Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville is keen to get one over on Toyota on this week’s Rally Japan, Toyota’s home round of the World Rally Championship, labeling beating it to victory as “the dream”.
Toyota put the manufacturers’ championship out of Hyundai’s reach at last month’s Rally Spain – its second success in as many years. And with Kalle Rovanperä already confirmed as the drivers’ champion, there’s nothing left to fight for in terms of championships.
Winning is what motivates rally drivers and teams, no matter what the stakes are, and a victory on the final round of the season can prove a massive morale boost as the WRC heads into its short off-season before the Monte Carlo Rally in January.
But denying Toyota its perfect moment is what appears to be driving Neuville this weekend.
“I mean, the target will be to translate some of the information from this weekend [in Spain] already into the performance and, if possible, beat the Toyotas on home soil,” he told DirtFish.
“That would be the dream.”
Hyundai deputy team director Julien Moncet is similarly motivated to deliver one last victory in 2022, claiming his team wants to win in Japan “as much” as Toyota does.
“It’s something completely unknown for us,” Moncet told DirtFish. “Of course, all we know is it’s Tarmac as well. It’s very likely slippery.
“But I think as much as Toyota, I think we want to win over there. We will do our best and we’ll push even more to avoid this [another defeat] to happen, so at least we get something from the season and to prepare in the best possible way for 2023 because Monte Carlo is already coming very soon.”
While Hyundai is South Korean rather than Japanese, Rally Japan is still the closest it has had to a home event as a top-line manufacturer team in the WRC.
Hyundai did compete in China back in 1999 but that was in a second-tier Hyundai Coupé Kit Car Evo2.It scored a 1-2 in class with Alister McRae and Kenneth Eriksson.
