Twelve months is a long time in the World Rally Championship. When Ott Tänak jumped ship from Hyundai to M-Sport for the 2023 season, few would have expected to see him return to the Alzenau-based squad so soon.
Despite two wins, the switch to Malcolm Wilson’s Cumbrian team clearly didn’t work out for the 2019 world champion. And now he’s on his way back to the Korean giant.
It’s not a case of Tänak slinking back to northern Bavaria with his tail between his legs. His previous three-year spell with the team did not yield the expected returns and ended somewhat acrimoniously, but Tänak is genuinely excited about giving it another go.
The Hyundai World Rally Team now looks very different than when Tänak walked out on it last year. Yes, his old friendly foe Thierry Neuville is still ensconced as a driving force behind the wheel. But, with new management in place, the Belgian’s sphere of influence may not be quite so strong.
That new management, including on the technical side, is key to Tänak believing things will be better this time around. With team principal Cyril Abiteboul joined by fellow ex-Formula 1 man FX Demaison – the mastermind behind Volkswagen’s 2013-16 WRC title clean sweep – at the helm, Hyundai is looking more like the WRC powerhouse it always threatened to be.
“First of all, already from much higher up, they definitely changed their approach since I left,” Tänak told DirtFish when asked what he’d seen that wasn’t there when he left the team.
“Already from Hyundai management you can see that they take this sport very, very seriously and they definitely have a target. It’s not about just being here, it’s about winning it. And delivering it, and also designing a great product and making fast cars.
“So by bringing Cyril and FX and others, it shows that they are serious about it. Obviously, they are very good guys and this year they made very big steps and they have been very clear where they want to go.
“So I wouldn’t say there is something much missing, it’s just up to the team now to keep going in the direction they’ve started this year and keep on developing.”
Hyundai’s i20 N Rally1 had a difficult birth in 2021. It suffered from a late sign-off from Korea, putting it on the back foot from the off. Tänak’s own mastery perhaps flattered its rate of development as he wrestled the car to three wins and second in the drivers’ championship.
But it was clear that progress was being made despite a slightly dysfunctional management structure, with no team principal in place. With Abiteboul arriving last winter, and Demaison bolstering the technical prowess from late May, that has continued through 2023 even though the team recorded fewer wins than in 2022.
There is still work required to knock Toyota off its perch but, as he embarks on a testing program, Tänak has seen enough to be believe it can be done.
“I guess that’s still a big job,” he admitted. “The car was brought at the very last minute without any testing straight into Monte Carlo [last year], so the start was still harsh.
“But in this period now they are very, very competitive, so definitely there’s been a lot of effort behind. So I’m sure it’s still going in to improve even further.”
