New Hyundai i30 N – Hyundai’s first high-performance ‘N’ car – at 24-hour Nurburgring

The Hyundai i30 N has been out at the VLN endurance race as Hyundai prepares to enter two i30 N cars in the ADAC Zurich 24-hour race at the Nüburgring in May.

The Hyundai ‘N’ sub-brand is close to arriving as the first performance production model – the Hyundai i30 N – nears its debut.

Ahead of that debut, Hyundai has been out playing with the i30 N at the  VLN (Veranstaltergemeinschaft Langstreckenpokal Nürburgring) endurance race as they prepare to enter two cars in the ADAC Zurich 24-hour race at the Nüburgring at the end of May.

Hyundai reckon the 24-hour Nurburgring event will give them the chance to test the i30 N’s performance against the competition ahead of its debut – expected to be later this year – and ensure the i30 N is perfectly honed.

Albert Biermann, Hyundai’s Performance boss, said:

We want our high performance brand to have considerable racing pedigree so it is important that we compete with minimal modifications. Nürburgring is where the i30 N has undergone much of its testing and chassis development.

The i30 N comes with a 2.0 litre turbo petrol engine expected to deliver around 250bhp – aimed at competition like the Focus ST and Golf GTi – but there have been heavy hints that a higher performance, 4WD version will arrive later to take on the next rung up the ladder competition like the Ford Focus RS.

This is the second year Hyundai has tackled the Nurburgring 24-hour event with the i30 N, but last year it was in a development car. This year’s entry is said to be very close to production spec.