Hyundai will delay the debut of its upgraded World Rally Championship challenger after electing to run its 2024-specification car in next month's Monte Carlo season opener.
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 has utilised to complete a raft of updates to its car that are yet to be disclosed.
While Hyundai has ramped up testing and development of the evolution of its i20 N in recent months, the team has decided against running the car in January’s Monte Carlo curtain raiser for drivers Thierry Neuville, Ott Tanak and new signing Adrien Fourmaux.
Hyundai opened this year’s campaign with Neuville claiming his second Monte Carlo win.
“There has been a lot of work going in and we still believe there is good potential in the car and obviously we are very limited in terms of the mileage that we can cover or that has been covered with the car,” Hyundai team principal Cyril Abiteboul told Motorsport.com.
“The key question is going to be what is the tipping point for this car to become a more controlled platform than the current car? It is not really a new car, it is what we call the ‘evo’ car.
“We are in the process of finding when the tipping point will occur and from that basis we will make a decision as to when is the best introduction strategy for the car. It is not going to be in Monte Carlo.
“We will use the current car in Monte Carlo. That event is a very special challenge and it is not won on pure outright pace, so we think it is better to keep on using the car that we understand and know how to set up and by the way it also won the event this year.”
