The first half of the season was dominated by Toyota. The Japanese manufacturer still leads Hyundai in rally wins by 7–1, but at least in both the recent Rally Estonia and June’s Rally Greece, Hyundai outscored Toyota in the manufacturers’ standings.
Still, Hyundai faces a major task. With six rallies left to run, the team trails Toyota by a hefty 52 points. In the upcoming rounds, the gap must be reduced significantly to keep the championship fight alive towards the end of the season.
“We achieved several objectives in Estonia, so now everyone is focused on continuing that momentum this week in Finland. As a team we have performed well here in the past, and all three of our crews know what is required to finish on the podium,” said team principal Cyril Abiteboul.
“The performance of our crews and the Hyundai i20 N Rally1 at the last round underscored our improved performance at these fast gravel rounds, and we believe we can bring home another strong result,” Abiteboul told, confident ahead of Thursday’s start to Rally Finland.
In the manufacturers’ standings, Hyundai still has ground to make up, but the drivers’ title race remains extremely close. Hyundai’s Ott Tänak currently leads the championship, but Toyota’s Elfyn Evans is just one point behind. Toyota part-timer Sébastien Ogier sits 21 points off the lead, and Kalle Rovanperä is 24 points back.
“While Ott is now leading the drivers’ championship, it is by the smallest of margins, so our task is to help him carve out his advantage more, while also making sure the team scores as many points as possible for the manufacturers’ fight,” Abiteboul stressed.
“With only six rounds to go, we have to extract the maximum from every opportunity that is presented to us.”
Rally Finland features a total of 20 special stages, covering just over 300 kilometres. The event kicks off with the Harju super special stage on Thursday evening.
