Hyundai Shell rally team set for WRC debut at Monte Carlo

In just over a year since its establishment, Hyundai Motorsport is ready to join the ranks of the competitive FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) next week with two Hyundai i20 WRC cars entered into the prestigious Rallye Monte-Carlo, round one of the 13-rally 2014 WRC season.

The Alzenau-based Hyundai Shell World Rally Team will line up against experienced opposition in the gruelling Monte-Carlo event with just six months of testing under its belt – a total of 8,000km amassed over 16 test sessions in Europe. Rallye Monte-Carlo will therefore act as a continuation of the team’s impressive learning curve as it adapts to the rigours of the WRC.

As a brand new entrant to the WRC, Rallye Monte-Carlo will mark the first appearance of the Hyundai Shell World Rally Team and the Hyundai i20 WRC in the series and will also herald the competitive debuts of Belgians Thierry Neuville and Nicolas Gilsoul, as well as Spaniards Dani Sordo and Marc Martí behind the wheel of their respective Hyundai i20 WRCs.

Rallye Monte-Carlo represents an enormous challenge for the nascent team being one of the trickiest and toughest rounds on the WRC calendar. Despite its inspiring achievements to date in preparing two Hyundai i20 WRC cars for competition in such a short space of time, the Hyundai Shell World Rally Team has set realistic objectives for the initial rallies of 2014: to accumulate as much mileage as possible with both cars and to gain valuable experience in competition. Each rally will mark another important step forward in the team’s ongoing development.

A classic in the WRC calendar, Rallye Monte-Carlo celebrates its 82^nd edition this year with the first being held back in 1911. This year’s edition features the return of the event to the Haute-Alpes region with an itinerary that includes 15 stages, totalling 383.88 kilometres of competitive tarmac stages run over three days. The changeable weather means the stages are incredibly treacherous making tyre choice a fundamental key to success on this event. Crews will have 40 tyres available (plus five for Shakedown) – supplied by the team’s technical partner Michelin – to choose from among four different compounds. With no Rally 2 regulations – which allow restarting after a retirement on the following day – Rallye Monte-Carlo will be an even trickier affair which requires drivers to be extremely careful as a single mistake could mean the end of the event.

Rallye Monte-Carlo gets underway on Monday, January 13 with the traditional Ceremonial Start in the Principality’s glamorous Place du Casino. However, the real action will start on Wednesday with the Shakedown followed by the first proper day of competition on Thursday.