Andrew Wheatley (Hyundai) calls for a "fight like lions" after Neuville's mistake

The scenario is cruel. Hyundai They knew upon arriving in Croatia that victory would not be a given — the Korean team themselves admitted they had not "the ultimate speed to win this rally ». Thierry Neuville Martijn Wydaeghe and his teammates managed the feat of taking the lead in the rally, before seeing their hopes dashed on the final stage. Having survived SS14, which saw several drivers suffer punctures—including Takamoto Katsuta and Sami Pajari, who was in contention for the win—the Belgian driver held a more than comfortable lead going into the final stage. However, he slipped on a corner and took the wrong road, hitting his Hyundai i20 and destroying his tire and right front suspension.

Andrew Wheatley does not hide the pain of the moment: "They've worked incredibly hard. Not just today, not yesterday, but for the past three months trying to build up the rhythm, over and over again.""He explained this to AUTOhebdo. The sporting director nevertheless places this disappointment in a broader context. The weeks leading up to Croatia had been complicated for Hyundai, with problems during testing that could have impacted race performance."

This was ultimately not the case, and Wheatley sees this as an encouraging sign: “Yesterday (Saturday, editor's note) we saw a good stage. Thierry took a big step and the team took a big step. On this surface, we felt that we were starting to get a feel for the performance we needed to achieve.” A real step forward, even if it wasn't enough to bring back the hoped-for result.

Paddon on the podium and the promise of a strong comeback

In this bleak picture, Andrew Wheatley clings to two positive points. The first is the podium finish achieved by Hayden Paddon and John Kennard, which he describes as "Fantastic story"The second, more fundamental one, is the conviction that the team's development dynamic is heading in the right direction. "It's not about what we do today, because today is over. It's about what we do tomorrow. We need to take 12 hours to calm down, and tomorrow morning we need to fight—really, really fight, like lions."

Because, he warns, the championship will get more complicated before it gets better. Hyundai is betting on a surge in performance in the second half of the season, confident that the progress made will eventually translate into results. The next event, the Canary Islands Rally from April 23rd to 26th, will be the first test of this resilience.

Interview conducted by Pierre Barré, in Croatia.

ALSO READ > Thierry Neuville sees victory slipping away in Croatia: "Rallying can strike right up to the last moment"