Why Hyundai’s WRC season “really starts” at Rally Portugal

Adrien Fourmaux is

Adrien Fourmaux is

It is a view shared by team-mate Thierry Neuville, although the 2024 world champion is cautiously optimistic about his and Hyundai’s hopes on Portugal’s rough gravel stages.

“It is good to be optimistic as that is what helps us move forward,” said Neuville.

“We shouldn’t be too optimistic either. We need to have both feet on the ground and we are facing a very strong competitor that is doing everything right. They are five [cars] we are three [cars]. We might have more speed, but the rally is long.

“The feeling was good in testing and if we can confirm that on the rally, it will be a positive start."

Hyundai proved its pace in Portugal last year with its drivers Ott Tanak and Fourmaux demonstrating the speed to challenge for the victory before a power steering issue (Tanak) and a technical problem (Fourmaux) ultimately ended any hopes of a win.

This year, it will head to Portugal with an improved i20 N and with seven-time Portugal podium finisher Dani Sordo effectively replacing Tanak in the line-up.

Dani Sordo has finished on the podium in Portugal seven times

Dani Sordo has finished on the podium in Portugal seven times

Hyundai’s sporting director Andrew Wheatley believes the team is in a position to have “more ambitious” targets this week.

“As the first of the European gravel events that will define the second half of 2026, Rally de Portugal is very important to gauge the performance of the team. Portugal has been an event with good speed and good results for Hyundai Motorsport in the past,” said Wheatley.

“We know that the Hyundai i20 N Rally1 is fast in these conditions and we have been working hard to further improve reliability step-by-step. This event shares a similar profile to Acropolis, Sardinia and Saudi, so this will be a good opportunity to assess performance for the upcoming events.

“Our targets in Portugal are more ambitious than the last couple of events. While we expect that our competitors have not stood still over the winter, we are bringing most of what we have learned from our testing in 2026 to Rally de Portugal.

“With a good start order on Thursday and Friday, we are confident that we can be in a position to fight for the podium – but with Oliver Solberg and Sebastien Ogier also in good starting positions, the job will be slightly more complicated. It looks like there could be some rain around the recce, which could reduce the deficit of starting first on the road, but we believe we have three crews with the speed to fight for the podium.”

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