It’s not a new problem – the issue has plagued Hyundai’s rally cars for quite some time. The car can perform excellently in certain rallies and conditions, but in others, it simply doesn’t behave the way the drivers would hope.
The Rally1 car from Hyundai requires relentless fine-tuning to get the setup just right in order to extract maximum performance.
“It’s the way we are at the moment — again, the window is quite small where the car is working,” Hyundai’s star driver Ott Tänak said.
“And obviously, we change the characteristics, we change the surface, and it’s like a new car for me. That’s why I say every morning as well, it takes a bit of time to get used to the car again. It’s just generally not so natural for myself,” Tänak added.
Still, Tänak is aware that the problem isn’t always the car. Sometimes, the issue lies between the seat and the steering wheel.
“But the teammates have been doing okay. They haven’t been complaining so much, so it’s probably a bit to do with me as well,” Tänak admitted candidly.
Tänak couldn’t pinpoint one specific aspect of the car that isn’t working.
“I guess it’s a couple of things together, but generally, in a rally car you expect to have a bit wider window — for the car to be working a bit everywhere. But ours is, for me, just a bit too picky. And it can change a lot, basically even from stage to stage,” he explained.
The World Rally Championship continues after Midsummer with the Acropolis Rally in Greece. By then, Hyundai needs to find some kind of solution – although Tänak isn’t holding out hope for any silver bullets.
“I don’t know. We’ve been working on it for four years, so it’s always been the story,” Tänak said bluntly.
“For sure, this new chassis has helped us in some areas, especially in low grip conditions. But there are some other things which are still needed,” he added.
Toyota has won all six rallies of the season so far – and that’s no coincidence. Tänak likely would have taken victory in Portugal were it not for a power steering failure.
“Obviously, Toyota has set the bar really high — technically and also with the drivers. They are super strong. So obviously, we need to go to the best level as well. Otherwise, they are very difficult to beat. That’s just the level it is in this job,” said the 2019 world champion.
