Toyota dominates the WRC, Hyundai seems helpless: Thierry Neuville speaks openly about problems that no one seems to be able to solve at the moment
The gap between Toyota and Hyundai was clearly evident last weekend at the Canary Islands Rally, the fifth round of the World Rally Championship (WRC). After the disappointing result, Thierry Neuville explained that “nobody knows” how to solve the Hyundai team’s performance problems in the WRC at the moment.
“It’s difficult to describe how we felt this weekend. We came here knowing that we wouldn’t be very competitive. On top of that, I never got a good feeling for the car despite all my attempts,” said Neuville, who at times set slower times than last year. ” We are a long way from the level we once had with the car. It is very frustrating. In Croatia, we saw a little light at the end of the tunnel and then it disappeared again.”
Hyundai is still waiting for its first win this season. The latest round on the Canary Islands once again highlighted the gap between the Korean brand and Toyota. The closest Hyundai and Neuville came to success was on the tarmac of Croatia at the beginning of the month. There, the 2024 world champion was in the lead until the final stage before a mistake gave victory away to Toyota driver Takamoto Katsuta.
As expected, the appearance on the Canary Islands was difficult for Hyundai, as slippery tarmac is considered the i20 N’s biggest weakness. After Toyota celebrated a quadruple victory last year, the team repeated this feat last weekend and won all 17 special stages.
Adrien Fourmaux was again the best Hyundai driver in fifth place, but was more than three minutes behind the winner Sebastien Ogier. Although Hyundai has introduced upgrades to the front of the car this year, the gap has actually widened compared to last year. Neuville in particular is struggling with the balance of the car.
When asked if he knew the reason for the misery, Neuville replied: “Nobody knows. I don’t know how to improve the car, the engineers don’t know, my team-mates don’t know.”
Complex set-up problem with the i20 N
Hyundai Sporting Director Andrew Wheatley admitted that the performance was in line with expectations, considering the current conundrum surrounding the i20 N’s consistent pace. “It was as expected, but one of the positives is that we came here with the clear aim of minimizing mistakes. We managed to do that and that’s down to the hard work of the team,” said Wheatley.
He emphasized the difficulty of the situation: “It’s collectively frustrating for the team and it’s not down to a lack of will. It’s clearly a complex issue. We’ve been working on it for a year and if it was simple we would have fixed it eleven months ago. It’s not a problem that’s easy to solve.”
“Several drivers have tried and several engineers have tried. The car is really fast in its working window, but the difficulty is that special stages don’t take place in narrow windows. You need a lot of adaptability in the car,” said Wheatley.
Hope for the gravel season
Hyundai is nevertheless optimistic that it can turn the season around when the championship kicks off in Portugal next week in the first gravel-only rally of the year. Last year, the i20 N fought for victory there and recent tests have given the team new courage.
“We have to be realistic. Beating five Toyotas on any surface is not easy. We know that we have the potential and that we have improved reliability. We have three drivers who are super motivated and ready,” added Wheatley.
After a positive gravel test ahead of the Canary Islands weekend, Neuville is also cautiously optimistic: “It’s good to be optimistic, because that helps us to move forward. But we shouldn’t be too optimistic either. We have to keep both feet on the ground and we are up against a very strong competitor who is doing everything right. They are five cars, we are three. We may have more speed, but the rally is long. The feeling in the test was good and if we can confirm that, it will be positive.”