Adamo: “We should have finished better” in Mexico

Hyundai Motorsport was struggling at the Rally from Mexico. If the crews seemed able to offer the Korean manufacturer a first victory in this event, they lacked success with poor reliability which hit Dani Sordo and Thierry Neuville. The Spaniard retired definitively at the end of the first stage with an engine problem while the Belgian had to restart in Rally2 following an electrical problem.

“It was a difficult rally for Hyundai Motorsport, confides the vice-champion. Unfortunately, we were hit by technical problems during the first stage and found ourselves behind. It's hard to take but it's part of motorsport. We still showed good performances, showing ourselves able to fight for victory. »

“We wanted to get back into battle after the troubles of the previous day and that's what we managed to do on Saturday, confided the one who signed 8 scratches (including 6 in super special). I tried to attack as much as possible. We will work hard together to avoid the kind of problems we encountered this weekend and we will come back stronger. »

After falling to 8th place by breaking a suspension in the first stage of the Rally Mexico, Ott Tänak was able to move up to second place and give some cheer to Hyundai.

“It cannot be denied that it was a difficult and complicated rally from many points of view, expressed team principal Andrea Adamo. We should have finished better and we failed to manage what I would call an evolution in the car's performance. We must analyze our mistakes in order to avoid them in the future and optimize our return. The season is still long. I'm sure Ott would have been able to go for victory without his accident on Friday and he was still able to take second place, a valuable result for the team. Thierry also had an incredible weekend but unfortunately couldn't bring home a deserved result because of our mistake and he didn't deserve that. »

Hyundai is now 21 points behind Toyota. Thierry Neuville slipped to 3rd in the championship, 20 points behind the new leader Sébastien Ogier (Toyota) winner for the 6th time in Mexico while Ott Tänak is still only in 5th place, 24 points behind the six-time champion.

Discover the analysis of the Rally of Mexico carried out by our special correspondent in issue 2259 of AUTOhebdo, available from Monday evening in digital version on all platforms, and from this Wednesday on newsstands.