The 2025 World Rally Championship season wrapped up last weekend in Saudi Arabia. But Fourmaux was already “back at the office” on Tuesday in his native France.
Fourmaux, who joined Hyundai for this season, carried out a somewhat surprising test with the manufacturer’s Rally2 car, which he had not driven before. Now he has revealed the purpose behind the test.
“The day in the Rally2 car allowed us to work a bit more on the tyres. Since the number of test days is limited, it was a way to do more kilometres on the tyres,” Fourmaux told the French outlet Rallye-sport.
Fourmaux said he was pleasantly surprised by the car’s performance, although the difference compared with the top-class Rally1 machine was dramatic.
“At the beginning, it honestly felt like it wasn’t moving at all. Everything seemed slow compared with the Rally1,” the Frenchman said.
On Wednesday Fourmaux returned to more familiar machinery, completing a full test day with Hyundai’s Rally1 car. This weekend he will drive the same car in Dévoluy’s winter rally in France as part of his preparations.
“With the Rally1 car, the objective was to drive on slippery and bumpy asphalt, and we were able to do that. We tested new parts and found some interesting things. We’ll be able to use that for the next Monte Carlo,” Fourmaux said.
“Dévoluy is a good opportunity to confirm the new parts in the context of a real rally. We hope to have all possible conditions to test some setups. The team was interested in coming back here, and so was I,” added Fourmaux, who also competed in the Rallye National Hivernal du Dévoluy last year.
Fourmaux finished seventh in this year’s WRC standings. He came close to his maiden victory in the season-ending Saudi Arabian WRC round, but a one-minute time penalty meant he had to settle for second place.
