holmes on the case

HOLMES ON THE CASE:
HYUNDAI PREPARES FOR 2015
Martin Holmes
2015 is going to be a massively busy year for Hyundai
Motorsport in the World Rally Championship, including
running the 2014 model cars for an as-yet undefined period
before moving on to the new 2015 Coupe i20 model.
O
“It will be an
even harder act
to follow in 2015.”
n Thursday evening Michel
Nandan, Hyundai Motorsport
Director exclusively explained the
issues facing the team in the last
two weeks of 2014 to Motorsport
Monday’s Rallies Editor Martin
Holmes, helping to clear up various uncertainties for those of us
not personally involved in their
championship attack.
The first thing we asked was,
what were the technical rule
changes applicable for the
2015-2016 seasons, apart from
the chance of teams to have a
clean sheet of paper regarding
the “jokers” (the permitted homologated changes) before the
new formula comes into operation in 2017-2019.
Nandan was very forthcoming,
“From the regulation side not
so much, the regulation is the
same as this year. Lightweight
dashboards are allowed, so are
homologations of lightweight
headlight, fitting paddle shifts
and I think that is it. If you make
a new homologation for your
2015 cars, as opposed simply to
modifying your existing models,
you can make other changes.
“Everybody
wishes to keep 1.6
litre turbo.”
For example, Volkswagen will
use their new homologation
to give them a chance to run
with a lighter engine block. This
change was already allowed
this year [2014] if applied for. If
the engine is under the regulation minimum weight then you
can add ballast. The ballast is
then homologated with the engine but of course you can locate the ballast around the engine in the best place you like.
We at Hyundai are not applying for a new homologation for
the 2014 car. In addition to the
three changes we spoke about
there are some other items
related to engine but which is
Hyundai’s presence in the service park
has been emphasised by their huge
4,500 ft2 team motorhome and garage.
PHOTO: Hyundai Motorsport
Nandan was also open but a
little more circumspect when
talking about the new i20 Coupe.
still not defined. There will also
probably be something related
to the rear suspension. Nothing more really. We have one
old available joker to use on the
old car in January on the engine
and then we will have two or
three jokers in March, but it is
still not yet finalised because it
is still under testing and investigation. From what I know only
Volkswagen and Citroën are
planning new homologations in
time for Monte Carlo [2015], but
Hayden Paddon will have an
increased program with a
minimum of ten WRC rally starts.
not Hyundai or Ford? We will have
two new body shells for Monte
Carlo and then we see what happens. Probably we will also have a
spare car, not yet decided.”
The biggest question on our
lips was of course what was
the latest position with Hyundai’s new 2015 rally car, the i20
Coupe. Here, the Frenchman
Michel Nandan, Hyundai
was also open but a little more
circumspect in his answer. “At
the moment we have started
to do some development tests
and will continue at the beginning of next year. From then
we will see when it will be suitable for us to introduce the car.
Nothing is fixed at the moment,
no date is fixed, because first
we want to run this new car to
see where we are in terms of
competitiveness, compared to
the existing car and from there
we will decide when it is suitable for us to introduce it. We
don’t want to rush to do this
car. We prefer to take the time
we need and to introduce the
car when it is working fine. No
tests have yet been carried out
on a Coupe car. We hope it will
start to run a Coupe in February. All the work so far have
been carried out with a prototype, it is not a modified old i20
car or a Coupe type. There have
also been some pictures on the
internet of a Hyundai i30 rally
car, but that is nothing to do
with us.”
In the last week, Hyundai Motorsport has revealed their final
driver line-up for 2015 including
being told that Hayden Paddon
will have an increased program
with a minimum of ten WRC rally starts. The program is understood to start after Monte Carlo
next month but we don’t know
if Dani Sordo has yet been confirmed for all the 13 rallies. We
wanted to know what the actual situation is about filling the
seat for the missing rallies.
Nandan was now starting to get
cagy, “At the moment I don’t
know. I am waiting to see if it is
possible to do something unexpected, like being ready if we
wanted sometimes to have a
driver which is an expert in some
surface or some events, but
at the moment nothing is decided. We are still good friends
with Juho Hänninen and Bryan
We are to have some meetings
to talk about this in January
with the FIA. Our position is a
bit similar with the other manufacturers. We would like to
keep as much as possible from
the actual regulation especially
on the engine side. Everybody
wishes to keep 1.6 litre turbo,
because new engines are very
expensive to develop. I think
this established so this is ok.
Concerning the proposed move
towards new technology, this is
We don’t know if Dani Sordo has yet been
more in the hands of FIA. That
Looking further forwards, we
confirmed for all the 13 rallies in 2015.
wanted to know what Hyundai’s sort of technology decisions is
driven by FIA so let’s wait and
position is regarding the proposed new World Rally Car for- see what FIA will decide.”
New Year. Some of you will
mula for 2017-2019. What did
remember that this time last
There we have it! Seeing the
he think was going to happen,
year, he simply and glibly spoke
success that Hyundai Motorand, most importantly, what
about the hope of gaining the
does Hyundai want to happen? sport achieved in their maiden
occasionally representative
World rally Championship seaspecial stages time.
His answer was surprisingly
son, it will be an even harder
honest and practical, rather
act to follow in 2015. This is
Got that one badly underestithan revealing any secret hywhy we did not dare to ask
mated. Journo motto: never ask
brid strategy, “At the moment
Michel what he predicted that
a question if you are not going
we don’t know the regulations. the team could achieve in the
to be told a helpful answer!
Bouffier but have no plans yet
for them. Regarding Paddon, we
are planning again to register a
second “N” team for the world
championship, of course but
realise because of his position
in a WRC Team as opposed to a
Manufacturer team this creates
limitations on things like testing.
He can only have one test day
per event. He starts the season
anyway with the 2014 car and he
will continue with the 2014 car.”
Seeing the success that Hyundai Motorsport achieved in
their maiden World rally Championship season (winning
in Germany) it will be an even harder act to follow in 2015.