Hyundai let its first World Rally Championship clean sweep slip in 2024, and new World Rally champion Thierry Neuville has made it very clear that the same thing cannot happen again this year.
Although Neuville became the first Hyundai driver to lift the title in 2024, Ott Tänak’s crash from the lead on the final morning of Rally Japan presented Toyota with an opportunity that it ultimately took.
In a thrilling powerstage shootout where the two teams entered level on points, Toyota eventually emerged victorious by three to retain its manufacturers’ title.
Before his accident, Tänak still had a remote shot at stealing the drivers’ title from team-mate Neuville, and produced pace Hyundai team principal Cyril Abiteboul said was too fast considering Hyundai’s manufacturers’ objective on that fateful stage.
The Frenchman however refused to fully blame his driver for the incident, electing to share responsibility for what happened.
The incident directly benefited Neuville as it automatically crowned him world champion for the first time, but it effectively cost his team a championship it had led for most of the year.
Ahead of the 2025 campaign, Neuville has urged his team-mates not to let their personal objectives overtake those of the team.
Rally Japan crowned Neuville a world champion, but lost Hyundai its title
“I mean, obviously, we need to learn from what happened in Japan,” Neuville said. “If we don’t, it’s a mistake.
“I think there was no more obvious situation than Japan. If we don’t learn from it, I don’t know what I can do. We have to play the game, it’s important.
“We had all the cards in the hand to do well in Japan. The chairman was there, the big chairman was there. And we messed it up.”
Neuville labelled Tänak’s crash “a big surprise” and, like many, sees it as the turning point in the manufacturers’ title battle.
But the Belgian didn’t want to “blame anybody” for the accident.
“I think we would have taken the victory in Toyota City, the manufacturers’ and the drivers’ title,” he said. “Unfortunately at the end we have only the drivers’ title, so we lost the victory and the manufacturers’.
“I mean I was disappointed for the whole team basically because they were really looking forward and the whole year you are working for that. And everything went on one single corner.
“I mean it happened to me, we have all done mistakes and I will not blame anybody but maybe in terms of strategy it should have been maybe stronger input, more clear.”
Hyundai has made a number of strategic changes for the upcoming season, welcoming Pablo Marcos back to the squad as team manager with Christian Loriaux also leaving his role as WRC program manager.
Its third car strategy has also changed, with the recruitment of Adrien Fourmaux for a full season as opposed to 2024 where three drivers – Esapekka Lappi, Dani Sordo and Andreas Mikkelsen – shared the third car.
“I mean obviously it’s a strong line-up for sure,” Neuville commented. “I believe that it’s a good choice in terms of driver line-up and three full-time drivers. But I also believe that a fourth guy can be very helpful, especially with Toyota having five in some events.”
