How Hyundai is shaping up to dethrone Toyota as WRC's conqueror

Hyundai chief Cyril Abiteboul reckons the South Korean marque pumps more money into the WRC than anyone else. But he knows that success is about the human side as much as resources, and now has all the ingredients to take on Toyota

Updated Jan 25, 2024, 3:54 PM

Pressure is not confined to tyres at Hyundai Motorsport ahead of the 2024 World Rally Championship. The South Korean marque boasts an experienced new line-up of drivers, who are all proven as rally winners, so expectation levels are high as it aims to break Toyota’s stranglehold on the series.

Given the investment to lure 2019 world champion Ott Tanak back to the fold after a year at M-Sport, while adding three-time rally winner Andreas Mikkelsen to its pool of drivers for its third car, there is no hiding from the fact that it’s time to deliver. And that’s something that is welcomed by its leader Cyril Abiteboul.

Author Tom Howard

Tom Howard is a News Editor working across both Autosport.com and Motorsport.com websites. Starting out as a sports reporter in local newspapers, Tom focussed on motorsport covering several national championships in the UK, including the BTCC.

After a period working as a freelance journalist, Tom moved to Australia in 2013 landing a job at leading Australian motorsport news outlet speedcafe.com, covering international motorsport events including F1, WRC and Supercars. Progressing to Editor in 2017, Tom was named Motorsport Australia Journalist of the Year for his work. He is also a two-time winner of Supercars Journalist of The Year (2017,2019) and a Supercars Championship Media Award winner in 2019.

Tom moved back to his native UK in 2020, firstly working in BTCC, before joining Autosport and motorsport.com in 2021.