WRC 3 champion Jari Huttunen completes Hyundai Motorsport's WRC 2 line-up 12.02.2021: • Reigning WRC 3 champion Jari Huttunen will step up to WRC 2 for 2021, joining Hyundai Motorsport's line-up for the season alongside Oliver Solberg and Ole Christian Veiby

•    Reigning WRC 3 champion Jari Huttunen will step up to WRC 2 for 2021, joining Hyundai Motorsport's line-up for the season alongside Oliver Solberg and Ole Christian Veiby


•    Both the Finn and Veiby will start their campaigns later this month on the snow and ice of the new WRC event Arctic Rally Finland in Hyundai i20 R5 entered under the Hyundai Motorsport N banner


•    Later in the season it is planned that all three drivers will be among the first to drive the new i20 N Rally2 car in competitive action.




Reigning WRC 3 champion Jari Huttunen has joined Hyundai Motorsport's line-up of drivers for the 2021 WRC 2 season alongside Oliver Solberg and Ole Christian Veiby.
 


The Finnish driver will start his points' scoring season at one of his now two-home rounds on the calendar later this month, when the Rovaniemi-based Arctic Rally Finland (February 26-28) makes its debut as a WRC event.



The snowy roads provide Huttunen and co-driver Mikko Lukka with a perfect opportunity to prove their credentials in the i20 R5. They will aim to replicate their excellent showing in the similar conditions of 2020's Rally Sweden, where they finished as the best RC2-class car in tenth overall in their Hyundai Motorsport Customer Racing-built machine.
 


That result proved to be the springboard for a remarkable 2020 season with the i20 R5. As the first of two WRC 3 wins in the season it paved the way for their championship victory with their Kowax 2BRally Team prepared car. In partnership with Hyundai Poland Huttunen and Lukka were also the dominant force in a shortened Polish national season, winning two of the three events to end the year with the title after superb performances on both gravel and tarmac stages.
 


For 2021 the same combination of crew and team stay together for the season in WRC 2 with the intention of continuing the same startling form into a new year. Already in his career Huttunen has three WRC 2 podiums to his name, the latest coming in 2019 with an i20 R5 on Rally Finland.
 


Arctic Rally Finland will mark the start of both Huttunen and Veiby's 2021 championship challenges. They will be joined on the stages by teammate Oliver Solberg, who will make his WRC debut aboard a Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC in the top class. The Swedish driver, who ran outside of the class' points' classification at Rallye Monte-Carlo, is scheduled to start his own official WRC 2 campaign at May's Rally Portugal.
 


Later in the season it is expected that all three drivers will be among the first to give competitive outings to the Hyundai i20 N Rally2 following its homologation. Each of the WRC 2 crews will also be involved in the on-going development of the new car in the months to come.


 

Jari Huttunen said: "I am so happy to be part of Hyundai Motorsport's WRC 2 team for 2021. Last year we were on the WRC 3 podium in every event we entered while aiming for the win every weekend. We will have the same objective in WRC 2 this year as we have many of the same rallies ahead of us, a car that I know well, and with the Kowax 2BRally Team, who Mikko and I worked really well with in 2020. So we have everything in place to show the same performance we did to win the WRC 3 title.


I'm really looking forward to starting in Arctic Rally Finland, but also to the other rallies during the season. Being teammates with Solberg and Veiby is great. They are both very strong drivers so I look forward to competing with them on the stages. My goal in rallying is to drive a WRC car in a WRC event, like Oliver is in Finland, so I have to look at them a little as my rivals when it comes to the competition."
 





Hyundai Motorsport Team Principal Andrea Adamo said "After his great results in 2020, the step into WRC 2 was the only possible way forward for Jari Huttunen. To win the WRC 3 and Polish national titles last year he showed superb all-round pace on snow, gravel and tarmac and there is no reason that the same form shouldn't continue into this season.


We have been working hard through the last few months for a way to work with him, and to reward him for his excellent performances, so to confirm Jari in the Hyundai Motorsport WRC 2 line-up for 2021 is great. I think that on Arctic Rally Finland he can start the season strongly, and challenge for the win.



We now have three very exciting crews in WRC 2, with three hugely ambitious drivers. I think we can look forward to each of them challenging for the title, but also working together and competing against each other in order to continually improve during the season."
 


 
Thomas Villette    ,Nicoletta Russo photos Hyundai