Aurélie Sacchelli, Media365, published on Thursday December 5, 2024 at 10:27 a.m.
French driver Adrien Fourmaux (29) has signed up for next season with Hyundai in the WRC, where he will start alongside world champions Thierry Neuville and Ott Tänak.
There will indeed be a full-time French driver in the WRC next season! While Sébastien Ogier (41 years old in a few days) will continue to defend the colors of Toyota part-time, as he has done since 2022, his compatriot Adrien Fourmaux has signed up with Hyundai. The 29-year-old Northerner, who started in the World Rally Championship in 2019 at the wheel of a Ford with the British M-Sport team and spent his entire career there (even if he sometimes had to go back down to WRC2), takes the plunge by signing up for the South Korean team, which finished second in the constructors' championship behind Toyota. Adrien Fourmaux will therefore have two world champions as teammates, the Belgian title holder Thierry Neuville, and the 2019 Estonian champion Ott Tänak. “As a driver you are always looking to improve and push yourself, and this seems like the right step at the right time. Hyundai has had a strong presence in WRC for years and I am proud to be part of it in the future. I am ready to give the best of myself and see where this journey will take us,” rejoiced Fourmaux, who will always have Alexandre Coria (31) as co-driver.
A first victory for Fourmaux in 2025?
“Adrien has impressed not only with the results he has achieved this season, but also with the renewed mindset and attitude he has brought to his return to Rallye1. We are convinced that our team made up of Thierry, Ott and Adrien will constitute a formidable force on the tracks around the world in 2025,” declared the French boss of the Hyundai team, Cyril Abiteboul. The latter believes that the team will have a better chance of winning the constructors' championship (lost by three points this season) with a third full-time driver.rather than with a third wheel shared between several drivers, as was the case this year with Dani Sordo, Esapekka Lappi and Andreas Mikkelsen. Fifth in the 2024 championship, thanks in particular to five third places, despite a Ford less efficient than its Japanese and South Korean rivals, Adrien Fourmaux can legitimately aim to win his very first WRC rally in 2025.
