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Suninen, Tanak contest local rally to prepare for WRC Estonia

Hyundai’s Teemu Suninen and M-Sport's Ott Tanak will pilot their World Rally Championship cars in this weekend’s Lõuna-Eesti Rally to prepare for Rally Estonia later this month.

The pair feature on the 19-car entry list for the one-day gravel rally which will take in 68.53km of stages.

For Suninen, the event represents his first competitive drive behind the wheel of the Hyundai i20 N Rally1 after receiving a call-up to drive the team’s third car for upcoming WRC rounds in Estonia (20-23 July) and Finland (3-6 August).

The 29-year-old, who has recently been announced as part of Hyundai’s driver development programme, has tested the car at Hyundai’s Finland test base.

“This is a great opportunity to get back to top-tier cars and I have been really missing it," said Suninen last 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% 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. 

"My goal is to learn the car step by step and to gradually show more pace and bring good points for the team.”

Source: Autosport

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