Misplaced Pages

#596403

29-564: The team has twice won the World Rally Championship for Manufacturers, in 2019 and 2020. For sponsorship purposes it has been known to vary its name when entering the WRC. The Hyundai Motor Sport division entered into the 2-litre World Rally Cup in the WRC (also known as Formula 2 or F2 cup) in 1998 and 1999. The entry was run by British company Motor Sport Development (MSD), with David Whitehead as team principal. An attempt at

58-467: A launching pad into World championship careers, led by Gilles Panizzi and Philippe Bugalski and later emerging French talent Sébastien Loeb . The series started in 1993, then named the FIA Cup for Manufacturers of Touring Cars (2-Litre) with the series following Group A rules for front wheel drive vehicles, a maximum engine capacity of 2 litres and a single driven axle. General Motors Europe were

87-474: A single event. 1995 saw the series begin to take off with manufacturers building or upgrading their cars to Kit Car spec. Reigning champions Skoda replaced the Favorit with the new Felicia KC , and initially entered it in both 1300 and 1500cc form. Citroën entered a ZX 16v Kit Car , whilst their French rivals Peugeot and Renault entered their 306 Maxi and Clio Maxi cars respectively. SEAT completed

116-586: Is known to be very difficult for non-Nordic drivers. The first driver to win the Swedish Rally who wasn't from Sweden or Finland was Frenchman Sébastien Loeb in 2004 ; Frenchman Sébastien Ogier was the second non-Nordic winner (with wins in 2013, 2015 and 2016), with Belgian Thierry Neuville and Estonian Ott Tänak also recording wins in 2018 and 2019 respectively. Spaniard Carlos Sainz finished second four times and third two times. The rally has been cancelled three times; in 1974 due to

145-534: Is located in the town of Torsby , which is actually much closer to the special stages than Karlstad. The competition is spread out over three days with the start of the first part on Friday morning and the finish on Sunday afternoon. In 1973 the rally was introduced to the World Rally Championship and started to get international attention; the Swedish Rally has been also traditionally the only rally held on snow . Like Rally Finland , this rally

174-614: The 1998 Rally of Great Britain , with a second-place finish for Jarmo Kytolehto . The Peugeot 306 Maxi inched closer to an outright WRC victory, running competitive times all through the Monte Carlo Rally , Rallye Catalunya and Rallye Sanremo with Francois Delecour finishing second on the Tour de Corse only beaten by Colin McRae's Subaru. In 1999, Renault won the title by seven points from Hyundai, but with only three teams left in

203-535: The 2002 season , Hyundai hired the four-time world champion Juha Kankkunen , along with Freddy Loix and Armin Schwarz . Kankkunen's fifth place in New Zealand was the team's best result, but it managed to edge out Škoda and Mitsubishi by one point in the battle for fourth place in the manufacturers' world championship . In September 2003, after a season hampered by budget constraints, Hyundai withdraw from

232-561: The Super 1600 class, which formed the basis of the Junior World Rally Championship in 2001. The most successful manufacturer was SEAT , who won the title three times in a row with their SEAT Ibiza Kit Car. As the 1990s progressed the 2 litre cars proved to be exceptional tarmac rally cars. With more engine freedoms and lighter weights they could match, even beat the turbo 4WD Group A and WRC cars. In particular

261-1129: The Tour de Corse beating all the WRC cars. Rally Sweden The Rally Sweden ( Swedish : Svenska rallyt ), formerly the KAK-Rally , the International Swedish Rally , and later the Uddeholm Swedish Rally , is an automobile rally competition held in February in Värmland , Sweden and relocated to Umeå in 2022. First held in 1950 , as a summer rally called the Rally to the Midnight Sun ( Swedish : Midnattssolsrallyt ) with start and finish at separate locations, seventeen years later both start and finish became located in Karlstad . The main service park

290-437: The oil crisis , in 1990 because of the mild weather and in 2021 due to COVID-19 pandemic . The rally was also not held in 2009 due to the WRC's round rotation system. Weather continues to be a concern, as rising global temperatures reduce the likelihood of appropriately snowy conditions every year. The 2005 event was one of the warmest ever, turning many stages into mud and destroying the special studded snow tires used by

319-551: The 1600cc Saxo Kit Car and 106 Maxi respectively. Gilles Panizzi caused a major upset when he finished third outright on the all-tarmac Rallye Catalunya in his Peugeot 306 Maxi, defeating all bar two of the World Championship cars. To prove it was not a fluke Panizzi did the same on the Tour de Corse just weeks later with team mate François Delecour finishing fourth. This emphasised a split in W2L car production with

SECTION 10

#1732797693597

348-1486: The 2019 Manufacturer's Title after Rally Catalunya as Rally Australia was called off amid widespread bush fires in the area. 1973   Alpine-Renault 1974   Lancia 1975   Lancia 1976   Lancia 1977   Fiat 1978   Fiat 1979   Ford 1980   Fiat 1981   Talbot 1982   Audi 1983   Lancia 1984   Audi 1985   Peugeot 1986   Peugeot 1987   Lancia 1988   Lancia 1989   Lancia 1990   Lancia 1991   Lancia 1992   Lancia 1993   Toyota 1994   Toyota 1995   Subaru 1996   Subaru 1997   Subaru 1998   Mitsubishi 1999   Toyota 2000   Peugeot 2001   Peugeot 2002   Peugeot 2003   Citroën 2004   Citroën 2005   Citroën 2006   Ford 2007   Ford 2008   Citroën 2009   Citroën 2010   Citroën 2011   Citroën 2012   Citroën 2013   Volkswagen 2014   Volkswagen 2015   Volkswagen 2016   Volkswagen 2017   M-Sport 2018   Toyota 2019   Hyundai 2020   Hyundai 2021   Toyota 2022   Toyota 2023   Toyota 2024   Toyota FIA 2-Litre World Rally Cup The FIA 2-Litre World Rally Cup

377-524: The Escort with the Escort Maxi Kit Car . In 1997, SEAT won the title by 70 points, ahead of Skoda in second place, with the latter company debuting their Skoda Octavia Kit Car . Also building kit cars for the first time in 1997 were Hyundai , with their Hyundai Coupe Kit Car , whilst Nissan entered a 1300cc Micra Kit Car and a 2000cc Almera GTI Kit Car , with Citroën and Peugeot entering

406-473: The French manufacturers building tarmac specialised cars that could win outright at the cost of making them uncompetitive on gravel events. With several national championships in western Europe running all-tarmac series it became a viable option. In 1998, SEAT won the title, making it three back-to-back titles, whilst runners-up Peugeot finished 12 points behind. Vauxhall / Opel debuted their Astra Kit Car at

435-462: The WRC ending the partnership with MSD and vowing to form their own in-house operation to return in 2006. At the 2012 Paris Motor Show, Hyundai announced that it would be returning to the WRC for 2014, eight years later than planned, using the i20 model built to World Rally Car specifications. Hyundai nominated Juho Hänninen , Bryan Bouffier and Chris Atkinson as the official test drivers for 2013. On 19 December 2012, Hyundai Motorsport GmbH

464-631: The car to fifth place in New Zealand and fourth in Australia . In 2001 , Hyundai debuted a new evolution of the Accent WRC, which was intended to improve reliability, but the performance of the car was still not good enough to challenge the four big teams ( Ford World Rally Team , Mitsubishi , Peugeot and Subaru ). However, at the season-ending Rally GB , the team achieved their best result with McRae finishing fourth and Eriksson sixth. For

493-572: The category (one of whom, Volkswagen, were not classified as they had not homologated their new Golf GTI Kit Car ), it was phased out at the end of the season. The class was eventually replaced by the Super 1600 -spec Junior World Rally Championship , and the Super 2000 -spec Production World Rally Championship . The need for replacement regulations was emphasised when Philippe Bugalski took his tarmac optimised Citroën Xsara Kit Car to victory in Rallye Catalunya and three weeks later

522-782: The flagship Manufacturers Championship was not possible as they did not have a suitable car, and MSD took on the dual mandate of running the Hyundai Coupe in the cup whilst developing a World Rally Car . In September 1999, the Accent WRC , based on the Hyundai Accent , was unveiled with a view to make a debut in the following season. The Hyundai World Rally Team debuted the car at the 2000 Swedish Rally and achieved their first top-ten result at that year's Rally Argentina , when Alister McRae and Kenneth Eriksson finished seventh and eighth, respectively. Eriksson later drove

551-751: The kit cars built by the French manufacturers Peugeot and Citroën would prove real threats on the Tour de Corse each year as increasingly they become more like circuit racing cars and less like all-terrain rally cars. With the French Rally Championship increasingly being held on tarmac only events the Peugeot 306 Maxis and Citroën Xsara Kit Cars would become optimised for the domestic and European championships leaving them less competition in World Rally events held on snow or gravel events. Their ability to snatch wins away from WRC teams became

580-550: The manufacturers’ championship. New regulations for the 2017 season saw the birth of the Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC. Hyundai announced a crew line up of Neuville and Gilsoul, Sordo and Martí, Paddon and Kennard. Paddon was later joined by new co-driver Seb Marshall . Andreas Mikkelsen and co-driver Anders Jæger later signed for three events. Neuville scored four wins and eight podiums in 2017, again finishing runner up to Ogier, who had switched to M-Sport . Hyundai finished second in

609-475: The manufacturers’ standings for the second consecutive year. At the season launch at Autosport International , Hyundai unveiled its 2018 crew line-up. Neuville and Mikkelsen would compete in every round, with Sordo and Paddon alternating events. Sordo was reunited with his previous co-driver Carlos del Barrio for the season. A four-car entry for Rally Portugal ensured equal appearances for Sordo and Paddon. Neuville secured three wins and claimed six podiums, but

SECTION 20

#1732797693597

638-478: The most successful team that year, with Skoda finishing runner-up. The rally victories were spread across several manufacturers; GME took the majority of the victories, with seven, whilst several other manufacturers won a single event; Renault (with a seemingly unsuitable R18 GTX ), Skoda and Lada all achieving this. For late 1994, the rules were changed to allow Kit Cars to compete, essentially these were modified F2 vehicles, permitting more modifications over

667-407: The new entries with their Ibiza Kit Car . Peugeot were the victors at the end of the season, as GME were not classified. In 1996, SEAT won the title by nine points, ahead of Renault in second place, with the latter company debuting their Renault Megane Maxi . Suzuki built a Baleno Kit Car , and entered it in the 1996 Rally Australia , without success, whilst Ford released an updated version of

696-515: The standard F2/Group A rules. Ford debuted their Ford Escort RS2000 Kit Car, which made its WRC debut at that year's Network Q RAC Rally. With the series now renamed the FIA 2-Litre World Cup for Manufacturers , Skoda took the title with their Favorit model, despite it only being a 1300cc class car. The event wins were spread much more evenly than they had been the year before; Skoda, GME and Renault all won two events each, whilst Ford and Nissan won

725-651: The team for six rallies. Neuville was the first driver to score a top-three finish for Hyundai in WRC. He finished third in Rally México . He and Hyundai also took the team's first victory at that year's Rallye Deutschland . For the 2015 WRC season, Neuville, Sordo, and Paddon returned to pilot the Hyundai i20 WRC. All three drivers added to the team's podium tally at Rally Sweden (Neuville), Rally Italia Sardegna (Neuville, Paddon), and Rally de España (Sordo). Dutch driver Kevin Abbring competed in five events for

754-571: The team. Hyundai Motorsport finished third in the manufacturers’ championship. 2016 saw Hyundai Motorsport regularly challenging for podiums and victories. Paddon took the team's first victory with the New Generation Hyundai i20 WRC in Rally Argentina . Neuville won Rally Italia Sardegna and scored seven podiums, ultimately finishing runner-up behind Volkswagen driver Sébastien Ogier . The team finished as vice champions in

783-510: Was a sub-section of the World Rally Championship from 1993 to 1999. It involved mostly 1,600 cc (97.6 cu in) or 2,000 cc (122.0 cu in), naturally aspirated , front wheel drive cars. The series was discontinued due to high costs, and the new Super 2000 class was amalgamated into the Production World Rally Championship , whilst the 1600cc cars were generally modified for usage in

812-426: Was again outscored by Ogier. For 2019, Hyundai Motorsport announced it would field four crews for the WRC season: Neuville and Gilsoul, Mikkelsen and Jæger-Amland, Sordo and del Barrio, and Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena . Craig Breen and Paul Nagle later joined the squad for Rally Finland and Wales Rally GB as the team focused its efforts on winning the manufacturers’ championship. Hyundai Motorsport sealed

841-772: Was established in Alzenau , Germany, responsible for Hyundai's World Rally Championship programme. Thierry Neuville was named lead driver for Hyundai Motorsport's World Rally Championship programme and, together with his co-driver Nicolas Gilsoul , he has piloted the i20 WRC ever since the team's debut at the Monte-Carlo Rally in January. Also competing for Hyundai in 2014 were Dani Sordo and co-driver Marc Martí , who entered six events. Hänninen contested six rallies, while fellow test drivers Atkinson and Bouffier entered two each. Hayden Paddon and John Kennard joined

#596403