In its absolute debut, the Central Europe Rally is a natural unknown in many aspects for the World Rally Championship (WRC) driver. Nevertheless, Teemu Suninen strongly believes that it will be the toughest among those held on asphalt surfaces.
The M-Sport Ford driver stated this in a press release: ‘The Central Europe Rally will be truly demanding. It will take place in three different countries, so we can expect very different types of roads, different asphalt, and many changes, which will make it a big challenge for me – especially since it will be my first rally with the Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid on an asphalt round. We had a very good test in Austria and some good experience in the car, but the Central Europe Rally will be much later in the year, making it the most difficult asphalt rally on the calendar’.
Next, Suninen summarized some of the characteristics he expects: ‘The conditions will be much more complicated, and that is something new that we are facing in the rally. It starts to be autumn time with colder weather, the trees start to lose their leaves, which means dirt on the asphalt.’
As for his goals, the Finnish driver is modest, but still wants to repay the trust with a good result: ‘The goal is to bring the car to the finish and learn as much as we can from our time in the stages. The fact that Hyundai wants to see my pace on asphalt means a lot, so I want to finish the weekend with a good result for the whole team’.
