Hyundai Motorsport targeting titles once again in 2025
After claiming the drivers’ and co-drivers' crowns for the first time in its history in 2024, Hyundai Motorsport returns to the FIA World Rally Championship with continued momentum and a renewed set of goals for 2025.
Photo:Hyundaimotorsport
Photo:Hyundaimotorsport
In what will be its 12th season at the pinnacle of the sport, Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team will soon begin its charge for a third manufacturers’ championship title, while also looking to repeat its 2024 successes.
In pursuit of these targets, the team has elected to field three permanent crews in the Hyundai i20 N Rally1: reigning champions and Hyundai Motorsport stalwarts Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe, returnees Ott Tänak/Martin Järveoja and newcomers Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria.
Neuville and Wydaeghe have nominated to take #1 for their 2025 campaign, making them the first crew to do so since Sébastien Ogier in 2022.
Estonian duo Tänak and Järveoja continue with the team in 2025, piloting a Hyundai WRC car for a fifth season. After remaining in the championship fight alongside team-mates Neuville and Wydaeghe until the final throws of 2024, the crew will be in the hunt for glory once more, in what is set to be one of the most competitive seasons in recent WRC history.
With two full seasons of contention in the highest category under their belts, the French duo of Fourmaux and Coria have proved themselves across the world’s stages. The crew’s move to Hyundai Motorsport comes after an impressive 2024, finishing the year with five podiums and 162 points. They will join Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team with the #16 car.
As well as crews’ individual aims, bringing the manufacturers’ championship back to Alzenau is the team’s ultimate mission. Previously this title was secured by Hyundai Motorsport in 2019 and 2020 – the latter of the two being claimed with the help of both Neuville and Tänak. With changes across the field in the WRC this year, a significant amount of work has taken place behind the scenes to further strengthen and streamline the operation. Gerard-Jan de Jongh has taken up an extended role of WRC Chief Engineer, overseeing the technical side of the team, and Pablo Marcos returns to Hyundai Motorsport in the role of Team Manager, leading the sporting and performance push.
The 2025 WRC season features a number of exciting changes, with significant alterations being made to the calendar, technical regulations and points system. The schedule has been expanded to 14 rounds, making this the longest WRC season since 2008. Three brand-new events will debut this year: tarmac event Rally Islas Canarias (April 25-27), gravel test Rally del Paraguay (August 29-31) and Rally Saudi Arabia (November 28-30), which will see the WRC take on a unique and distinctive terrain in the season finale.
Alongside these new challenges comes a change in regulations – including the removal of the hybrid powertrain – and in tyre supplier. Hankook will exclusively supply tyres for the championship from 2025 through to 2027, becoming the third-ever official supplier for top class entries. Another change is welcomed in the return of Remote Service Zones after a trial at Central European Rally last year. These regulations allow three team members and the crew to work alongside the car at designated remote locations with a limited selection of tools and parts. This option comes as an alternative to the Remote Tyre Fitting Zones.
Unlike 2024, there will be no Saturday points awarded this year. Instead, the 2025 points-scoring system places more importance on the overall rally win. The maximum number of points available across a weekend is now 35, with Super Sunday and the Power Stages each awarding additional points.
Hyundai Motorsport President and Team Principal Cyril Abiteboul said: “Coming from a victorious 2024 season, we can do nothing but target similar, if not better, results this year – in motorsport if you do not move forwards, you move backwards. We have very high targets but at the same time we must remain realistic about the challenge of repeating what we achieved last year. We spent a lot of time in the break analysing everything that went wrong and right over the course of last year, and we know what we must do differently throughout the upcoming season. We welcome Adrien and Alex to the family and their arrival signals a change of strategy with the third car. Our competition will be fiercer this year with the changes at Toyota but our goals still remain the same, and we will work alongside the drivers’ personal targets to try and maximise our season. Thierry will be on a mission to defend his title, Ott will be looking to bounce back from what he described as a very challenging season, and Adrien will want to show that he is the talent a lot of people believe him to be. All of these need to be put in perspective against the team’s charge for the manufacturers’ title that we narrowly missed out on last year. Of course there are other factors come into play this year: new tyres, new car regulations, new events and new scoring system all make a difference and they are all things we need to consider when going into every round.”
Thierry Neuville said: “As with every year, our goal is to fight for the best possible result. Obviously in 2024 we got the drivers’ championship and we narrowly missed out on the manufacturers’. As a team, I know that’s what we will all be fighting for, and on the drivers’ side we want to be in the fight until the very end. We have had some testing with the car in 2025 spec, but it will be more about the new tyres and how we adapt to them – this is where we are missing the experience and knowledge at the moment. There are three new events to contend at this year. As always you go to them with a little bit less knowledge and needing to do a little bit more work on the rally itself. There is a lot to look forward to this year, but also a lot to anticipate, I am really excited to be back in the car again this year.”
Ott Tänak said: “Our clear goal is to do better than we did last year. It should be a lot more straightforward as now we’ve already had one year in the team, so we have the knowledge and know to expect and how to improve. The titles are definitely our biggest target. There are many new rallies this year, we have a new tyre manufacturer and some big changes to the regulations so there are quite a few things to learn again. There is definitely plenty of homework we must do behind the scenes to be prepared, the rest is that you need to be able to quickly adapt and get used to the local environment which is always the challenge with these new events. There is a lot of unknown and it’s very difficult to predict what is going to happen – but that’s what makes it fun.”
Adrien Fourmaux said: “I am really excited to be joining a team like Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team as the next step in my career. This season we will be fighting for the manufacturers’ title, and I know I need to work hard to help the team realise that goal. I want to fight for podiums on a more regular basis as we go through the season; it would be a dream come true if I could claim my first WRC victory with the team this year. To get to that point we need to work through a lot of changes. Obviously Alex and I are new to the team, and with a new car, new spec and new tyres, there is a lot for us to discover. We will be learning as we go, and the tyres will be different in all the conditions of Monte-Carlo, and it will be same with the snow tyres in Sweden, then again on gravel.”
In pursuit of these targets, the team has elected to field three permanent crews in the Hyundai i20 N Rally1: reigning champions and Hyundai Motorsport stalwarts Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe, returnees Ott Tänak/Martin Järveoja and newcomers Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria.
Neuville and Wydaeghe have nominated to take #1 for their 2025 campaign, making them the first crew to do so since Sébastien Ogier in 2022.
Estonian duo Tänak and Järveoja continue with the team in 2025, piloting a Hyundai WRC car for a fifth season. After remaining in the championship fight alongside team-mates Neuville and Wydaeghe until the final throws of 2024, the crew will be in the hunt for glory once more, in what is set to be one of the most competitive seasons in recent WRC history.
With two full seasons of contention in the highest category under their belts, the French duo of Fourmaux and Coria have proved themselves across the world’s stages. The crew’s move to Hyundai Motorsport comes after an impressive 2024, finishing the year with five podiums and 162 points. They will join Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team with the #16 car.
As well as crews’ individual aims, bringing the manufacturers’ championship back to Alzenau is the team’s ultimate mission. Previously this title was secured by Hyundai Motorsport in 2019 and 2020 – the latter of the two being claimed with the help of both Neuville and Tänak. With changes across the field in the WRC this year, a significant amount of work has taken place behind the scenes to further strengthen and streamline the operation. Gerard-Jan de Jongh has taken up an extended role of WRC Chief Engineer, overseeing the technical side of the team, and Pablo Marcos returns to Hyundai Motorsport in the role of Team Manager, leading the sporting and performance push.
The 2025 WRC season features a number of exciting changes, with significant alterations being made to the calendar, technical regulations and points system. The schedule has been expanded to 14 rounds, making this the longest WRC season since 2008. Three brand-new events will debut this year: tarmac event Rally Islas Canarias (April 25-27), gravel test Rally del Paraguay (August 29-31) and Rally Saudi Arabia (November 28-30), which will see the WRC take on a unique and distinctive terrain in the season finale.
Alongside these new challenges comes a change in regulations – including the removal of the hybrid powertrain – and in tyre supplier. Hankook will exclusively supply tyres for the championship from 2025 through to 2027, becoming the third-ever official supplier for top class entries. Another change is welcomed in the return of Remote Service Zones after a trial at Central European Rally last year. These regulations allow three team members and the crew to work alongside the car at designated remote locations with a limited selection of tools and parts. This option comes as an alternative to the Remote Tyre Fitting Zones.
Unlike 2024, there will be no Saturday points awarded this year. Instead, the 2025 points-scoring system places more importance on the overall rally win. The maximum number of points available across a weekend is now 35, with Super Sunday and the Power Stages each awarding additional points.
Hyundai Motorsport President and Team Principal Cyril Abiteboul said: “Coming from a victorious 2024 season, we can do nothing but target similar, if not better, results this year – in motorsport if you do not move forwards, you move backwards. We have very high targets but at the same time we must remain realistic about the challenge of repeating what we achieved last year. We spent a lot of time in the break analysing everything that went wrong and right over the course of last year, and we know what we must do differently throughout the upcoming season. We welcome Adrien and Alex to the family and their arrival signals a change of strategy with the third car. Our competition will be fiercer this year with the changes at Toyota but our goals still remain the same, and we will work alongside the drivers’ personal targets to try and maximise our season. Thierry will be on a mission to defend his title, Ott will be looking to bounce back from what he described as a very challenging season, and Adrien will want to show that he is the talent a lot of people believe him to be. All of these need to be put in perspective against the team’s charge for the manufacturers’ title that we narrowly missed out on last year. Of course there are other factors come into play this year: new tyres, new car regulations, new events and new scoring system all make a difference and they are all things we need to consider when going into every round.”
Thierry Neuville said: “As with every year, our goal is to fight for the best possible result. Obviously in 2024 we got the drivers’ championship and we narrowly missed out on the manufacturers’. As a team, I know that’s what we will all be fighting for, and on the drivers’ side we want to be in the fight until the very end. We have had some testing with the car in 2025 spec, but it will be more about the new tyres and how we adapt to them – this is where we are missing the experience and knowledge at the moment. There are three new events to contend at this year. As always you go to them with a little bit less knowledge and needing to do a little bit more work on the rally itself. There is a lot to look forward to this year, but also a lot to anticipate, I am really excited to be back in the car again this year.”
Ott Tänak said: “Our clear goal is to do better than we did last year. It should be a lot more straightforward as now we’ve already had one year in the team, so we have the knowledge and know to expect and how to improve. The titles are definitely our biggest target. There are many new rallies this year, we have a new tyre manufacturer and some big changes to the regulations so there are quite a few things to learn again. There is definitely plenty of homework we must do behind the scenes to be prepared, the rest is that you need to be able to quickly adapt and get used to the local environment which is always the challenge with these new events. There is a lot of unknown and it’s very difficult to predict what is going to happen – but that’s what makes it fun.”
Adrien Fourmaux said: “I am really excited to be joining a team like Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team as the next step in my career. This season we will be fighting for the manufacturers’ title, and I know I need to work hard to help the team realise that goal. I want to fight for podiums on a more regular basis as we go through the season; it would be a dream come true if I could claim my first WRC victory with the team this year. To get to that point we need to work through a lot of changes. Obviously Alex and I are new to the team, and with a new car, new spec and new tyres, there is a lot for us to discover. We will be learning as we go, and the tyres will be different in all the conditions of Monte-Carlo, and it will be same with the snow tyres in Sweden, then again on gravel.”
