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Hyundai WRC package still behind Citroen on asphalt, despite win

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Hyundai has work to do to match Citroen on asphalt despite taking its first win of the 2017 World Rally Championship on the Tour of Corsica, says team principal Michel Nandan.

The Korean firm was the only WRC manufacturer yet to win this season heading to the French round, with Thierry Neuville having dominated early on in both Monte Carlo and Sweden only to crash.

He made amends with Corsica victory, but only after Kris Meeke’s Citroen had an engine problem while leading on day two.

Asked to asses the i20’s asphalt performance after Neuville’s win, Nandan said: “I think it needs to be a little bit better, I think we are a bit behind.

“The Citroen has shown that it’s a fantastic car on Tarmac and for sure we have to work on that, especially for the next Tarmac events.

“But I’m quite sure the engineers will find a good solution to improve the car.”

Nandan insisted there had been no additional nerves at Hyundai as Neuville led, despite his previous errors.

“We are always behind Thierry even after his two small mistakes in the first events,” said Nandan.

“We knew that he would do it.

“We knew the difference in time was good enough to carry into the Sunday stages so we were not too anxious.”

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