Disappointment for Hyundai

The WRC newcomers were delighted to have been running in the top ten and challenging for a points scoring position, but frustrated by their premature exit from the rally.

'The car's clutch had started slipping, and then we realised there was a fire under the bonnet,' explained Eriksson. 'The damage wasn't too great but it burned through some electrical cables and oil pipes and so we couldn't carry on.

'Up until that point I'd been pleasantly surprised by just how fast and strong the car was. We just need to spend more time developing it now to iron out any further problems and improve the speed even more.'

'We are very encouraged by the stage times Kenneth was setting,' added team boss David Whitehead. 'They were better than we could have hoped for on our first gravel rally. It's always disappointing to retire but we've learnt a lot here.'