The deputy team principal of Hyundai Motorsport, Julien Moncet, says that the team must get rid of the reliability issues that faces this year and gives a reason for the origin of these problems after their having started late their car preparation for 2022.
In Monte Carlo, most of Hyundai drivers faced many problems with the hybrid unit as they reported that they had lost power resulting in dropping time while Oliver Solberg was forced to retire on the final day of that event due to fuel fumes that came into his car.
In Sweden, Hyundai stayed out of trouble, but Thierry Neuville received time penalty in Croatia as an alternator issue struck him on his road to the time check, therefore he and Martijn Wydaeghe had to push their i20N for 800 meters to return it back in the Service Park.
In addition to these, Thierry Neuville lost more than a minute in Stage 8 in Portugal and dropped from second to seventh as he lost a wheel on the road section to SS8 and had a damaged driveshaft.
Finally, it must be mentioned that Hyundai Motorsport started very late last year to prepare its car for 2022 which means that it had less time to test it and to develop it in comparison with its rivals.
"We still have some reliability issues that we have to get through", Moncet said.
"I keep saying since the start of the season the car’s base is OK but we need to get rid of these reliability issues.
"It’s even more frustrating because we are getting better in the tire strategy and so on and weather forecasts; it’s a shame to waste all the energy from the drivers, from the team and so on for reliability mistakes.
"We see that sometimes we are a match, with the Puma we are pretty much on the same level, the Toyota a bit in front but we are not far behind – really on given circumstances we are sometimes on the same level or even ahead.
"We have excellent drivers.
"But yes the time is the time, the days are 24 hours, testing days are limited.
"We are already flat out but we all know we started later than the others and yeah we are trying to catch back but for sure it will take some time again".
Source: DirtFish.com
Photo Credits: Hyundai
Post a Comment