The team principal of Hyundai Motorsport, Cyril Abiteboul, unveils that Teemu Suninen is testing the i20N Rally1 in Finland right now and is one of the potential candidates to share the third car with Dani Sordo.
The young Finn driver secured another contract with Hyundai Motorsport N in WRC2 class and has participated in two rallies so far this season (Rally Sweden, Rally de Portugal) while his next outing will be in Sardinia next week. After Craig Breen's death on April 13, the Alzenau-based team is examining its options with the view of replacing the Irishman as Dani Sordo is not willing to take part in all the remaining WRC rounds and is committed to his partial programme. However, the team has already confirmed Sordo for Sardinia and Kenya, but it is a questionmark which driver will get behind the wheel of the i20N Rally1 in Estonia and in Finland. According to DirtFish sources, it is most likely for Suninen to compete on these fast gravel rallies while Andreas Mikkelsen, Kris Meeke and Oliver Solberg are among the potential competitors for the third WRC seat.
"We can confirm Teemu is testing in Finland in the Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid", Abuteboul said.
"Due to his knowledge of the terrain and the type of stages, it is natural that we give him some seat time in the car as part of our development program for the i20 N Rally1 Hybrid.
"Teemu is part of our pool of drivers we can call on due to his WRC2 program and this is not his first experience in the car, he has driven it previously in development testing.
"We know there have been rumors surrounded the plan with our third car for the rest of the season.
"Of course, Teemu is one of the drivers we are potentially looking to add to our line-up, but we are not in a position to confirm anything at this moment on time".
Source: DirtFish.com
Photo Credits: Hyundai
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