Hyundai has yet to make a choice on whether to enter the 2026 World Rally Championship, but team boss Cyril Abiteboul says rallying is the manufacturer's “roots” and that it’s “not finished with rallying yet”.
The Korean brand’s long-term future within the WRC is uncertain, with the brand believed to be preparing to affix the World Endurance Championship within the near future by introducing a Hypercar programme.
Hyundai is one among two manufacturer teams within the WRC to return to the championship for a second time in 2014. They won two manufacturers' championship titles in 2019 and 2020.
Speculation concerning the carmaker’s future within the WRC emerged eventually month’s Rally Poland, but Abiteboul was unable to verify the brand’s plans for the WRC beyond 2025.
Last weekend in Latvia, the previous Renault Formula 1 boss told Motorsport.com that he was pushing for Hyundai to proceed within the WRC and that news regarding plans for 2026 would are available in the “very near future”.
Abiteboul played a key role in persuading the FIA to reverse its decision to vary the present Rally1 technical regulations for 2025 and 2026 ahead of the introduction of completely latest regulations for the 2027 season.
“We are in the rally and we want to make it work, for the rest there is a process and ongoing investigations. But above all I want to secure at least one championship,” he said.
“We will likely be here next yr after which we are going to review our plans for the WRC yearly. The very first thing was to get stability by way of the regulations and the following thing is to know where rally goes as a sport as a property and make sure that there remains to be alignment between where Hyundai desires to go by way of marketing and the game.
Thierry Neuville, Martijn Wydaeghe, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1
Photo: Romain Thuillier / Hyundai Motorsport
“I can say that I’m pushing on this direction. I’m not giving up. I’m not done with rallying. For me, I’m pushing rallying to take directions which might be reasonable for Hyundai.
“I feel it's our roots in motorsport, and cutting off the roots is something that must be done very properly, it's all the time a bit dangerous. You've seen me and other people within the Hyundai group exploring different disciplines, but no decision has been made. We need to make it work.
“There is no need to commit to 2026 yet, but you can expect some clarity on where we stand in the very near future.”
One reason Hyundai's withdrawal may look like an odd decision is that the brand has committed significant resources to improving its i20 N for 2025.
Hyundai had planned to homologate a wholly latest automobile, but FIA proposals to vary the regulations, which were later rejected, forced the team to leave the plan and limit itself next yr to only an evolution of the i20 N Rally1 automobile.
Abiteboul said the team has already taken delivery of a number of the components needed for the 2025 upgrade and that work is underway to finish the project before next yr.
“We’re now at the point where we’re taking delivery of some of the components for next year’s car, which is a big change,” he added.
Ott Tänak, Martin Järveoja, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1
Photo: Red Bull Content Pool
“We are really looking forward to maximizing our resources and specializing in these preparations.
“Everything goes well. We have already received the primary parts. You will discover soon [what we are doing] with the homologation documentation. There are a variety of changes, but this shouldn’t be your complete program that we desired to implement as a part of the homologation of the brand new automobile, it’s a subset of it.
“Chapeau bas to the design office, they haven’t finished it yet, but despite all the unknowns and the very late information about the technical content of the regulations, they managed to do it.”
