.hyundai.com
 
About Hyundai Motor Company
Established in 1967, Hyundai Motor Company is present in over 200 countries with more than 120,000 employees dedicated to tackling real-world mobility challenges around the globe. Based on the brand vision ‘Progress for Humanity,' Hyundai Motor is accelerating its transformation into a Smart Mobility Solution Provider. The company invests in advanced technologies such as robotics and Urban Air Mobility (UAM) to bring about revolutionary mobility solutions, while pursuing open innovation to introduce future mobility services.  In pursuit of sustainable future for the world, Hyundai will continue its efforts to introduce zero emission vehicles equipped with industry-leading hydrogen fuel cell and EV technologies.
 
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