Hyundai Motorsport

History

A predecessor department in Korea, Hyundai Motor Sport, existed from at least 1998 to 2003, contracting Motor Sport Developments to run campaigns in the 2-Litre Cup of the World Rally Championship with the Hyundai Coupe F2 and in the WRC Manufacturer's championship with the Hyundai Accent WRC. After a season constrained by budget issues, Hyundai withdrew from the WRC in September 2003, ending the partnership with MSD while pledging to return with an in-house German operation for 2006.

Nine years later, at the 2012 Paris Motor Show, Hyundai announced a WRC return in 2014 using the i20 built to World Rally Car specifications. On 19 December 2012, the in-house Hyundai Motorsport GmbH was established in Alzenau, Germany, to manage the program. In December 2015, the Customer Racing department was created to supply rally and touring cars and services to private customers, beginning with an R5 car based on the i20 that debuted in September 2016 at the Tour de Corse with three entries.

Hyundai World Rally Team

Hyundai Motorsport first built the Hyundai i20 WRC for the World Rally Championship starting in 2014. An updated version called the i20 NG followed in 2016, and then the i20 Coupe WRC arrived in 2017 to meet new rules. For 2022, the hybrid i20 N Rally1 was introduced after a development period that was delayed and interrupted by internal issues and the exit of team principal Andrea Adamo. In 2013, Juho Hänninen, Bryan Bouffier, and Chris Atkinson worked as development test drivers.

Thierry Neuville was chosen as the lead driver for the team’s first WRC season and has stayed with Hyundai since the 2014 Monte-Carlo Rally; he also secured the squad’s first win at that year’s Rallye Deutschland. Dani Sordo has been a long-serving driver for the team, though he has taken part in fewer rallies. Other drivers have included Hayden Paddon, Kevin Abbring, Andreas Mikkelsen, Sébastien Loeb, Craig Breen, Ott Tänak, Oliver Solberg, Esapekka Lappi, and Adrien Fourmaux.

Hyundai Motorsport claimed the Manufacturer’s championship in 2019 and again in 2020. For the 2023 WRC2 season, French company 2C Compétition ran the campaign using Hyundai i20 N Rally2 cars.

In 2022, the Estonian-based RedGrey Team, formerly MM Motorsport, was hired to enter WRC2 on Hyundai’s behalf. Both 2C Compétition and RedGrey are customers of Hyundai’s Rally2 cars, while Hyundai, in turn, uses their operational services. RedGrey is partly owned by Ott Tänak, who was a contracted Hyundai World Rally Team driver in 2022.

Customer Racing

Pierre-Louis Loubet, Ole Cristian Veiby, Oliver Solberg, Nils Solans and Ken Block have driven the World Rally Car for independent team 2C Compétition. Hyundai Motorsport developed the i20 R5 car in 2016 for use in national and regional championships including WRC2, the European Rally Championship and the Tour European Rally. First tested in January 2016, it debuted competitively in the WRC2 class at Tour de Corse and quickly achieved wins and championships globally.

TCR

The Hyundai i20 N Rally2, its successor built to Group Rally2 specifications, debuted at the 2021 Ypres Rally. In early 2017, Hyundai Motorsport announced development of an i30 N touring car based on TCR regulations, debuting in the Touring Car Endurance Series 24h of Misano before becoming available to customers by year's end. For the 2018 World Touring Car Cup, two teams entered the i30 N TCR: YMR with Yvan Muller and Thed Björk, and BRC Racing Team with Gabriele Tarquini and Norbert Michelisz; Tarquini won the inaugural WTCR Driver's Championship, and YMR secured the Teams' Championship.

BRC Racing Team entered four i30 N TCR cars in the 2019 WTCR season, with Tarquini and Michelisz returning for BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse, and Augusto Farfus and Nicky Catsburg joining BRC Hyundai N LUKOIL Racing Team. The i30 N TCR won the USAC Pirelli World Challenge TCR class in 2018 with Bryan Herta Autosport in owner and manufacturer championships. Hyundai added the Veloster N as a TCR option in 2019, competing in the Michelin Pilot Challenge and the 24 Hours Nürburgring alongside an i30 N TCR, both finishing on the TCR class podium.

An electric Veloster ETCR was unveiled in 2020 for the Pure ETCR championship starting in 2021. In 2020, a third TCR-based car, the Hyundai Elantra saloon, was unveiled by Customer Racing and debuted at the 2021 Michelin Pilot Challenge season opener at Daytona International Speedway.