Grégoire Munster will drive next week’s World Rally Championship round in Gran Canaria, but won’t compete.
Instead, the former M-Sport Rally1 driver will use a Hyundai i20 N Rally2 as the event’s course car, traversing the stages before the competing rally cars.
Since starting the season-opening Monte Carlo Rally, Munster has worked in non-driving roles such as commentary, stage-end reporting, coaching and route note crew in a bid to stay active as he searches for opportunities, primarily in 2027.
“I’m trying to just keep busy, and especially in the WRC, ’til the end of the season and try to be a potential driver for a team for 2027 with the new regs coming in,” Munster said on the most recent episode of DirtFish’s podcast, SPIN, The Rally Pod.
“[There’ll] probably [be] some change with driver line-up and manufacturer involvement and so on for 2027, and so I’m going to do everything I can. If I cannot be driving, then I’m going to be there as a spectator or as an analyst or as a gravel crew or something.
“At some point you will see me in a car in the second half of the season.”
Driving the zero car at Rally Islas Canarias was another opportunity to stay involved.
“It’s good mileage going back into that car which I drove in ’22 the last time,” the 27-year-old added. “So yeah, they’ve got a lot of upgrades since then and so it will be good to see how the car behaves in a weeks’ time.”
Munster was tight-lipped on his relationship with Hyundai Motorsport, which he completed a shakedown rollout for ahead of Rally Sweden.
“It’s with the team Sports & You, Canaria, and it’s an initiative from Hyundai Motorsport as well,” he said. “So yeah, just getting some mileage and filling in for the zero car role. That’s [the] only thing I can say.”
As for the driving he’ll be doing in the second half of 2026, Munster said: “I will probably do some national events. We’ve seen with [Dani] Sordo, with Hayden Paddon, they were not specifically driving in WRC and still they are getting called to fill in the role of third driver at Hyundai this year. Sordo was driving the Portuguese championship and Hayden was driving in the ERC [in 2023-24 and Australia in 2025].
“So my goal will be just to drive a car in Rally2 and fight for the win at each event I will compete in.”
Munster will drive the Step 2 version of the i20 N Rally2
Asked if there are any benefits in taking a pause from driving and seeing rallying from different roles and perspectives, Munster admitted it’s “tricky to say” because driving is ultimately the most important experience to gain.
“In the end, I think what makes you go faster is to be in the car,” he mused. “I want to compete and I will do everything that’s possible to be at the start of events.
“Like I said, you need to keep busy and stay in the game if you want that opportunity to come. So that’s the goal.”
