The World Rally Championship’s first pure gravel rally of the season in Portugal this week is seen as an opportunity for Hyundai to ignite its 2026 campaign.
Hyundai has been firmly on the back foot this season, having struggled to extract pace from an i20 N Rally1 that features a narrow operating window.
The Korean team’s struggles have coincided with a step forward from rival Toyota, which dominated the opening five rounds of the season. In three of those rallies, Toyota completed a podium lock out, including a 1-2-3-4 on the smooth asphalt at Rally Islas Canarias last month.
The Hyundai i20 N’s biggest weakness has been low grip surfaces, particularly asphalt, which is why the team is welcoming the start of the gravel season in Portugal this week. Pre-event testing has generated optimism among Hyundai and its drivers that it can turn around its fortunes on gravel. Hyundai is also expected to bring its full raft of upgrades to the car after debuting some of its development updates at Croatia last month.
“The season really starts now in Portugal, because it’s a different surface to everything that has come before,” said Hyundai’s Adrien Fourmaux. “Testing has been good, and we are much more comfortable and confident with the pace on gravel.
“I like Rally de Portugal, and I’ve always been competitive here. I’ve been unlucky with some punctures or technical issues in the past, but we go to Portugal with the motivation to push and get the best result possible. The fans are some of the best in the world at Rally de Portugal, I’m looking forward to seeing them.”
Adrien Fourmaux is “more comfortable and confident” on gravel
Photo by: Hyundai
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 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
Photo by: Hyundai
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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– The Autosport.com Team
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