By every metric, Toyota beat Hyundai in the first half of the 2026 World Rally Championship.
It’s won more rallies, more stages, scored more podiums and, most crucially, more points.
But the one advantage Hyundai does have is road position.
At Acropolis Rally Greece for example, Adrien Fourmaux starts sixth with Thierry Neuville seventh, while all five Toyotas occupy the top five slots on the road.
Coupled with the i20 N Rally1’s competitive pace on gravel, Hyundai’s objectives for the second half of 2026 are far more ambitious.
Asked what the target is, sporting director Andrew Wheatley told DirtFish: “To be as annoying as possible to all of the Toyota competitors. There’s a couple of advantages that we’re going to have in the second half of the year. Because of our championship position, road order should be quite good most of the year.”
Toyota is still a formidable competitor, but Hyundai is a serious threat for at least more rally wins as the year progresses. The championship, however, will be a tougher ask as its already 127 points behind and its lead driver (Fourmaux) is 62 points off the summit.
“We think probably we can be super competitive on 75% [of the remaining rallies] and fighting to win on probably 40-50%,” Wheatley added. “But the conditions can be quite tricky on those second half of the year, on those particular events. And sometimes you can steal a win when you least expect it.
“We know that the events most similar to Portugal – Greece, Sardinia, Saudi – are the kind of events that have traditionally suited the car. But I think there’s also reason to be cautiously optimistic on some of the faster gravel rallies as well.
“If we have grip, the car is back.”
Neuville said Hyundai “needs to be strong” over the second half of 2026 as his feeling is “more comfortable with the car on gravel, [so] it will be more competitive”.
Fourmaux is confident of staging a comeback
Fourmaux meanwhile is targeting a breakthrough WRC victory.
“If it goes well as in Kenya and in Portugal (the only two gravel rallies so far this year), I think we have a chance to catch some position [in the championship],” Fourmaux told DirtFish.
“It’s quite far, but we never know until the end. So let’s see.
“Paraguay last year we were leading. In Greece we could have won the rally. I did finish third. In Estonia, we had the pace. It’s a lot about the road position, to be fair, in Estonia.
“Finland, we were performing. We were second and third with Thierry and myself behind Kalle, but we had a puncture on Saturday evening. Saudi, we were 1-2. Chile: podium again. It’s quite positive.”
