Teemu Suninen will drive the third points-scoring Hyundai i20 N Rally1 for rallies Estonia and Finland.
It will be Suninen’s first-ever appearance in a Rally1 car and his first in the FIA World Rally Championship’s top tier since Rally Monza at the end of the 2021 season.
Suninen’s promotion coincides with the return of Hyundai Motorsport’s Development Programme (HMDP), with further outings set to be “communicated in due course” by the Alzenau-based squad. On those events he doesn’t start, Spaniard Dani Sordo will be at the helm.
Back in April, Breen lost his life in a testing accident. He was undertaking the exercise in preparation for Croatia Rally with James Fulton, who escaped the accident uninjured.
“This is a great opportunity to get back to top tier cars and I have been really missing it,” said Suninen who, up until now, has been involved in WRC2 with the Korean manufacturer and scored a second-place result on Rally Italia Sardegna earlier this month.
“Estonia and Finland have previously been strong rallies for me, but it will be a big challenge to learn the Hyundai i20 N Rally1 hybrid and the hybrid system with limited testing.
“Both rallies are known as sprint rallies where you need 110 percent confidence and to push flat out from the first corner to get good results, so that will ask for a lot of patience from me and only time will show our approach.”
He added: “My goal is to learn the car step by step and to gradually show more pace and bring good points for the team.”
In addition to his upcoming trips to the gravel rally double-header, Suninen will also play an active role in test and development work with the i20 N Rally1 and i20 N Rally2 cars.
It has also been confirmed that Emil Lindholm will join HMDP for July’s Rally Estonia, which he is set to tackle in a i20 N Rally2, although beyond the August fixture the team’s plans for the young Finn remain unclear.
He could potentially face competition for seat time, though, as senior Hyundai Motorsport management have said they intend to monitor the market as they look to expand their pool of drivers. In spite of this, he says he is “really excited about the opportunity” and believes Hyundai Motorsport’s “clear dedication to rallying aligns perfectly with my own passion and ambition”.
Welcoming Suninen and Lindholm to HMDP, Hyundai Motorsport Team Principal Cyril Abiteboul said: “The Hyundai Motorsport Driver development Programme is not here to fill a gap, instead it is a strategic platform to ensure that Hyundai has multiple choices and options among the young drivers out there.
“We already have an exciting stable of talent, featuring Teemu and Emil, and I’m looking forward to supporting their development as we start to build the programme further.”
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