This season, Suninen is competing in the WRC2 class with the French team CHL Sport Auto, driving for Hyundai. The Finnish driver is set to kick off his season at Rally Portugal in May.
Additionally, Suninen serves as a test driver for Hyundai. He recently had the chance to test the reliability of Hyundai’s Rally2 car on some particularly rough gravel roads.
“This place is also quite demanding for the engine because the RPM is going up and down. The engine has to be really torquey and easy to drive,” Suninen explains in a video released by Hyundai.
“The main target is reliability in rough conditions. And then we are tuning the engine so that we could have more torque and power in the rallies.”
The testing not only puts the car to the test but also challenges the driver.
“We are basically trying to destroy the car. It’s also quite hard on the body to do this two or three days in a row,” Suninen describes.
Hyundai’s Rally2 car has been slightly behind its competitors in terms of performance in recent years. However, the team aims to level the playing field with the likes of Skoda.
This requires thorough work from the entire team.
“It’s super important to be open-minded and open with the feedback also with teammates, because, in the end, we’re a pretty small team. It’s important to share information and ensure good teamwork,” Suninen emphasizes.
