Hyundai to Enter i30 N Hot Hatch in Nurburgring 24-Hour Endurance Race

Hyundai will debut its N performance sub brand on the racing circuit starting with the Nürburgring 24-hour race, where it will put its upcoming hot hatch to the test. The automaker will enter three cars in total, a Veloster, an i30 hatch (Elantra GT in North America) equipped with a 1.6-liter turbo-four, and a second i30 N hatch powered by a larger, more potent 2.0-liter turbo-four.

“This Nürburgring 24h race provides the ideal test bed for our motorsport-inspired N sub-brand development and a key part of our ‘born at 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’s head of vehicle test and high performance development, in a release.

Dubbed as a development car, the i30 N with the 2.0-liter turbo-four will be used to get “a better understanding of performance technologies” ahead of the N brand’s official launch. Hyundai will use the Nürburgring 24-hour race to perform intense testing by pushing the 2.0-liter turbo-four to its limits. The automaker says that 40 percent of the i30 2.0 Turbo is new thanks to a newly developed engine and enhanced transmission, suspension, and dampers. Other upgrades include recalibrated steering, wider fenders, and larger wheels.

Hyundai originally presented its N performance sub brand in September 2015, when it announced engineers have carried out accelerated endurance tests for many years with production cars and now high-performance models. All three vehicles that the automaker has entered for the upcoming Nürburgring 24-Hour endurance race were built by Schuman, a Hyundai dealership that also designs race cars under its motorsport department. Hyundai test driver Bruno Beulen will race the i30 equipped with the 2.0-liter turbo-four and will alternate with Michael Bohrer, Alexander Koeppen, and Rory Pentinnen.

Source: Hyundai

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