Once again, Hyundai was on the receiving end when the points battle unfolded at last weekend’s Central European Rally. Toyota secured a one-two finish with Kalle Rovanperä and Elfyn Evans leading the way, while also sealing the manufacturers’ championship title.
Check the full World Rally Championship standings here!
Hyundai’s Ott Tänak, Thierry Neuville and Adrien Fourmaux had no chance of matching the pace of Rovanperä, who took victory. Among the Hyundai trio, Neuville endured the toughest weekend, suffering a puncture early on before crashing into a bridge barrier on the final day.
The penultimate round of the season takes place in less than two weeks on the asphalt roads of Japan. Neuville has little faith that Hyundai’s Rally1 car will suddenly perform better there.
“We have said it and repeated it already, that in the Central European Rally we were just testing things. We didn’t do one stage with the same setup,” Neuville explained.
“So we are constantly trying. It’s not always hard to adapt, but we got some useful data, honestly – especially Saturday afternoon, we improved a bit.”
Not all of the setup changes helped move the Hyundai i20 N Rally1 forward, though.
“We made some changes on Sunday. It seemed like Adrien was struggling with it,” Neuville said.
Neuville stressed that Hyundai’s biggest battles of the season are already behind them, and the focus must now shift towards next year.
“Let’s see what we can take over to Japan. But I think we have to reset our targets for the end of the season and accept it,” the Belgian star concluded.
Rally Japan will take place from 6–9 November, before the World Rally Championship season concludes in Saudi Arabia at the end of the month.
