Advanced Hyundai set to debut at Rally Sweden

With the start of the 2025 WRC season fast approaching, reigning champion of the discipline Thierry Neuville is awaiting the evolved version of his Hyundai for next month's Rally Sweden.

Despite extensive work carried out last year on a package for the i20 N Rally1, the South Korean brand has confirmed that it will compete in the 2025 Monte-Carlo Rally (January 23 to 26) with its car. in 2024 version, without hybrid and with the new Hankook tires.

It must be said that between the start of this work and the start of the new campaign, uncertainty hovered for a long time over what the technical regulations would be for the coming season, particularly on the question of hybridization. This is also what pushed Hyundai to first shelve what would have almost been a complete overhaul of its car.

Ultimately, part of this development was saved to constitute what is expected to be an important development – even if the manufacturer has not yet provided details on what will change – because it required the use of jokers of development.

Drivers were able to test the new specification last year but it continued to evolve over the winter. If it will not be on the roads of Monte-Carlo, it should be unveiled in its latest version during the Swedish Rally (February 13 to 16).

“In Sweden, hopefully”, declared Thierry Neuville for Motorsport.com when asked when the new car was expected. “[Les évolutions sont] a good thing. We are very constrained about what we can do, but I feel comfortable in the new car.”

The director of Hyundai, Cyril Abiteboul, explained last year that he was not worried about the delayed introduction of the advanced car given the specificity of the Monte-Carlo Rally. A vision of things that Neuville shares: “It’s not a worry. [de disputer le Monte-Carlo avec la voiture 2024]. It is a specific event and, in any case, the tires [du nouveau manufacturier Hankook] will present the greatest challenge.”

“There are a lot of new variables with the changes to the car, without the hybrid and with less weight. There are a lot of things that are going to come together at the same time and I have no idea what the level of difficulty. It will partly depend on our comfort behind the wheel of the car after a few stages, and that could be the deciding factor.”

Apart from the technical changes, Hyundai also announced the departure of the head of the rally program, Christian Loriaux. A departure of a pillar of the brand which surprised Neuville: “It's a surprise and we are obviously very disappointed that he has left the team. But one of his goals has been achieved with the drivers' world championship title and it is obvious that he has the opportunity to take on a new challenge. I wish him the best.”

Loriaux joined Overdrive Racing to work on Toyota's rally-raid program.

With Tom Howard