The Hyundai World Rally Team is a rally team competing in the

World Rally Championship The World Rally Championship (abbreviated as WRC) is the highest level of global competition in the motorsport discipline of rallying, owned and governed by the FIA. There are separate championships for drivers, co-drivers, manufacturers and t ...

(WRC) as the official

Hyundai Hyundai is a South Korean industrial conglomerate ("chaebol"), which was restructured into the following groups: * Hyundai Group, parts of the former conglomerate which have not been divested ** Hyundai Mobis, Korean car parts company ** Hyundai ...

entrant. Its team principal is Sean Kim, deputised by Julien Moncet and its drivers in 2022 include

Thierry Neuville Thierry Jean Neuville (born 16 June 1988) is a Belgian rally driver who is competing in the World Rally Championship for Hyundai Motorsport. During his career, he has finished as runner-up in the drivers' championship five times (2013, 2016–201 ...

, Ott Tanak,

Dani Sordo Daniel "Dani" Sordo Castillo (born 2 May 1983) is a Spanish rally driver. He competes in the World Rally Championship for Hyundai Motorsport. He achieved his first WRC victory at the 2013 Rallye Deutschland. Career Sordo began in motocross whe ...

and

Oliver Solberg Oliver Solberg (born 23 September 2001) is a Sweden, Swedish-Norway, Norwegian rally (sports), rally driver. He is the son of the 2003 World Rally Championship, 2003 List of World Rally Championship Drivers' champions, World Rally Champion, Pett ...

. The team has entered WRC every year since 2014 by

Hyundai Motorsport Hyundai Motorsport GmbH (HMSG) is a division of South Korean automaker Hyundai Motor Company responsible for the brand's global motorsport activities. The company was established in December 2012 and is based in Alzenau, Germany. Their principa ...

, a division of Hyundai Motors based in

Alzenau Alzenau (; until 31 December 2006 officially ''Alzenau i.UFr.'') is a town in the north of the Aschaffenburg (district), Aschaffenburg district in the ''Regierungsbezirk'' of Lower Franconia (''Unterfranken'') in Bavaria, Germany. Until 1 July 1972 ...

, Germany. Between the years of 2000 to 2003, the team was run by

Motor Sport Developments Motor Sport Developments Limited (MSD) is an automotive engineering and motor sport company based in Milton Keynes in the United Kingdom. The company was responsible for running the Hyundai World Rally Team on behalf of Hyundai Motor Company b ...

of Milton Keynes, United Kingdom, on behalf of Hyundai Motor Sport. The team has twice won the World Rally Championship for Manufacturers, in 2019 and 2020. For sponsorship purposes it has been known to vary its name when entering the WRC.

History

1998–1999: Prelude

The Hyundai Motor Sport division entered into the 2-litre World Rally Cup in the WRC (also known as Formula 2 or F2 cup) in 1998 and 1999. The entry was run by British company Motor Sport Development (MSD), with David Whitehead as team principal. An attempt at the flagship Manufacturers Championship was not possible as they did not have a suitable car, and MSD took on the dual mandate of running the Hyundai Coupe in the cup whilst developing a

World Rally Car A World Rally Car is a racing automobile built to the specific regulations set by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) and designed for competition in the World Rally Championship (WRC). The cars were introduced in 1997 as a repl ...

. In September 1999, the Accent WRC, based on the

Hyundai Accent The Hyundai Accent ( ko, 현대 엑센트), or Hyundai Verna (현대 베르나) is a subcompact car produced by Hyundai. In Australia, the first generation models carried over the Hyundai Excel name used by the Accent's predecessor. The Accent ...

, was unveiled with a view to make a debut in the following season.

2000–2003

The Hyundai World Rally Team debuted the car at the 2000

Swedish Rally The Rally Sweden ( sv, Svenska rallyt), formerly the International Swedish Rally, and later the Uddeholm Swedish Rally, is an automobile rally competition held in February in Värmland, Sweden and relocated to Umeå in 2022. First held in 1950, ...

and achieved their first top-ten result at that year's

Rally Argentina The Rally Argentina ( es, Rally de Argentina) is an Argentine rally competition that has been a round of the World Rally Championship, the Intercontinental Rally Challenge, the South American Rally Championship and the Argentine Rally Championsh ...

, when

Alister McRae Alister McRae (born 20 December 1970) is a British rally driver who competed in the World Rally Championship. He is the son of the five-time British Rally Champion Jimmy McRae and the younger brother of the late 1995 World Rally Champion, Col ...

and

Kenneth Eriksson Kenneth Eriksson (born 13 May 1956 in Äppelbo, in the kommun of Vansbro) is a now retired World Rally Championship rally driver. He drove for several manufacturer teams, including the Subaru World Rally Team, Mitsubishi, Hyundai and Škoda. He was ...

finished seventh and eighth, respectively. Eriksson later drove the car to fifth place in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

and fourth in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. In

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

, Hyundai debuted a new evolution of the Accent WRC, which was intended to improve reliability, but the performance of the car was still not good enough to challenge the four big teams (

Ford World Rally Team The Ford World Rally Team, also known as the ''Ford Motor Co. Team'' prior to 2005, is Ford Motor Company's full factory World Rally Championship team. In its current form, it has been a competitor since the 1997 season, when Ford Motor Compa ...

Mitsubishi The is a group of autonomous Japanese multinational companies in a variety of industries. Founded by Yatarō Iwasaki in 1870, the Mitsubishi Group historically descended from the Mitsubishi zaibatsu, a unified company which existed from 1870 ...

Peugeot Peugeot (, , ) is a French brand of automobiles owned by Stellantis. The family business that preceded the current Peugeot companies was founded in 1810, with a steel foundry that soon started making hand tools and kitchen equipment, and the ...

and

Subaru ( or ; ) is the automaker, automobile manufacturing division of Japanese transportation conglomerate (company), conglomerate Subaru Corporation (formerly known as Fuji Heavy Industries), the Automotive industry#By manufacturer, twenty-first ...

). However, at the season-ending

Rally GB Wales Rally GB was the most recent iteration of the United Kingdom's premier international motor rally, which ran under various names since the first event held in 1932. It was consistently a round of the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) calen ...

, the team achieved their best result with McRae finishing fourth and Eriksson sixth. For the 2002 season, Hyundai hired the four-time

world champion A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

Juha Kankkunen Juha Matti Pellervo Kankkunen (; born 2 April 1959) is a Finnish former rally driver. His factory team career in the World Rally Championship lasted from 1983 to 2002. He won 23 world rallies and four drivers' world championship titles, which we ...

, along with

Freddy Loix Freddy Loix (born 10 November 1970) is a Belgian rally driver. Career Loix's career in motor sport began in karting at the age of 15. In 1990, he bought his first rally car, a Lancia Delta group N, though he soon progressed to a Mitsubishi Gal ...

and

Armin Schwarz Armin (Armyn) is a given name or surname, and is: * An ancient Indo-European name: ** a German/Dutch given name, *** a modern form of the name Arminius (18/17 BC–AD 21), a German prince who defeated a Roman army in the Battle of the Teutoburg Fo ...

. Kankkunen's fifth place in New Zealand was the team's best result, but it managed to edge out

Škoda Škoda means ''pity'' in the Czech and Slovak languages. It may also refer to: Czech brands and enterprises * Škoda Auto, automobile and previously bicycle manufacturer in Mladá Boleslav ** Škoda Motorsport, the division of Škoda Auto respons ...

and Mitsubishi by one point in the battle for fourth place in the manufacturers' world championship. In September 2003, after a season hampered by budget constraints, Hyundai withdraw from the WRC ending the partnership with MSD and vowing to form their own in-house operation to return in 2006.

2012–Present

At the 2012 Paris Motor Show, Hyundai announced that it would be returning to the WRC for 2014, eight years later than planned, using the i20 model built to

specifications. Hyundai nominated

Juho Hänninen Juho Ville Matias Hänninen (born 25 July 1981) is a Finnish rally driver. He is the 2010 Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC) champion and 2011 Super 2000 World Rally Championship (S-WRC) champion with co-driver Mikko Markkula driving a works ...

Bryan Bouffier Bryan Bouffier (born 1 December 1978) is French rally driver. He is currently competing in the European Rally Championship with a Citroën DS3 S2000. He won the 2011 Monte Carlo Rally and the 2013 Tour de Corse. Career In 2002 Bouffier won ...

and

Chris Atkinson Chris Atkinson (born 30 November 1979 in Bega, New South Wales, Australia) is a professional rally driver. In the World Rally Championship (WRC), Atkinson drove for the Subaru World Rally Team between 2004 and 2008. His best finish on an indiv ...

as the official test drivers for 2013. On 19 December 2012, Hyundai Motorsport GmbH was established in

, Germany, responsible for Hyundai's World Rally Championship programme.

2014 WRC season

was named lead driver for Hyundai Motorsport's

programme and, together with his co-driver

Nicolas Gilsoul Nicolas Gilsoul (born 5 February 1982) is a Belgian rally co-driver. He is the former co-driver for Thierry Neuville.

, he has piloted the i20 WRC ever since the team's debut at the Monte-Carlo Rallyin January. Also competing for Hyundai in 2014 were

and co-driver

Marc Martí Marc Martí Moreno (born 1 October 1966) is a Spanish rally co-driver. Biography He debuted in the World Rally Championship (WRC) as a co-driver to Oriol Gómez in 1992. In the 1999 season, he began his partnership with Jesús Puras and the ...

, who entered six events. Hänninen contested six rallies, while fellow test drivers Atkinson and Bouffier entered two each.

Hayden Paddon Hayden Paddon (born 20 April 1987) is a New Zealand rally driver. He was PWRC world champion in 2011 and won the New Zealand Rally Championship in 2008, 2009, 2013, 2018 and 2021. Career Paddon was introduced into motorsport at an early age, ...

and John Kennard joined the team for six rallies. Neuville was the first driver to score a top-three finish for Hyundai in WRC. He finished third in Rally México. He and Hyundai also took the team's first victory at that year's

Rallye Deutschland The ADAC Rallye Deutschland is a Rallying, rally event held in Germany. The event was first held in 1982 and originally hosted by e.g. Frankfurt, Mainz and Koblenz. In 2000, the rally was relocated to the region around Trier. Previously part of ...

2015 WRC season

For the 2015 WRC season, Neuville, Sordo, and Paddon returned to pilot the Hyundai i20 WRC. All three drivers added to the team's podium tally at

Rally Sweden The Rally Sweden ( sv, Svenska rallyt), formerly the International Swedish Rally, and later the Uddeholm Swedish Rally, is an automobile rally competition held in February in Värmland, Sweden and relocated to Umeå in 2022. First held in 1950, ...

(Neuville),

Rally Italia Sardegna The Rally Italia Sardegna (until 2010 Rally d'Italia Sardegna) is a Rallying, rally competition in Sardinia, Italy, which has been a round of the World Rally Championship (WRC) schedule and also the Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC). Chara ...

(Neuville, Paddon), and Rally de España (Sordo). Dutch driver

Kevin Abbring Kevin Abbring (born 20 January 1989) is a Dutch rally racing driver. His father, Edwin Abbring, is also a well-known former rally driver. Career Abbring started his motorsport career in Rallycross with a 60 bhp strong buggy for newcomers, ...

competed in five events for the team. Hyundai Motorsport finished third in the manufacturers’ championship.

2016 WRC season

2016 saw Hyundai Motorsport regularly challenging for podiums and victories. Paddon took the team's first victory with the New Generation Hyundai i20 WRC in

. Neuville won Rally Italia Sardegna and scored seven podiums, ultimately finishing runner-up behind Volkswagen driver

Sébastien Ogier Sébastien Ogier (born 17 December 1983) is a French rally driver, competing for the Toyota Gazoo Racing Team in the World Rally Championship (WRC), who is teamed with the co-driver Julien Ingrassia. He has won the World Rally Drivers' Champions ...

. The team finished as vice champions in the manufacturers’ championship.

2017 WRC season

New regulations for the 2017 season saw the birth of the Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC. Hyundai announced a crew line up of Neuville and Gilsoul, Sordo and Martí, Paddon and Kennard. Paddon was later joined by new co-driver Seb Marshall.

Andreas Mikkelsen Andreas Mikkelsen (born 22 June 1989) is a Norwegian rally driver. He is currently competing in the World Rally Championship-2 for Toksport World Rally Team. He previously drove for the factory teams of Volkswagen, Citroën and Hyundai in the Wor ...

and co-driver

Anders Jæger Anders Jæger-Amland (''né'' Jæger-Synnevaag; born 29 July 1989) is a rallying co-driver from Norway. He has been the co-driver of Andreas Mikkelsen since 2016. Career In , he competed in WRC-3 and JWRC, with Ole Christian Veiby. In , Jæg ...

later signed for three events. Neuville scored four wins and eight podiums in 2017, again finishing runner up to Ogier, who had switched to

M-Sport M-Sport is an auto racing team and motorsport engineering company headquartered at Dovenby Hall near Cockermouth, Cumbria, England, United Kingdom. Formed in 1979 by the World Rally Championship driver Malcolm Wilson, and originally known as ...

. Hyundai finished second in the manufacturers’ standings for the second consecutive year.

2018 WRC season

At the season launch at

Autosport International Autosport International is a four-day motorsport event that includes a two-day trade show for industry professionals and a two-day public show. It is held at the National Exhibition Centre, NEC, in Birmingham, United Kingdom and operated by Mo ...

, Hyundai unveiled its 2018 crew line-up. Neuville and Mikkelsen would compete in every round, with Sordo and Paddon alternating events. Sordo was reunited with his previous co-driver

Carlos del Barrio Carlos del Barrio (born 15 August 1968) is a Spanish rally co-driver. He is currently teamed with Dani Sordo and is competing for Hyundai in the World Rally Championship. Rally career Carlos del Barrio began his rally career in 1991, co-driving ...

for the season. A four-car entry for

Rally Portugal The Rally de Portugal (formerly: Rallye de Portugal) is a rally competition held in Portugal. First held in 1967, the seventh running of the race, the 7º TAP Rallye de Portugal was the third event in the inaugural FIA World Rally Champi ...

ensured equal appearances for Sordo and Paddon. Neuville secured three wins and claimed six podiums, but was again outscored by Ogier.

2019 WRC season

For 2019, Hyundai Motorsport announced it would field four crews for the WRC season: Neuville and Gilsoul, Mikkelsen and Jæger-Amland, Sordo and del Barrio, and

Sébastien Loeb Sébastien Loeb (; born 26 February 1974) is a French professional rally, racing and rallycross driver. He is the most successful driver in the World Rally Championship (WRC), having won the world championship a record nine times in a row. He h ...

and

Daniel Elena Daniel Elena (born 26 October 1972) also known as "Danos" is a Monégasque rally co-driver working most notably with Sébastien Loeb. Between them the pair have won the World Rally Championship (WRC) nine times with Citroën, later competing wit ...

Craig Breen Craig Breen (born 2 February 1990) is an Irish rally driver, who competes part time in the Hyundai team in the WRC (World Rally Championship). He was the 2012 WRC Super 2000 world rally champion, scoring class wins in the Monte Carlo Rally, ...

and

Paul Nagle Paul Nagle (born 29 August 1978) is an Irish rally co-driver. Drivers with whom he has teamed include Kris Meeke, Gareth MacHale and Craig Breen.

later joined the squad for

Rally Finland Rally Finland (formerly known as the Neste Rally Finland, Neste Oil Rally Finland, 1000 Lakes Rally and Rally of the Thousand Lakes; fi, Suomen ralli, sv, Finska rallyt) is a rally competition in the Finnish Lakeland in Central Finland. The ra ...

and

Wales Rally GB Wales Rally GB was the most recent iteration of the United Kingdom's premier international motor rally, which ran under various names since the first event held in 1932. It was consistently a round of the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) calen ...

as the team focused its efforts on winning the manufacturers’ championship. Hyundai Motorsport sealed the 2019 Manufacturer's Title after Rally Catalunya as Rally Australia was called off amid widespread bush fires in the area.

References

External links

Official siteTeam profile at wrc.com
{{World Rally Championship Constructors' Champions World Rally Championship teams Hyundai Hyundai Motor Company