Nandan: “This shouldn’t happen”

Hyundai Motorsport is struggling at the end of the 2nd stage of the Rally from Sweden. While the Korean brand hoped to establish itself with Thierry Neuville who had a lead of 43 seconds over Jari-Matti Latvala (Toyota), the Belgian made a mistake in the Karlstad super special which closed the day.

Wheel torn off, the vice-world champion had to dismount. A situation identical to that experienced at Monte-Carlo last month where he retired while dominating the event.

“It's easy to say it's part of rallying, but it shouldn't happen in a super special when you have a lead of 43 seconds, commented the Monegasque. It's disappointing for the whole team and obviously for Thierry and Nicolas (Gilsoul) after these performances. Until this stage, they did everything well by controlling and increasing their lead. The Rally2 will allow them to quickly turn the page. »

“We have to focus on the potential of our car despite the problems encountered at the start of the season. Our crews are resilient. We saw it this morning with Hayden (Paddon) and John (Kennard) who had their power steering issues”, underlined Michel Nandan.

Hyundai is now banking on Dani Sordo who occupies 4th place a good distance from Sébastien Ogier (Ford). Hayden Paddon is in 7th position.