The Korean manufacturer joined the World Rally Championship in the 2014 season, but this is the first time that Hyundai is truly close to conquering both the drivers’ and manufacturers’ titles.
Hyundai celebrated the manufacturers’ title in the 2019-20 seasons, but the drivers’ championship has never been awarded to a Hyundai driver. Now, it is certain that a Hyundai driver will win the drivers’ championship, as the competition is now only between Thierry Neuville and Ott Tänak.
The manufacturers’ title is also strongly heading to Korea, and losing it would require a failure in the season’s final rally in Japan.
In January 2023, Frenchman Cyril Abiteboul took over as the head of Hyundai’s rally team. Toyota’s team boss, Jari-Matti Latvala, has lavishly praised his colleague, who came to rallying from the world of circuit racing.
“He has of course been out from the rally box bringing some new perspective from the racing world and some new ideas on the promotion side. I think also within the team he has done a really, really good job,” Latvala says.
“Cyril has been a leader who takes the responsibilities. Of course it is important that the team has a leader they can trust and they know which way to go.”
Abiteboul is, however, expected to return to circuit racing, as the Frenchman, who currently serves as the head of the entire Hyundai Motorsport, is rumoured to take charge of Hyundai’s WEC project from the beginning of next year. According to rumours, Hyundai’s current driver Dani Sordo could become the new head of the WRC team.
Despite this, the likeable Frenchman has earned Latvala’s respect in the world of rallying as well.
“As a team they’ve been now more than ten years or about ten years and haven’t been able to win the driver’s title. It’s been very much orientated for that. You need to have a leader who takes it for that it hasn’t been discovered.”
In the world of rallying, there has long been a completely different atmosphere compared to circuit racing. The same kind of distrust and rivalry between teams, as seen in Formula 1, has never really been present in rallying.
“We are big rivals of course but the really nice thing in the rally sport is that we have this sort of like a family spirit. We can we can discuss with everybody and have a fair fight but at the same time we can joke and have a discussion. I think it is a quite unique atmosphere in rally sport, ” Latvala comments.
The season’s final rally will be held in Japan from 21st to 24th November. Hyundai’s lead in the manufacturers’ standings is 15 points ahead of Toyota.
