Emil Lindholm also drives Hyundai in Estonia and Finland. Lindholm, who won the WRC2 championship last season, drives the Korean manufacturer’s Rally2 car.
Teemu Suninen drives in Estonian and Finnish World Cup rallies with a Hyundai Rally1 car. He fills the place that was left empty by Craig Breen after death.
Breen, 33, died in April during tests before the World Rally Championship in Croatia.
Suninen, 29, has driven a Hyundai Rally2 car this season. The last time he drove a top-class car in the World Rally Championship was in Monza in the fall of 2021.
Tuusulainen is excited about the opportunity he got. A big challenge is learning how to use the hybrid system with a limited number of tests.
– Both rallies are known as sprint rallies, where a good result requires 110 percent self-confidence and driving with full throttle from the first corner, commented Suninen in the press release.
– It requires patience from me and only time will tell how we succeed in that. My goal is to learn to drive a new Rally1 car step by step and thereby increase my speed and bring good points to our team.
Suninen’s race program for the rest of the season will be announced later. They drive Hyundai as factory drivers Esapekka Lappi, Thierry Neuville and Dani Sordo.
Emil Lindholm gets into Hyundai’s Rally2 car in Estonia and Finland. Lindholm, who won the WRC2 class last season, has driven Skoda in the previous races of the season.
At the same time, Suninen and Lindholm will join Hyundai’s restarted driver development program. The Korean manufacturer established the program for the first time in 2017.
– My decision to join Hyundai Motorsport is primarily due to the brand’s proven success in rallying and especially their commitment to training young drivers, commented Lindholm.
The World Rally Championship will be held in Estonia on July 20–23. and in Finland August 3–6. Before these games, there is also a Safari rally on the program, which will be run in Kenya during Midsummer.
The Jyväskylä World Rally Championship will be closely followed in August on Ylen Ralliradio and digital services.