Reigning world champion Thierry Neuville feels Toyota’s dominant start to the World Rally Championship season can be explained by a “reasonable advantage” it holds regarding tires.
With Hankook stepping in to replace Pirelli as the sole supplier of rubber at rallying’s highest level this year, it’s clear that the Koreans’ black and round covers aren’t quite the same as the Italians’.
Why should they be? We’re not just talking the logos on the sides or the pattern of the tread. Differences in fundamental characteristics mean there’s plenty for the WRC drivers and their engineers to get their heads around.
We’ve only had two events – unique ones, at that – by which to judge so far, but Hankook appears to have done a great job of providing a durable tire that does what it’s meant to with minimal risk of puncturing.
Understanding the nature of the new Hankook tires has been a key theme of 2025 so far
Getting the best out of them, performance-wise, is a different matter. One make’s rubber doesn’t necessarily require the same approach as another’s – just ask Kalle Rovanperä. The two-time world champion has concluded he needs to alter his driving style if he’s going to ignite his challenge for a third world crown.
Mileage is crucial. Teams need to better understand the new rubber before they can optimize car setups. And drivers need to increase their knowledge of its performance on stage so they can feel how close to the limit they really are.
That is where Neuville feels Hyundai is at a disadvantage compared with Toyota. In this age of heavily restricted testing, more cars means more testing allowance.
Toyota ran five GR Yaris Rally1s on the Monte Carlo Rally and was set to have five on Rally Sweden too, before privateer Lorenzo Bertelli’s late withdrawal.
Hyundai, on the other hand, fielded three cars on each event and, as yet, has no plans to expand its entry in future.
Toyota ran five cars on the Monte and intended to run five in Sweden too
“We don’t need to forget that Toyota has four, up to five, cars with Bertelli as well, I think, who actually did testing,” Neuville told DirtFish in Sweden.
“So they have much more test days. In Monte Carlo, it has been a massive added value they had with testing in different conditions, different tire combinations, which obviously we couldn’t with only three days of testing.
“And here, the same again. So honestly, I think it’s a bit also one of the reasons why we are struggling sometimes, and maybe in the beginning of the rally a bit more than them.
“They got more experience, basically. It’s something which is a reasonable advantage for them, definitely.”
Hankook director of motorsport, Manfred Sandbichler, however told DirtFish that drivers and teams will always want more testing.
“It doesn’t matter how many kilometers we go for testing, at the end of the day, the result will be always the same: it’s not enough,” he said.
“You hear always the same comments from the management, from the manufacturers and from the drivers, more and more and more. Which is normal, this is their business. And this is also their ultimate goal, to be top of the top.
“So therefore they will always ask for more testing. But at the end of the day, it’s time limited. We had just 11 months to develop all the products for the WRC and in this short period of time, we try to test as much as possible and we share the test kilometers between all three manufacturers.
“So it means there is nobody with an advantage or a disadvantage. This is also important from my point of view.”
With the snow and icy conditions now done for 2025, attention turns to the first gravel-based round of the season, next month’s Safari Rally Kenya.
Hyundai Motorsport president and team principal Cyril Abiteboul is, like Neuville, aware that understanding the tire is a key area of focus.
He told DirtFish: “For now, I think the biggest factor is to understand how to make the tire work, and there are some things that we are missing there.”
