Season Review: Hyundai

The Alzenau-based squad arrived at round one with, by its own admission, an i20 N Rally1 late in development and short on testing time.

Rallye Monte-Carlo was a tough way to start, but already in Sweden and certainly by round three in Croatia (where Ott Tänak came within a whisker of winning on a dry-wet-dry Sunday) there were signs of genuine progress with the car.

From Finland onwards, the story was all about Hyundai. Tänak scored a magnificent win in Jyväskylä, landing success on an event that means so much to all of the teams – but even more to Toyota Gazoo Racing, being based just around the corner from the service park.

Arguably, you could say the team's season turned earlier, with Tänak’s Rally Italy win in Sardinia. There was, however, the blip of Safari Rally Kenya which followed. Tänak retired in Africa, but from Italy forwards he was only off the podium once.

In the second half of the year, Hyundai outscored Toyota and Tänak and Thierry Neuville outscored Kalle Rovanperä, with an i20 N Rally1 one-two at FORUM8 Rally Japan ending the season on the highest possible high.

Neuville was similarly strong across the season, with two wins. The biggest disappointment for the Belgian would be his retirement from Ypres after going off the road.

Dani Sordo and Oliver Solberg provided points and podiums to further demonstrate Hyundai’s growing strength as a championship challenger moving into next season.