Dani Sordo and Marc Martí became the best classified Hyundau crew in the first round of the 2017 World Rally Championship. At Rally Monte Carlo’s finish the Spaniards were fourth in the standings but the potential was obviously bigger. The new Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC scored a total of seven wins out of the 15 contested stages.
“It has not been a good rally for us but there have been positive signs for the rest of the season”, Dani Sordo said.
“The stage win [on the last day of the race] was good for the confidence and we were able to close the gap to [Craig] Breen. There wasn’t much between us going into the Power Stage but the conditions were really terrible in the mountains. Unbelievable! All we could do was minimise the time loss. Thankfully it was enough to hold onto fourth and to score some important Manufacturer points.”
Dani Sordo: “The team has put in a lot of hard work on our new car and from the speed we showed this morning, it’s definitely competitive”
“We need to use all of the encouraging aspects of the weekend in Monte Carlo and look for a better weekend in Sweden.”
Team Principal Michel Nandan added that Monte Carlo was an exciting start to the season.
“We may not have the result we wanted, but we were able to take something out of the weekend”, he continued. “Both crews performed strongly. Dani finished fourth to take important manufacturer points and Thierry Neuville dominated the Power Stage. It’s not easy to fight back after disappointment.”
“The Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC has shown itself to be a contender this season. We have seen some positive trends from the car’s performance level. They are a reflection on the hard efforts of our team, who have worked tirelessly on this project. It has been a joy to see such global support of WRC. With three different manufacturers inside the top-four in Monte-Carlo, the 2017 season is set to be a classic.”
TC17: Increíble. Era importante sumar puntos de Marcas y las condiciones eran muy malas. It was important to take some Manufacturer points.
— Dani Sordo (@DaniSordo) 22 January 2017
