The most baffling has been Abiteboul’s unexpected declaration that the team’s primary goal this season is to win the drivers’ world championship, rather than the manufacturers’ championship.
This is quite unusual. In rallying and motorsport in general, manufacturers are usually at the forefront, as they are the ones funding the whole operation and investing huge sums of money.
Abiteboul has now elaborated on his views in an interview with RTBF.
“Our drivers need to ensure that we are more consistently in the fight for victories than last year. Winning is still the main thing. We have to adapt that compared to Toyota,” Abiteboul said.
“They have some drivers who are only part-time and thereby get good starting positions. And these guys are very good drivers in a very good car,” Abiteboul said, referring to Kalle Rovanperä and Sebastien Ogier.
With Kalle Rovanperä not competing the full season, Hyundai perceives it has only one main rival in the drivers’ championship battle. Or actually two, if you ask Abiteboul.
“Arithmetically, our number one opponent is Elfyn Evans and our second opponent will be… ourselves. In 2023, we lost a lot of points by our own hand.”
“Strategically, this is a fight against Elfyn, and that’s what we need to focus on,” Abiteboul outlined.
But why has Hyundai set the drivers’ championship, not the manufacturers’, as its primary goal?
“Considering the dynamics, we will place the drivers’ championship above the manufacturers’. This is partly also due to limitations on the development of the car. We used our jokers to address weaknesses in the car, like reliability,” Abiteboul said.
“There are many things we wanted to do but were unable to within the current regulations. It will take a lot more time, so in this sense, it seems more sensible to prioritise the drivers’ championship over the manufacturers’ title,” Abiteboul reasoned.
The World Rally Championship continues this week. The snowy Swedish stages are set for action from February 15th to 18th.
