Hyundai to race i30 at N24

Hyundai has announced that it will enter a powerful i30 Turbo in the famous Nurburgring 24 Hours endurance race that’s set to be held this weekend.

Featuring swollen wheel-arches, wider bodywork and a huge centrally-mounted front air-intake within a bespoke aero package, many are suggesting the car that the Korean car-maker will race is actually a lightly disguised i30 N – the first high-performance vehicle engineered by Hyundai’s new N sub-brand.

Hyundai has confirmed only that it will run three cars in this weekend's Nürburgring enduro "as part of the company’s motorsport-inspired development of its high performance sub-brand ‘N’. Hyundai Motor will race two production-car-based models, i30 1.6L Turbo (#133) and a Veloster (#134), and the development car i30 2.0L Turbo N."

The i30 1.6L Turbo will focus on defending its 2015 class win, while the i30 2.0L Turbo N development car (#102) will "concentrate on enhancing understanding of performance technologies ahead of Hyundai Motor’s future high-performance N sub-brand models.

"The i30 2.0L Turbo N will run to tackle the challenging German circuit in an intensive test of the new performance-focused powerplant," said Hyundai.

Hyundai says around 40 per cent of the i30 2.0L Turbo N development car's parts are new, including its engine and "enhanced" transmission and suspension, plus its upgraded wheels, steering, fenders and obligatory race safety equipment.

"This Nürburgring 24h race provides the ideal test bed for our motorsport-inspired N sub-brand development and a key part of our ‘born in Namyang, honed at Nürburgring’ performance-car ethos. The technological inspiration and experience gained from this extreme testing will accelerate our development of high-performance, fun-to-drive N models,” said Albert Biermann, Hyundai Motor Head of Vehicle Test and High Performance Development.

Hyundai has still to confirm what will be its first ‘N’ model, although the existence of the i30 race car continues to suggest its first car will be a Ford Focus RS rival based on the i30 hatchback.

Power has yet to be confirmed, but the video released with the overnight press release shows the i30 race car on the dyno recording a respectable 193kW/308Nm – although those figures are some way off matching the Ford’s 257kW/440Nm and it's unclear whether it will be front- or all-wheel drive like the Focus RS.

Despite announcing it has hopes for a “strong result” rather than an outright win, Hyundai should have a home advantage at the 24-hour endurance race. The Korean car-maker has a dedicated test facility at the Nurburgring and has been working on developing a flagship N model since 2013.