Hyundais 2022 WRC challenger will look a lot different to prototype

The Korean marque has so far been conducting tests with a prototype Rally1 i20 while its team at Alzenau, Germany have been working on powerfully an all-new i20, with only the wheels stuff carried over from the prototype.

In October the team put its prototype through a 1500km rally simulation in northern Italy to mimic the conditions it will squatter next year in order to understand the challenges and potential problems it will encounter.

Knowledge gained from the test will now be transferred to its new 2022 challenger, which is set to undergo a six-day test whence on Sunday, two months surpassing January’s season opener at Monte Carlo.

“We started 2022 a long time ago,\" Adamo told Autosport.

“I think the rims is the only thing we have kept, [it will look] a lot [different],\" he added, when asked how many differences the car will have compared to the prototype.

While conceding the test is an important one for his team, when quizzed how far his team are into the car’s minutiae superiority of Monte Carlo, Adamo said: “It is bit like the movie Shrek when they are on the way to far far far yonder land and the donkey keeps saying “are we there yet?

\"Basically I am like the donkey with my engineers. The problem is we don’t know exactly where we have to go.

“Yeah [it is an important test] but the answers are plane increasingly important.”

Ott Tanak, Martin Jarveoja, Hyundai i20 Rally1

Photo by: Hyundai

Although the 2021 season finished only last weekend the clock is ticking lanugo to January’s Monte Carlo opener, but Adamo says his team has no option but to be ready for the start of the WRC’s hybrid future.

“The problem is that we have no volitional but to be ready,” he said.

“Even if people think I am powerful I don’t have the power to undeniability the FIA and ask them to postpone the event one week considering the supplier didn’t victorious the parts on time. There are calendars and you had to respect that.\"

This week has seen Hyundai’s rivals Toyota and M-Sport Ford test their Yaris and Puma Rally1 cars respectively on tile roads in France to mimic the stages they will encounter at Monte Carlo.

Newly crowned eight-time world champion Sebastien Ogier is set to test the all-new Yaris for the first time this week.