Unless something extraordinary happens, and Toyota manages to drop more than 54 points to Hyundai in Chile (with 60 available per event), Hyundai is going to lose the World Rally Championship this week.
So what effect does that have on the third car?
With three drivers (Hayden Paddon, Dani Sordo and Esapekka Lappi) rotating between it in 2026, their objective has been simple: play rearguard and act as an insurance policy should Adrien Fourmaux and/or Thierry Neuville hit trouble.
Lappi is the man in the seat this week for what could well be the final top class WRC start of his career; a full-circle moment, as Lappi departed Chile two years convinced his story was written in the world championship.
Plenty have questioned why Lappi was given the shot in South America though, even before Paddon’s performance in Paraguay turned out to be quite as good as it was. Why give Paddon just one event on gravel and not extend it to two?
Hyundai has chosen between Paddon, Sordo and Lappi on events this year
But considering there are no championship permutations to worry about (even in the drivers’ standings, Adrien Fourmaux is 67 points down), should Hyundai have been braver with its driver selection?
David Evans raises this topic on this week’s episode of SPIN, The Rally Pod.
“Lappi has kind of squared this one away that this is going to be his last time out, and that in itself presents a reason why Hyundai has got this wrong,” Evans said.
“EP doesn’t have the burning desire to take his career further at this level. So therefore, I would be tempted to try something else.
“Yes, hindsight is always a wonderful thing. Like you say, I would have put Paddon in there for both of the events. Logistically, it probably would have been easier. But equally, I would have just thrown a curveball and brought Kris Meeke in.”
Now you’ve got our attention, David! Continue…
“At this point of the season, you have nothing to lose,” he argued. “You are not going to be manufacturers’ champions. You want to look to find these spikes in interest and these potential kind of newslines that you can deliver, and to bring Meeke in, everybody would have been talking about that.
Colin McRae gave Skoda massive PR value 21 years ago. Should Hyundai have done something similar at the end of 2026?
“It was the same when [Marcus] Grönholm came back in Portugal with that Prodrive Impreza in 2009, or any other of these one-off returns. Sébastien Loeb did it but then made it a two-off, three-off, four-off, or five-off return!
“The obvious one wqas Colin McRae for Škoda when he did he did Rally GB and Australia in 2005. I was fortunate enough to break that story and it was an incredible story that generated thousands of column inches and now would generate massive hype on social.
“I think that Hyundai’s missed an opportunity to bring in a Kris Meeke or somebody like that. Perhaps they have just given the seat a wee bit too easily to to EP.
“All of that said, it will be unbelievably interesting to see what EP does now. He’s got a clean sheet of paper: just get in this car and drive it like you want to drive it for the next three days.
“Let’s see what he can do.”
Host Luke Barry could see David’s line of thinking, but what do you think? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.
“I really don’t hate the Meeke point,” Barry said, “but let’s extend it. We’re going to assume that Dani Sordo is in for Sardinia, right? So let’s find budget for a fourth car and let’s get Sordo vs Meeke again in Rally1 cars in Sardinia.
“How about that? I don’t know where you find the money for it. It’s not coming from me, sadly, but Hyundai: I’m pitching you the idea!”
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