[Bart]

HYUNDAI

Technical: Hyundai has suffered a tough opening day on the first Safari
for the Accent WRC3. Freddy Loix's car retired halfway through the day's
opening section with a burnt-out clutch. Armin Schwarz suffered turbo
problems on the same test and although he reached service, his car's
engine stopped and refused to restart on the road to the following
section. Juha Kankkunen lost time with a broken right-front shock
absorber in this morning's opening section and a similar problem in
CS3, but it generally performed reliably otherwise.

Sporting: Hyundai lost two of its cars before the day's second
competitive section this morning. Freddy Loix's car hit clutch problems
halfway through CS1 and although the Belgian stopped to allow the unit
to cool, too much damage had been done and the car could proceed no
further. Armin Schwarz lost turbo boost in that same test and although
the German reached the following service area, his car's engine stopped
on the way to CS2 and it refused to restart. The Hyundai team attributed
the problem to a broken alternator. Juha Kankkunen, meanwhile, lost
time in today's opening section when he had to complete 60km of section
and 20km of road section with a broken right-front shock absorber. His
team had to effect major repairs at the following service, and he was
five minutes late at the time control as a result. He ended the day
outside the top 10.

Quotes: Juha Kankkunen said: "This has been a typical difficult Safari
day, really. We knew coming here that it would be tough because we
didn't have a lot of testing and it's been as we expected."


(Bron: dusty@worldrallychampionship.com )