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Hyundai i20 R5 – destined for ERC?

The all-new Hyundai i20 R5, which will be homologated in summer and become eligible for the FIA European Rally Championship, has completed eight days of testing in just two weeks in Italy.

Kevin Abbring, who formerly starred on the ERC with Peugeot, is Hyundai's development driver for the new i20 R5 and recently racked up the kilometres on both gravel and asphalt in Sardinia.

He'll soon be swapping the R5 for Hyundai's factory i20 WRC on the World Rally Championship round in Portugal next week: another example of a driver from the ERC who has graduated to star on the world stage.

The Dutchman has also pleased his boss, Hyundai's customer racing department manager Andrea Adamo. "To have tested for eight days in a fortnight has been tough on everyone, and the car," said Adamo. "However, it was what we needed to do to respect our own tight development schedule. Our two days on asphalt in Sardinia backed up the work we had done testing the previous week, then running on gravel meant we could develop that specification."

Hyundai's new challenger: coming soon to an ERC round near you?

Zdroj: fiaerc.com