Shocking departure or Will Hyundai leave the WRC? Ott Tänak speaks out about the future of his team

Hyundai is an established brand not only in the WRC world, but also in motorsport as a whole. Recently, however, there has been speculation about his departure, but all speculation was put to rest by Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT driver Ott Tänak. What did he say in his statement?

Hyundai has endured a challenging start to the WRC, which, like Formula 1, has entered a new era this year.

However, the team has had an even more difficult start to the season due to the late development of its Hyundai i20 N. Moreover, with the departure of the boss who was with the team for six long years, Hyundai somehow lacks the right direction.

Thus, after Andrey Adam, Hyundai has to appoint a new boss, currently Julien Moncet, who was otherwise the team’s deputy director, holds his position.

Hyundai has already managed to show glimpses of lost momentum this year. Estonian Tänak won in Sardinia, but his season was largely marred by reliability issues or lack of speed, as was the case at the recent race in Estonia.

Tänak finished almost two minutes behind the winner Kalle Rovanpera on home soil. The current problems have thus sparked speculation that the 2019 and 2020 Constructors’ Cup winners are considering retiring from the WRC.

However, the Estonian driver has denied all such speculation, while Hyundai also announced two weeks ago a three-year extension with title sponsor Shell, which has been part of the WRC team since 2014.

“Our team will continue, we have a lot of support from Korea. Everybody expected much more, but now we need to make some changes in the team structure. We are working on it, even though this year looks difficult. But in the long term, it is important for the sport to get back into shape soon,” Tänak said at the press conference, as quoted by Motorsport.

During the Estonian rally, Tänak revealed his frustration with the car he currently has at his disposal. According to him, there are many things that are not working properly and it will be all the more difficult to improve them as he goes along.

“All the steps we have taken have been challenging for us as we lost our team boss last year. We definitely need a strong leader, and we continue to work hard to get back and fight with Toyota,” he added.

Sources