Hyundai doing everying it can to win WRC titles

Hyundai doing everying it can to win WRC titles

14th October 2024 0 By Kamron Kent

Hyundai is aiming to do everything it can to bring home all three World Rally Championship titles as the team gears up for ‘crucial’ Central European Rally.

Feature image credit: Jaanus Ree / Red Bull Content Pool

Hyundai are on the cusp of winning their first championship title since 2019 but the Korean manufacturer is being put under increasing pressure by the defending world champions, Toyota. 

Ahead of the last round, Hyundai had an impressive 35-point lead over the reigning champions but now – after a perfect weekend by the Japanese team – they now only lead by 17 points.

However, the drivers championship is Thierry Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe’s to lose as they stand 29 points ahead of their fellow teammate Ott Tanak and Martin Jarveoja, with two rounds left to complete. 

According to Hyundai Motorsport President and Team Principal, Cyril Abiteboul, with two rounds left of the championship he has deemed this a ‘crucial point’ in the championship. He said: 

“The whole team is very excited to compete on home soil again, especially as we are now at the crucial point of the season. 

“We need to maintain our lead in all three championships, and a clean performance at Central European Rally is essential in eventually bringing them home. Thierry won here last year, and we know how strong he is on tarmac, we also have to fight for the manufacturers’, and we have three strong crews fighting for that too. 

“Ott [Tanak] finished third here last year, and we know tarmac is a surface that Andreas [Mikkelsen] can push on, particularly following his WRC2 title win at the event in 2023. 

“We want to leave CER having taken advantage of our road positions and made the most of the weekend – something we could not do in Chile.” 

Like last year, during the Central European Rally’s inaugural event on the WRC calendar, the event will be held in three countries; the Czech Republic, Austria and Germany – all on asphalt roads.

However, the conditions will be challenging as Europe heads into its Autumn season meaning the weather can make the roads slippery with wet conditions and mud.  

Following seven back-to-back gravel events, Neuville and Wydaeghe had recently tested at the Herbst Rally to gather an understanding for the car set-up and face similar road conditions to that of the CER event. 

The potential world champion would be looking to repeat his winning ways of last season where the Belgian crew secured the first win of the event ahead of winning champion Kalle Rovanpera.

Neuville – who is strong on asphalt roads – has confirmed he will be ‘studying’ the three new stages ahead of the event. He said:

“Last year we had a great victory at the very first Central European Rally. We know we can usually perform well on tarmac, and winning in Germany was super cool for the whole team. Despite the difficult conditions, we performed well. 

“Because of the stage changes we need to do some video work, so we will be studying those as much as possible to get a goodfeel on the new areas. We will test at a small pre-event rally in Austria to have enough time to get back into a rhythm and also work on the car set up. 

“The main goal is to manage our championship so we can take as many points as possible. Of course, we would like to get that title in our pocket, but our first focus will be having a consistent run.”

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Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.

CategoryNews Rallying WRC
TagsAustria Central European Rally CER Czech Republic Germany Hyundai Ott Tanak Thierry Neuville WRC

About the author

Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.

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