Tue 03 Dec 2024

Abiteboul: There's more to do in 2025

Despite making history with its maiden World Rally Championship Drivers’ title, Hyundai Motorsport president and team principal Cyril Abiteboul says the Korean manufacturer still has ground to make up on Toyota.

Coming into the 2024 season, Toyota had dominated both world championship titles for three years – with its rule in the drivers’ race running for five years.

Thierry Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe ended that at last month’s FORUM8 Rally Japan as the Belgian pair became the first Hyundai crew ever to wear the drivers’ and co-drivers’ crowns.

Abiteboul admitted the 2024 season had been tough and he paid tribute to rival Toyota, which won after a thrilling final-stage fight.

“It’s been an intense and fantastic season-long battle with Toyota, and once again on Tarmac in Japan we had the pace to be a real threat to them. Despite leading the majority of the rally, with two accidents and a turbocharger issue we gave them too many opportunities to catch us, and ultimately their pace on the [Wolf] Power Stage was too strong for us to match.

“Congratulations to everyone at Toyota for a fantastic season. We look forward to doing battle again in 2025 and hopefully taking another step up to compete toe-to-toe with them at an incredibly competitive level.”

Sweden
Starts: Thursday, February 13, 2025 at 8:00:00 AM
Spain
Starts: Thursday, April 3, 2025 at 7:00:00 AM
Turkey
Starts: Sunday, November 10, 2024 at 8:30:00 AM