Arch-rival Toyota has made a dream start to the rally season, securing maximum points from both Monte-Carlo and Sweden. While there are still 12 rounds left to contest, Hyundai has already fallen 48 points behind.
“It’s clearly not a great season start. Starting with two 1-2 from our direct competitors – and in particular with the new points scoring system it has a big implication,” said Hyundai team boss Cyril Abiteboul.
“The positive is for sure it’s (the competition) very tight. But it’s obviously one thing to be tight ahead or tight behind. And right now we’re tight behind.”
However, Abiteboul does not believe that Toyota’s winning streak will last forever. With the competition so intense, every little detail must be examined carefully.
“But I think it’s also clear that it’s going to be down to details this year. It’s going to be tight as ever with the car tight as ever with drivers. So it’s going to be down to the way you execute your weekend.”
“And in that respect, we’ve not been perfect. Adrien has made some mistakes, Ott has had his Saturday in particular hampered by by some engine difficulty. So we know what we need to do,” Abiteboul added, referring to Rally Sweden a little over a week ago.
The French team principal emphasises that from the next round, Safari Rally Kenya, Hyundai must perform consistently without sacrificing pace.
“It’s not like we are miles behind and the performance and competitiveness is not there. I think we simply need to sort out what we need to do to have clean weekends, simple weekend,” Abiteboul stressed.
“And it’s very clear that we can’t be in the past. And also let’s wait a more representative rally. We always know that those first two rallies are never the most representative ones. So let’s see when we get to our usual rallies in gravel.”
