At the head of Hyundai, Cyril Abiteboul has very specific objectives

Nommé directeur d’Hyundai Motorsport en janvier dernier, Cyril Abiteboul has his work cut out for this new mission. If he was not expected at Monte-Carlo by his leaders as the timing was tight, the French leader knows that the Rally of Sweden (February 9-12) will be a completely different story.

With more than two weeks to prepare for the Swedish round, the only one contested on snow this year, Cyril Abiteboul focused on a very specific area of ​​work to improve: the efficiency of his troops. He is not pointing out a bad organization but the former main team of Renault en F1 thinks his men can do even better.

« In the short term, I would say my goal will be to improve the overall effectiveness of the team, he emphasizes. The situation is not bad, but with the very long hours and routines (on rallies), I think we can slightly improve our processes to ensure we have the right level of energy and concentration at the important moments . This may impact the team's overall performance at the end of the weekend »

Outre l’efficacité de l’ensemble de l’équipe, Cyril Abiteboul a identifié un autre point à améliorer pour cette saison 2023 : le niveau de performance de la i20, un peu trop juste pour tenir tête à la Yaris de Toyota. " We need to provide answers with a clear roadmap for the development of the car to make it more competitive, especially on asphalt., he continues. So far we have only seen asphalt. It will be interesting to see how competitive the car is on a different surface, but that is in the medium to long term »

In Sweden, Cyril Abiteboul will be able to rely on his holders Thierry Neuville and Esapekka Lappi but also on Craig Breen which will make its comeback at Hyundai.

ALSO READ > Éric Camilli aims for a return to WRC2 for 2024