New Hyundai i20 R5
Hyundai Motorsport's first customer car,
the i20 R5 just marked its debut at the Ypres Rally in Belgium, the fifth round
of the 2016 European Rally Championship.
This also marks the first time that the
Korean automaker's racing department has participated in an event outside of
the World Rally Championship in which it competes.
The new racer is similar to the i20 WRC
run by the factory team, but is built to the FIA's R5 regulations for
production-based rally machinery. That means it packs a 1.6-liter turbocharged
engine driving all four wheels and weigh no less than 1,230 kg.
To make its mark, Hyundai's latest will
have to keep up with similar R5 versions of the Citroën DS3, Peugeot 208, Ford
Fiesta, and Skoda Fabia, to name just a few. It'll be eligible for a wide range
of championships around the world, including the aforementioned European
series, as well as the second-tier international WRC-2.
The new Hyundai i20
R5 will be available for public purchase. That doesn't mean that it'll be
street-legal, but if you're putting together your own rally team, the i20 could be
just the ticket.
