Cyril Abiteboul's first evening at Hyundai

Disputed at night in the Nice hinterland, the hors d'oeuvre of this 91^e Monte-Carlo (January 19-22) offered 2 specials and 40,02 km timed. Late Thursday evening in the port of Monaco, Cyril Abiteboul expressed his feelings about this first experience in the skin of Hyundai director. " I'm happy to have experienced this starthe explained. I am gradually getting into the role and into the sport. »

With cars ranked only 4^e, 6^e and 8^e, the Frenchman, however, could not display a big smile. “ We are further than we thought, he analyzed. There is clearly Sébastien Ogier which is unassailable. It is not our target for the championship, but it is still a reference and we must take it into account. The other targets are all attackable and there were some very good moments. From memory, the sectors, sorry the split, 1, 2, 4 and 5 of Thierry (Neuville, Editor’s note) were very strong since they are as competitive as Ogier. I still find it encouraging, even though he came out on the same bend as a lot of people. »

After giving the Belgian some good points, Abiteboul immediately pointed out things to improve and he was more reserved regarding the performance of his two other crews. “ There are a couple of things we need to understand about note-taking, he said. Progress zones exist. We see that the car and the package with the driver can be competitive.

For Esapekka Lappi, the objective was for him to rack up the kilometers. It was complicated to start at night for him who only completed one session  (only 1 day of testing on asphalt, Editor’s note). This is the goal of the weekend, but it will have to improve quickly.

Regarding Dani Sordo, I think I'm a little disappointed. There were times when we saw that he could do better. It's been irregular. Dani lost quite a few seconds in SS1, so I think he needs to get back into the rhythm. We're all going to give ourselves a little time...but not too much. »

Adaptation period

Découvrant les charmes de devoir suivre les évolutions de ses équipages par écrans interposés, le néo-directeur de Hyundai se montrait sans concession.

« I found this very frustrating, he revealed. I'm not going to talk about it all the time, but in relation to where I come from (Abiteboul was team principal Renault F1 between 2017 and 2020 in particular, Editor’s note). We have little information. I want to see how we can have more and I even think we should have more.

I research things in real time, continuously... I would like to understand a little more where we are wasting time and where we are gaining it. In the competitor/competitor analysis, I want to understand what separates us and where we need to work. I want to do it, but I need to know where.

When Thierry made his exit, we didn't see if it was serious or not, the connection froze at that moment without knowing if it was him who was no longer moving or if it was the camera who had a problem. It seems to me that there is a lot of latency on the GPS and on the times as well.

I tried to take partials with my phone and I noticed that there were 30s with the information we have about our services on the web platform which gives us the times... All this is slightly frustrating, even if we are in rally, that it takes place in the mountains… but it seems to me that we should push a little to do better.

We can be in the narrative of this discipline and the adventure, but at the same time be interested in what new technologies offer. »

If the arrival of Cyril Abiteboul has satisfied those in need of change at Hyundai, it appears that the latter does not only intend to shake things up in his team.

ALSO READ > Cyril Abiteboul: “Rallying is part of Hyundai’s DNA”