With four rounds remaining in the season, Hyundai is in a strong position in both championships. Thierry Neuville leads the drivers’ standings with a 27-point advantage over Toyota’s Sébastien Ogier. In the manufacturers’ championship, Hyundai holds a 20-point lead over Toyota.
Check out the World Rally Championship standings here.
Ogier initially planned to compete in only about half of this season’s WRC events. However, with Hyundai putting pressure on Toyota, Toyota’s team principal Jari-Matti Latvala has called upon the French veteran more frequently. Ogier has already announced that he will compete in all the remaining rallies of the season, meaning he is now fully in the fight for the drivers’ championship.
Hyundai’s camp, however, is not overly concerned about Toyota’s decision to rely on Ogier for the final four rallies.
“I can’t see any point worrying about things you can’t control. I can’t control whether Seb will do all the rallies or not,” Hyundai’s WRC program manager Christian Loriaux said, according to Dirtfish.
Loriaux suggested that Toyota’s decision to have Ogier compete is almost flattering to Hyundai. He also took a swipe at Toyota.
“I do expect Seb to do all the rallies. If he went to a rally he doesn’t like (Rally Finland), it clearly shows that Toyota are on the back foot, that they really are stressed and that the only way to get back at us is to bring all the Armada,” Loriaux commented.
“In that sense, it’s very clear that the reaction is a reaction of people desperate and under pressure. So, it’s good: we pressurize them. For sure it’s not easy and I don’t want to sound big-headed, but it’s good for me to see them pressurized and that’s our job, to try to fight the opposition”
Hyundai opened a significant gap over Toyota in the manufacturers’ standings in the last round in Finland, where Toyota drivers Kalle Rovanperä and Elfyn Evans both crashed out on the final day. As a result, Hyundai unexpectedly scored 19 more points than Toyota on their home turf.
Closing this gap won’t be easy, but there’s still nearly a third of the season left to go.
“It’s still a very long championship and it’s open. I think everybody should be happy to see a tight championship like this.” Loriaux emphasized.
