Hyundai Motorsport will mark 10-year anniversary at Goodwood
Thierry Neuville and the team’s newest World Rally Championship recruit Esapekka Lappi are set to tackle both the hill climb and rally stage element on Thursday and Friday, and Saturday and Sunday respectively, in an i20 N Rally1 car.
Live demonstration runs will also be undertaken by a trio of title-winning FIA World Touring Car Cup machines, all of which have been created by Hyundai’s Customer Racing Department over the last six years.
Gabriele Tarquini – who Hyundai says ‘has been instrumental in the development of every TCR car created by Hyundai Motorsport Customer Racing’ – will be joined by 2019 winner Norbert Michelisz at the wheel of a i30 N TCR, while 2022 champion Mikel Azcona is appearing in the Hyundai Elantra N TCR.
Speaking ahead of the annual motorsport festival in the south of England, Hyundai Motorsport President Sean Kim said: “We are incredibly excited to be a part of the Goodwood Festival of Speed in 2023, a year that marks a decade of our company’s existence.
“Hyundai Motorsport has achieved so much over the past ten years, and our successes will be well represented by our chosen cars and drivers taking to the hillclimb and forest rally stage this week.
“As 10th anniversaries go, an action-packed weekend at the Festival of Speed is certainly a special way to celebrate our ongoing journey; it is an incredibly iconic event, offering a full breadth of automotive and motorsport stars to enthusiasts that travel far and wide to be there.”
Kim said the celebrations also presented an opportunity to highlight to show goers how the motorsport DNA is filtering down into its passenger cars.
“Our presence, combined with the attendance of Hyundai’s automotive offering, will demonstrate the strength and depth of our motorsport and road-going cars to a fantastic new audience,” he added.
Meanwhile, M-Sport founder Malcolm Wilson will drive one of the company’s Ford Puma Rally1 cars up the famous Goodwood hill. The exact example is the one that helped to carry Sebastien Loeb to victory on last season’s Rallye Monte-Carlo.
