Hyundai Motorsport’s New Generation i30 TCR has been tested on track for the first time at Motorland Aragon in Spain.
Prior to the trip, the Hyundai team had completed several shakedown runs with the brand new design, but the three days at the track gave the engineers a first opportunity to gather data about the car’s behavior around laps of a race circuit.
Completing the running without major reliability issues, the team was able to begin trialling alternative settings as it started to work toward a base setup for the car. The mix of corners on the Aragon circuit made it the perfect venue for the maiden test. The 5.3km layout enabled the team and driver Gabriele Tarquini to refine the handling balance through both slow and high-speed corners, as well as under heavy braking for the hairpin at the end of the long back straight.
The team was also able to test a number of different engine map settings to begin to gauge the performance of the two-liter turbocharged engine.
Customer racing department manager Andrea Adamo said, “The first test of a new car is always a very exciting moment in a project, and to have come through three days without a major problem makes it even better. We were able to complete all the work that we had set out for the test, which is obviously a nice start to a busy development schedule for the New Generation i30 TCR project.
“We were able to work on the balance of the car, and start developing an initial setup that we can use in future, not only for the handling, but the important engine and differential settings. We can now use these as a base for future tests as we turn our focus to gaining the maximum performance from specific components.”
Testing of the New Generation i30 TCR will continue through the summer and autumn at venues across Europe. The first completed cars are expected to be delivered to customers in early December.
May 9, 2017