Why Hyundai is in damage limitation mode already in the Canary Islands

Hyundai has admitted it underestimated the difficulty of Rally Islas Canarias that has left the team in damage limitation mode while Toyota has locked out the top five.

The Korean marque has found itself on the backfoot having failed to unlock the secrets to speed on the Canary Islands’ smooth asphalt roads that are making their World Rally Championship debut this weekend.

Thierry Neuville, Ott Tanak and Adrien Fourmaux have been unable to challenge Toyota, driving their heavily upgraded 2025 i20 N Rally1 machines on what has proved to be a specialist rally. Fourmaux ended Saturday morning the best of the trio in sixth, 1m39.7s adrift of runaway leader Toyota’s Kalle Rovanpera, while Neuville was seventh [+1m47.5s] and Tanak eighth [+2m01.8s].

Hyundai’s drivers have all reported balance and grip issues running the new Hankook hard tyre for the first time, resulting in a lack of confidence to push to the limit. The team has worked through a myriad of set up changes with little reward, highlighting a more fundamental issue with the car in these conditions. WRC teams are limited in what they can change during a rally with differentials and other key components sealed for the event.

“At least we are fighting with our team-mates so there is at least something to fight for, but that is all we can do at the moment,” Neuville told Autosport.

“I’m pretty confident the differentials we have are not where we need to be. Unfortunately I have a feeling with this car, with new upgrades it is possible to run a different differential, more open and free like Toyota, but unfortunately we homologated them three years ago, so there is not much we can do.”

When asked if he had concerns over car performance for upcoming asphalt events in Central Europe and Japan, Neuville added: “No, it is very particular [the road conditions] here.

“It is a pure car performance rally, it is like driving a Formula 1 car. If the car is fast the driver goes faster. There is not a single stone on the roads, they are clean. It has been dry all the time and there has been a little bit of fog but it didn’t really make a difference. On rallies [in Central Europe and Japan] you can compensate a bit and in tricky and dirty conditions where usually we are a bit better. I’m not afraid.”

Hyundai is unable to identify exactly the route cause as to why the i20 N cannot extract a similar performance from the tyres as Toyota, which will trigger a more thorough investigation back at its headquarters.

The pace deficit to Toyota has come as a huge surprise given Neuville was on the whole faster than Toyota’s Elfyn Evans when their pair conducted a test rally at Rally Sierra Morena in Spain earlier this month.

Reflecting on the situation, Hyundai technical director FX Demaison has refused to rule out using its final development homologation joker should it be needed to rectify the problem.

“We have tried many different things with what we have available and nothing has really shown a big improvement,” Demaison told Autosport. “We have come back to the stage one set up. There are things in the car which are sealed that doesn’t allow us to get the maximum out of these tyres.

Kalle Rovanperä, Jonne Halttunen, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1

Photo by: Toyota Racing

“We have limited testing of this tyre and we didn’t have a test here either so maybe that was a mistake. We underestimated the difficulty of this rally.

“For sure [we are now in damage limitation mode], we have to try and score the maximum points we can and go back and do better homework and be stronger.

“Yeah for sure [we could consider using our last joker]. When we see where we are, and if a joker can bring us to where we should be, we will do it. But I’m not sure today.”

In stark contrast, Hyundai’s rivals Toyota have dominated this weekend’s rally headed by a rejuvenated Rovanpera, who won the rally’s opening nine stages to lead team-mate Sebastien Ogier by 36.9s.

Championship leader Elfyn Evans ended Saturday morning in third, 53s adrift, but ahead of team-mates Sami Pajari [+1m16.9s] and Takamoto Katsuta [+1m26.0s].

M-Sport-Ford’s Gregoire Munster finished behind the Hyundai trio in ninth, while Yohan Rossel rounded out the top 10, leading the WRC2 class.