http://rallyestonia.com/hyundai-moto...rally-estonia/ H.Paddon/S.Marshall will start in Rally Estonia 2018, with Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC.
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http://rallyestonia.com/hyundai-moto...rally-estonia/ H.Paddon/S.Marshall will start in Rally Estonia 2018, with Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC.
He should do some asphalt rallies instead...
Hyundai Motorsport announce new President https://rallysportmag.com/hyundai-mo...esident050318/
In light of the performance of Hayden's car at Finland I am surprised that no one has commented on the changes that have been engineered into it
Or about how poor Mikkelsen was in comparison (not just this rally but others as well compared to Sordo). I just get the feeling that Hyundai have thrown their weight behind Mikkelsen prematurely compared to Sordo and Paddon, but don't see them changing their minds.
Obviously at this rally Mikkelsen had the worst road position for all but few friday stages (when the car was in one piece), even then on friday he was 5th on the road while Paddon was 11th.
The season so far has obviously been quite bad from Mikkelsen (especially compared with his 3 rallies with Hyundai last year). Paddon did his first very good result of the season here. (on Sardinia he "suffered" 4th place, a bit like Mikkelsen did in Mexico).
Compared on the rallies they competed:
Sweden - Mikkelsen faster
Portugal - next to each other after a few stages, then Mikkelsen retired with technical issues and Paddon crashed
Sardinia - Mikkelsen faster, retired due to gearbox
Finland - Paddon faster
Sordo is doing very good this year (except on Monte), but he also did not start on the rallies that he typically did bad on (Sweden, Finland). Also compared to last year he does not have technical issues, which seem to have moved to Mikkelsen (3 technical DNFS from 3rd, 4th and 1st position).
So if at the moment Hyundai should pick 3 cars out of those 4. It would be Neuville, Mikkelsen and Sordo.
The Hyundai always looks to me that it's fighting an inherent imbalance in the chassis. It looks overly roll stiff in the rear....Neuville has found a way to set it up/drive it that works for him, but the others seem to not be able to be consistent with it.
Mikkelsen said in an intervu that he struggle to get the right feeling in the car, they don't thrust the car at the stages.
In tests it feels good, than on the stages it feels different.
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Strange how he was so fast in the first few rallies he did with it last year, and now after so many events all confidence in the car seems to be gone. When we saw him passing by on the stages in Finland I was always disappointed...
@mknight, about starting positions... Tänak was 3rd on the road on friday and still quickest.
Added some extra comments to yours above.
Sordo has been driving his best in a long time, but I don't think Mikkelsen has been as good as the team expected him to be.
Finland is the first rally with the new front diff which Paddon has been wanting for quite a while, it will be interesting to see if they have any other developments to come during the season.