Hyundai plans to unleash further upgrades to its World Rally Championship car after this week’s Safari Rally Kenya as it bids to close the gap to rivals Toyota.
The Korean marque has made a slow start to the 2026 season resulting in comprehensive defeats to Toyota at the opening two rounds of the season in Monte Carlo and Sweden. Heading into his weekend’s round in Kenya, Toyota has scored back-to-back podium lockouts, while Adrien Fourmaux’srun to fourth in Monte Carlo is Hyundai’s best result to date this year.
Hyundai drivers have struggled to extract consistent speed from the i20 N Rally1 this year which underwent upgrades to the front end and the gearbox during the off season, following a dismal 2025 where the ‘Evo’ car’s narrow operating window plagued crews.
While Hyundai has spent its homologation jokers on improvements to the front end and the gear ratios, there are a number of components the team plans to upgrade that fall outside of the requirement to use homologation jokers.
Since Sweden, Hyundai has been testing “as much as possible”, according to sporting director Andrew Wheatley, completing a 10-day programme that was planned before the start of the season. The team has been testing on gravel to prepare for this week’s Safari Rally Kenya and on asphalt, where the car has previously struggled, to prepare itself for upcoming rounds in Croatia and the Canary Islands next month.
The majority of the tests have been undertaken at the team’s new test base in France, and it is now anticipated that the first wave of upgrades will be available to the team in time for the visit to Croatia (9-12 April).
Thierry Neuville Martijn Wydaeghe, , Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1
Photo by: McKlein Photography / LAT Images via Getty Images
“It is certainly not the easiest start to the year but the results definitely don’t reflect the hard work that has been done or reflect the performance potential that is inside the car,” Wheatley told Autosport.
“We have been doing a combination of development tests and set up testing. Honestly, I have never seen a calendar like it. I have never seen commitment like it, it is incredible what they [the team] are doing. I had a look at the calendar and the first week where we have a week where there is nothing for the leading drivers to do is week 21. That gives you an indication as to how much commitment those drivers are putting into the process and an equal view as to how much effort the whole engineering and test team is putting in.
“It [the test] was already planned because from the end of last year as we we’re not able to introduce all the things that were planned. There are two types of parts that we are working with. The first, require homologation and they need to be confirmed by the 31 December. But there are a number of items on the car where you can make changes without affecting the homologation and so that process is fully under way.
“So the tests we are doing at the moment have been planned since October last year. But the parts integration comes with a timetable. I think we will see in the next four to six weeks more parts coming available which will help to make the car certainly more drivable in a wider window of conditions.
“From my perspective that has always been the challenge with this car. We know this car is fast but the difficulty is making sure the window is wide enough in order to take into consideration the changing conditions you have with the WRC.”
Hyundai confident ‘Evo’ car can stand up to Kenya challenge
Before Hyundai can witness the benefit of its next raft of upgrades, the team will tackle arguably the toughest event on the calendar in Kenya this week.
Podium: Winner Elfyn Evans, Scott Martin, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1, second place Ott Tänak, Martin Järveoja, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1, third place Thierry Neuville, Martijn Wydaeghe, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1
Photo by: Toyota Racing
The rally has proved to be a bogey round for the team having severely tested the reliability of its i20 N in the past. Last year the team did enjoy somewhat of a breakthrough with Ott Tanak and Thierry Neuville finishing second and third in what proved to be Hyundai’s first visit to the podium in Kenya since the rally rejoined the calendar in 2021.
That was achieved with the older iteration of i20 N Rally1 after opting not to deploy its ‘Evo’ car at the rally. While this weekend marks a first outing for the ‘Evo’ car in Kenya, Wheatley is confident it will stand up to the challenges ahead.
“We have to be realistic because beating Toyota is not easy especially when we consider they have made a step forward over the winter,” added Wheatley.
“We are not trying to compete against the 2025 Toyota, we are competing against the 2026 Toyota. We have had some genuine cause for optimism. We all know that Safari is slightly different. I think Safari will be about trying to go carefully and slowly as much as pure performance.
“Ironically the ‘Evo’ car wasn’t built for those conditions, it was built for the tarmac and the fast gravel stages, but the car won in Greece and Saudi last year so those are two of the hardest events on the calendar. I think as a result it has got some potential to be competitive but, as I said, Safari is not necessarily about speed.
“Kenya is more about survival, but I’m confident. I went to the test we did two weeks ago which was on super rough gravel and I have to say the car took an incredible punishment over three days and I was gobsmacked to see the amount of beating the car would take.”
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