A surprise from the Hyundai team: Esapekka Lappi will miss the fast gravel rally

Andreas Mikkelsen who is part, as expected at the beginning of the season, of the “small group” of Hyundai WRC team drivers who will exchange the third carera away from the pace of the leaders in Rally Croatia. He started his season there Montecarloclose the clock sixth place, same result too in Croatia. And separation from the leadergood price, it was really big, more than four minutes.

Norwegian He explained the slow speed compared to the best and the lack of experience because, despite having several WRC rallies under his belt in the main class, in previous seasons he drove in the lower class, Rally2. He has announced Mikkelsen on his trip to Croatia:

“On the first and second day the gap was very big, but it narrowed. Now it’s a matter of getting a feeling with the car. You have to train, spend more time in the car and get to know the car and its feelings well. The race was harder than we expected. I really knew it would be a tough meeting, I hadn’t done it in years. The pace of the best was almost perfect in every test and I had problems because of this, but the gap was too big.”

In the next round in Portugal the third Hyundai car will be driven by Dani SordoThat it should also exist in Sardinia at the beginning of June. It was originally planned that all three of the fastest gravel rallies in the summer, namely Poland, Latvia and Finland, will be run by Esapekka Lappi.. Ms Mikkelsen, after the Croatian Championship, revealed that his next commitment at Hyundai will be the Polish Championship:

“It’s a problem when you don’t have enough time in the car. It will be my first time to compete in Poland”

Il The Hyundai team has not yet confirmed its line-up for Sardinia, nor for the summer race. But with these statements, It seems the team’s plans have changed a bit. We’ll see in the next few weeks if any announcements arrive from the team or we’ll have to wait for the entry lists for the various races. A possible surprise is coming.