Hyundai illustrates new aerodynamic freedom in WRC
At the same time as Hyundai Motorsport prepares for action in Corsica at this weekend’s French round of the World Rally Championship, its 2017 challenger has been revealed at the Paris Motor Show.
The car shows off the new aerodynamic freedoms allowed by the 2017 WRC regulations and sees Hyundai return to a three-door configuration after running the five-door version of the New Generation i20 in this year’s championship.
It’s the second 2017 car to be revealed following Citroen’s new C3 WRC. While Citroen called its Paris show car a concept, Hyundai is saying the livery on show in Paris is an interim version, with the final specification and look of the car to be revealed in December.
Hyundai says it has been testing a 2017 prototype since April across numerous locations in Europe in a variety of different road conditions with further testing scheduled up in the final part of 2016. The car will debut at Rallye Monte-Carlo in January.
The new WRC regulations for the 2017 season will deliver a power increase to about 380bhp while more aggressive aerodynamics will increase downforce with longer and wider cars.
The regulations also allow electronic active centre differentials and the combined objective of these new technical rules is to create a more exciting generation of modern rally car.
``The 2017 WRC regulations have allowed all teams to start from a blank page, which has offered us an exciting engineering challenge,’’ said Hyundai Motorsport Team Principal Michel Nandan.
``The changes will raise the level of entertainment in WRC on stages around the world with wider and more powerful cars. We have been putting our experience from two full seasons of WRC into practice, as we aim to build on our successful 2016 campaign
``The 2017 car started testing in April with initial work centred on engine and powertrain testing,’’ Nandan said.
More recently, we have looked at suspension, differential and aero. There will be some small evolutions on both chassis and engine later this year. We look forward to revealing the final version of our 2017 car later this year.”
The 2017 cars from Volkswagen Motorsport and returning WRC contender Toyota are also expected to appear soon.