Hyundai’s star drivers, Thierry Neuville and Ott Tänak, have been forced to open the roads in Chile, and this has clearly affected their stage times.
Tänak is currently in fifth place in the rally, while Neuville sits in seventh.
“It was very cold out there, very slippery. We couldn’t find any grip,” Neuville lamented.
“It was really challenging, that’s for sure. We followed our approach. I tried to squeeze a little bit more throughout every stage, seeing if I could also improve the car’s setup at the end. I think we made some small steps forward, but it’s not really what we were looking for,” Neuville continued.
Tänak has had the advantage of a slightly better road position compared to his teammate, but it has still been tough for the Estonian.
“It was actually very demanding and difficult,” Tänak said.
“Personally, I really struggled in the car to find any kind of balance and feeling,” he added.
Hyundai’s car has behaved very differently on various surfaces throughout the season, and the same has been true in Chile.
“It’s been like this all year, actually. In the rough rallies, where it’s more abrasive, the car feels fine and I can drive. But when it’s this kind of smooth surface, where you don’t have mechanical grip, it’s hard to find a setup in the car with a good balance,” Tänak explained.
