Hyundai’s revised 2025 World Rally Championship car will feature “some reasonable change” as the testing phase of upgrades continued last weekend.
The Korean manufacturer had planned to homologate a practically all-new version of its i20 N Rally1 for next year before plans were abandoned amid uncertainty over the 2025 regulations.
Following the FIA's U-turn on 2025 technical regulations after pushback from the teams, Hyundai has been able to salvage part of its i20 N development plans courtesy of an agreement to bring forward its 2026 development jokers to be used for the 2025 campaign.
It means the team has four jokers it will utilise to complete a raft of updates to its car that are yet to be disclosed.
Hyundai has been testing its revised car in recent months, with that project continuing at last weekend’s Rally La Nucia-Mediterraneo where championship leader Thierry Neuville was evaluating some of the upgrades.
Neuville was joined by team-mate Andreas Mikkelsen, who was running s 2024 spec i20 N, as the pair also logged valuable asphalt mileage ahead of the season finale in Japan next week. Rally Japan will decide both the drivers’ and manufacturers’ titles with Neuville leading Tanak by 25 points, while Hyundai has a 15-point lead over Toyota.
Hyundai’s WRC programme manager Christian Loriaulx was tight-lipped on the details of the changes for next year’s car but hinted that there would be some significant differences.
“We don’t want to say too much what we are doing for next year,” Loriaulx told Motorsport.com.
“It was a preparation for Japan for Mikkelsen and for Thierry, we are looking at some stuff for next year.
“We have submitted the homologation papers and it is still in the testing phase but for next year and 2026 we have four jokers. I would say we are looking at some reasonable change but I can’t say more.
“We are in the phase of testing it and it is quite busy as we need to prove reliability and gain performance.
"We know that what we will do will result in a good weight-saving gain but we have to work on the reliability. We have been testing it in very hard conditions and it has been reliable so far. Now we are working on the set-up and will see how it goes.”
Hyundai will once again field full-time entries for Neuville and Ott Tanak next year while its plans for its third car are expected to be announced following the Japan season finale. M-Sport’s Adrien Fourmaux has been heavily tipped to take up the drive.
Hyundai’s future in the WRC beyond 2025 is also yet to be confirmed following the brand’s move into the World Endurance Championship for 2026 under the Genesis banner.
