will put the leader of the World Rally Championship (WRC) into competition, Thierry Neuvilleas well as his teammate Andreas Mikkelsen during a national rally this weekend to prepare for the final test of the season in Japan.
The Korean brand is close to achieving a double in the WRC, with Neuville or his teammate Ott Tanak is poised to win the team's first drivers' championship, while also holding a 15-point lead over Toyota in what could be their first constructors' title since 2020.
In order to arrive as well as possible on the asphalt roads of Japan, which will host the last event of the calendar from November 21 to 24, Hyundai will be present at La Nucia-Mediterranean Rallyan 11-stage asphalt rally held north of Alicante, Spain.
The Alzenau team entered two i20 N Rally1 cars for Neuville and Mikkelsen to complete the 128 kilometers of testing. Both recently competed in national rallies in Austria and Italy ahead of the Central European Rally last month.
Neuville needs just six points in Japan to win his first title and deny teammate Tanak a second crown: “It's a comfortable advantage,” he said. “Worst case scenario we need six points. In any other scenario we are pretty good.”
“We need to find the right balance [en Japón] because we still have to fight for the constructors' championship and, nevertheless, we have this third car with Andreas [Mikkelsen] That goes for everything.”
Thierry Neuville, Martijn Wydaeghe, Hyundai World Rally team Hyundai i20 N Rally1
Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool
“We need to find a good balance between safe but good and fast driving,” he added.
Although winning the drivers' title in 2024 is already positive, Hyundai team principal, Cyril Abiteboul is adamant that his team must give their best to win the constructors' championship. in Japan.
“We will give our full support to Thierry and Ott in the final round of the season, but we want to make sure we finish well as a team.”
“The fight for the constructors’ title is still very close, so as a team we have to do our best in Japan to make it difficult.” during their house meeting,” concluded Abiteboul.
