Hyundai WRT

[mknight]

Yes, because being the last WRC on tarmac, when ones teammate is second or atleast fighting for the podium ( ADAC and RACC) really aren`t the indicator of drivers...its just learning for over a year....

Let's write it again, this time even more clear: All 3 Hyundai drivers won WRC rounds before.
So Let's look on the 2/3 of the team that you skipped over so fast.
Neuville won Corsica in 2017 and both him and Sordo were fighting for win in Germany in 2017 and Sordo was also in Spain.

This year Neuville was 5th or 6th (if you count Lappi) fastest on pace in Corsica, lucky to manage 3rd with both Citroens crashing. In Germany none had top 2 pace and again Neuville got really lucky with Ogier puncture and Latvala and Sordo out. In Spain they were 6th and 7th in speed, and both lost to Evans whom they easily beat in Corsica.

Their 5 year long lack of pace in Finland is something you ignored completely. "Doesn't suit the car" is what they say.

But yeah driver lineup is the main issue that they need to work on...

[Mk2 RS2000]

Think that you will find that now they have the Paddon transmission option available that the car will be a lot better performed on the faster stages.

[Mk2 RS2000]

Right from the beginning Neuville saw Paddon as a threat rather than as a team mate. I have seen it happen on an event first hand.

2015 Rally of Sardinia. Neuville was #1 in the team as lead driver and Paddon was #3 on the list driving the bitza car which was the old one only slightly updated. Paddon was leading after two day when the transmission mounting broke out of the casing and they finished day two with oil leaking everywhere and with ratchet straps and zip ties holding the transmission in place. That evening at service the crew set about with more temporary repairs in and endeavour to make the car mobile and strong enough to limp to the finish as there was no spare transmission for that car. Hayden drove brilliantly the next day and nursed the car home in second place behind Ogier and ahead of Neuville.

However, and this is where it gets interesting, when Paddon arrived back at service at the end of day two there was a spare unused upgraded transmission that was sitting there as part of Neuville's kit and the use of that transmission was vetoed by the man himself.

To put is in simple term, if Hayden did not finish the next day then Neuville would improve his placing and personal points tally.

Self before team and that is going to be very interesting to watch during 2019.

[GravelBen]

Not really. Hyundai does not have a single podium from Finland and never had podium pace there either.

No podiums, but Paddon had podium pace there this year - he was 4th while holding back for most of the rally to ensure manufacturer points after Neuville and Mikkelsen both threw it off the road behind him. It was easy to see watching it that he could have gone faster if the team didn't need maximum risk avoidance, IIRC he even commented about it being frustrating having to drive that slowly.

[racerx1979]

Too bad Paddon won't be able to run any rallies this year. Maybe he can gather enough cash to run a few events with MSport or Citroen, but I highly doubt it.

[SubaruNorway]

Too bad Paddon won't be able to run any rallies this year. Maybe he can gather enough cash to run a few events with MSport or Citroen, but I highly doubt it.

Garage is empty on his instagram story so something new is going on

[EstWRC]

didnt he say somewhere that his has strong ties with Hyundai NZ and thats why he cant go to elsewhere?

[Tarmop]

Let's write it again, this time even more clear: All 3 Hyundai drivers won WRC rounds before.
So Let's look on the 2/3 of the team that you skipped over so fast.
Neuville won Corsica in 2017 and both him and Sordo were fighting for win in Germany in 2017 and Sordo was also in Spain.

This year Neuville was 5th or 6th (if you count Lappi) fastest on pace in Corsica, lucky to manage 3rd with both Citroens crashing. In Germany none had top 2 pace and again Neuville got really lucky with Ogier puncture and Latvala and Sordo out. In Spain they were 6th and 7th in speed, and both lost to Evans whom they easily beat in Corsica.

Their 5 year long lack of pace in Finland is something you ignored completely. "Doesn't suit the car" is what they say.

But yeah driver lineup is the main issue that they need to work on...

Hyundai has never been good in Finland, true (Paddon could have gone faster this year though and now he is sacked). Then again, nothing else you say can explain why one of their main drivers is the last WRC on those rounds. Like Neuville has pointed out several times, he didn`t have his wingmen.

[er88]

Hyundai has never been good in Finland, true (Paddon could have gone faster this year though and now he is sacked). Then again, nothing else you say can explain why one of their main drivers is the last WRC on those rounds. Like Neuville has pointed out several times, he didn`t have his wingmen.

Yeah Paddon was like around 4th fastest in Finland and on a pretty good pace considering his role was to collect pts, but generally they have struggled.
Neuville and Sordo were happy with the car in Spain after the changes had been made, especially in the dry conditions. Even after the changes had been made for that event Mikkelsen was embarrassingly slow in Spain. Beaten by R5s on a full length stage is tragic.

When you look at their team, Paddon and Sordo did their job this year. It was Mikkelsen who was the disappointment. Light years behind Thierry in every department and barely scraped ahead of his team mates in the championship, despite them only doing half seasons.

So clearly Mikkelsen was a major issue this year as part of the line-up. He's not a bad driver clearly, but he had a nightmare season and with a better #2 (or a driver who could deliver in the car) Hyundai would've been much better placed to win a title or two. Even with the small deficiencies in the car.

Mikkelsen has ofcourse a few mechanical failures to point to which have to be taken into consideration that cost him pts, as well as it being his first year in the car. But he was the one who underperformed in the team considering the expectations on him, and the expectations he had on himself. Which was to try and challenge for the title. It's why he got the big contract and Paddon and Sordo got benched to give him the full season.

Next season is the biggest of his career. Hopefully they've sorted out any of the politics within the team, tailored the car more to his liking and Mikkelsen himself regains his mojo.

[GravelBen]

didnt he say somewhere that his has strong ties with Hyundai NZ and thats why he cant go to elsewhere?

Its definitely a big factor - they've been a big supporter of his career, he's their top brand ambassador in NZ and those ties are likely to continue long after his WRC days are behind him so its a practical consideration. That combined with the fact that he's a very loyal person himself, unfortunately the WRC team haven't returned that loyalty.

Not many other options though either (only really M-sport once Toyota had signed Meeke and Citroen looked like having Loeb until they cut back to 2 cars) and the Hyundai team have obviously been stringing him along with empty promises about next year in the meantime. I would love to see what he could do in the Toyota.