Every now and then a story comes around and you just have to stop and smile. This is one of those. On Sunday, the World Rally Championship’s biggest rivals will put their differences aside and stand shoulder-to-shoulder to show the very best of our sport to South Korea.
Just weeks before Hyundai returns to Toyota City for the final round of this year’s world championship, the Seoul-based brand will welcome the Japanese giant to its own backyard on Sunday.
It strikes you as the sort of thing that sounded like a good idea at the time. Especially for Toyota. Back then the Jyväskylä based team still had a hand in both titles and there was plenty to play for. Now? Drivers’ title’s gone and Hyundai could be about to pour salt into that wound by liberally dousing Toyota’s hometown in champagne if it ends its rival’s run of successive wins in the makes’ race.
Awks might be about right.
Actually, not a bit of it. Who’s leading the Toyota contingent? It’s one of the world’s biggest rally fans, Toyota Motor Corporation chairman Akio Toyoda. Morizo’s coming to town and providing 50% of a show which the good folk of Yong-in and the surrounding area will never forget.
Hyundai’s Yeong Ho Lee nails it. He said: “We are excited to welcome the Toyota Gazoo Racing team, our competitors in the WRC, to Korea. This event will emphasize the fierce competition and friendship that coexist in motorsport and is an opportunity to demonstrate the pure passion for cars shared by both Hyundai and Toyota, as well as our commitment to further expand motorsport culture in the future.”
Both manufacturers will field megastars with current world championship leader Thierry Neuville joined by fellow i20 N Rally1 rockstars Andreas Mikkelsen and Dani Sordo. Toyota brings last Sunday’s fastest man in the WRC, Takamoto Katsuta and the man who can justifiably lay claim to being the second most enthusiastic rally fan in Toyota (behind Morizo), Jari-Matti Latvala.
Expect lots of Hyundai flag-waving, and Thierry Neuville in an i20 Rally1
Armed with their respective Rally1 machinery, those drivers will offer the local population a very different perspective on what can be done with a motor car. But the sight, the sound and the spectacle is really only one aspect of makes Sunday such a landmark event.
The bigger deal is having Hyundai Motor Group executive chair Euisun Chung and Toyoda at the same event and sharing the same moment. For the World Rally Championship to have two of the auto world’s most powerful and influential individuals enjoying the art of sideways in Rally1 cars with thousands of fans watching on in wonder – some for the first time – makes for a powerful Sunday.
Morizo’s enthusiasm for rallying is both boundless and compelling. Perhaps even more importantly, it’s a sport which sits front and center in Toyota’s desire to make ever better cars. The 2025 season is a 14-stop technology testbed. The years beyond that will shape a generation of GR models which will be both fun and rewarding to drive. As an advocate for everything good and great about rallying, we couldn’t wish for anybody better than Toyoda.
And, as Chung prepares to celebrate what’s looking like being Hyundai’s biggest ever season in the world championship, there’s no doubt he too can reflect on the enormous return on the N brand investment.
When the tire smoke clears from the Rally1 cars, fans will watch the IONIQ 5 N Drift Spec, the hydrogen-powered N Vision 74 and the Pikes Peak record-holding IONIQ 5 N TA Spec doing their thing. Toyota matches that spectacle with a GR Yaris Rally2, GR Supra and GR86. Every one of those cars has benefitted from engineering excellence and lessons learned in the WRC.
Question is, what are you doing with your Sunday?
