Five rallies, zero wins: How Portugal’s gravel is supposed to save Hyundai’s season

– Toyota has dominated the current season of the 2026 World Rally Championship. All five wins went to the Japanese brand. Hyundai only had one chance to win a rally.

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That was in Croatia, when Thierry Neuville already had over a minute lead. But the former world champion slid off the track in the Powerstage, and Hyundai was once again left empty-handed.

In three of the first five rallies, Toyota took the entire podium, including a fourfold victory on the smooth asphalt of the Canary Islands. The biggest weakness of the Hyundai i20 N so far has been roads with little grip, especially on asphalt.

That is why the team is looking more optimistically towards the start of the gravel season next weekend in Portugal. The test drives beforehand have given hope that the tide will turn on gravel.

It is also expected that Hyundai will equip the car with the full range of upgrades, after some development updates were already used in early April in Croatia.

“The season really starts for us in Portugal, because the surface is fundamentally different from everything we have driven so far. The tests were good and we are more confident about the pace on gravel,” says Adrien Fourmaux.

“I like Rally Portugal and have always been competitive here. I have had some bad luck in the past with tire damage or technical problems, but we are coming with the motivation to attack in Portugal.”

This view is shared by his teammate Neuville, although the 2024 world champion is cautiously optimistic about his own expectations and those of the team for the rough gravel stages in Portugal.

“It is good to be optimistic because that helps us move forward,” says Neuville. “But we should not be too optimistic. We have to keep both feet on the ground.”

“We are up against a very strong competitor who is doing everything right. They are starting with five cars, we with three. We may have more speed, but the rally is long.”

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“The feeling during the test drives was good, and if we can confirm that at the rally, it will be a positive start,” hopes Neuville. Hyundai already showed its pace in Portugal last year.

Back then, Ott Tänak and Fourmaux had the necessary speed to fight for the win, before a power steering problem for Tänak and a technical defect for Fourmaux dashed all hopes of victory.

This year, the team will travel to Portugal with a revised i20 N, with Dani Sordo, who has already been on the podium seven times in Portugal, replacing Tänak in the lineup.

Portugal becomes a benchmark for Hyundai

Hyundai’s sporting director Andrew Wheatley believes the team can pursue “more ambitious” goals this week: “As the first gravel rally, Rally Portugal is very important to assess the team’s performance.”

“We know that the Hyundai i20 N Rally1 is fast under these conditions, and we have worked hard to continuously improve reliability.”

“This rally has a similar profile to the Acropolis Rally, Sardinia, and Saudi Arabia, so it offers a good opportunity to evaluate performance for upcoming events.”

“Our goals in Portugal are more ambitious than in the last rallies. Although we expect that our competitor has not been idle over the winter, we are implementing most of the insights from our 2026 tests.”

“With a good starting order on Thursday and Friday, we are confident that we can fight for the podium, but since Oliver Solberg and Sebastien Ogier also have good starting positions, the task will be a bit more complicated.”

“It looks like there could be some rain around the ‘Recce’, which could reduce the disadvantage of having to be first on the road. However, we believe we have three teams with the pace to fight for the podium.”

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