Thierry Neuville has cast further doubt over Hyundai’s World Rally Championship future, with the Korean firm not planning to homologate a 2027-specification i20 N Rally2 kit.
With the Rally1 homologation cycle concluding at the end of this season, the 2024 world champion was asked about next season’s revised regulations offering parity between current Rally2 cars and the inbound WRC27 formula.
He told DirtFish: “I have no clue at the moment. Nobody knows what will be our plan next year.”
Asked specifically about Hyundai’s plans to homologate a kit for a 2027-specification i20 N Rally2, the Belgian added: “It doesn’t exist. And I’m not sure it will ever exist.
“Honestly, I’m focusing more on the second part of the season now, knowing that ’27 is very wide open at the moment. I mean, there have been announcements made, but we have been desperately waiting for those announcements, but also for the [news of the new] promoter still.
“I know that the management of Hyundai is working very closely with the stakeholders for the future and no decision has been made. One thing is sure, there will be no Rally 1, so after that everything is probably wide open and such as it is for me.”
Hyundai sporting director Andrew Wheatley confirmed to DirtFish developing a kit for the i20 N Rally2 is not a priority.
“From our perspective, our priorities going forward are first of all 2026, that’s our first priority,” Wheatley said.
“We’re coming into the second half of the season with a realistic chance to be competitive, so all of our efforts are in 2026, we’re not taking our foot off the gas until the very last moment.
“Our second priority is the work that started at the beginning of the year, which was for the Rally2 car. So we’re doing an upgrade of the current Rally2 car, and that process is ongoing, and we want to make sure that we have the best Rally2 car that we possibly can, both for ourselves and for our customers.
“In terms of the kit, at the moment we need to know a little bit more information about how that will work in terms of the sporting regulations, how it will fit together, but at the moment the kit is not our priority as we go forward.”
Asked why, Wheatley added: “I think at the moment it’s about understanding what our opportunities are for the development cycle. We have a lot of work on with the Rally2 car, and there could be a fair amount of work doing the Rally2 kit. And do we compromise the Rally2 car, or do we try to make sure we maximize that?
“The market size [for the kit] could be quite limited. There’s a lot of competitors come to WRC to do WRC2, and I think that from a commercial perspective probably is the priority.”
