Toyota has dominated 2025 so far, but Hyundai's gravel pace in Portugal has raised eyebrows
Photography by Toyota & Hyundai
Words by Luke Barry
Sébastien Ogier holds attention – when he talks, you listen.
And it’s good news we’re about to hear, as the eight-time world champion is predicting an “interesting” World Rally Championship season from here on in.
On the face of it, 2025 hasn’t been a classic thus far. Toyota has won all five rounds of the championship, and the same driver has effectively led the standings from start to finish (Elfyn Evans was behind Ogier after Monte Carlo but top of the full-season contenders).
But Rally Portugal a fortnight ago has given Ogier reason to believe the race is hotting up. Yes he and Toyota were victorious, but Ott Tänak and Hyundai sent a warning shot Ogier has certainly heeded.
“Ott was faster this weekend [in Portugal],” Ogier told DirtFish. “But it’s only one part of the equation when you want to win races. Unfortunately for him, the car didn’t hold on for the whole way, and luckily for us.
“Otherwise, like I said, the speed was definitely very impressive. It means we still have some work to do. The tendency, compared to Tarmac, has switched the other way around, which means the fan must look forward to an interesting season.”
As it stands, Toyota leads Hyundai by 55 points, and has three drivers (Evans, Kalle Rovanperä and Ogier) in the top-three of the drivers’ championship too. But that hands Hyundai an advantage for next week’s Rally Italy Sardinia – and that’s before considering it, historically, has enjoyed more success on the island than any other manufacturer.
“On the paper, we are definitely not favorites in Sardinia because first, the road order is one of the toughest of the season,” Ogier continued.
“And yeah, the difference is going to be massive. At least for me, I’ll have two lines in front. But for my two team-mates, I think first and second in Sardinia is terrible. So yeah, I don’t know.
“We’ll just fight hard and try to stay as close as we can. And you never know, putting pressure [can work], like [in Portugal] I was not looking that I will win this rally. Here I am, on the top step of the podium, so never give up – number 63, number seven here.”
The key perhaps will be reliability. Hyundai’s ‘evo’ of its i20 N Rally1 clearly proved to be fast, but it was more fragile than Toyota’s GR Yaris Rally1 last time out.
Toyota was more reliable in Portugal than Hyundai, but not as fast
Toyota deputy team principal Juha Kankkunen made similar observations.
“We were lucky, actually, that Ott had a problem,” Kankkunen told DirtFish. “He was very fast. But it tells that we need to work a little bit more and test a bit more, get the car balanced together with tires and things.
“Sardinia [and] Greece will be quite tough rallies to try to win, so we will see how it goes.”
The simple synopsis? “Reliability is good, but we need a bit more speed. They [Hyundai] seem to be doing very well on this kind of condition.”
Toyota sees Hyundai as the favorite, particularly for Sardinia, then. But speak to Hyundai personnel, and the opposite is true.
Tänak feels chassis improvements have made the pace “better, at least on gravel” but pointed out “you are only as good as your weakest link”.
He told DirtFish: “We know [there are] some rough gravel rallies still to come, so that’s where our opponents somehow are very strong to put the package together, and we need to focus on this side as well.
Hyundai's drivers are in agreement about the strengths and weaknesses of the car
“We can’t carry on this way like we are doing at the moment, having some trouble every rally,” Tänak added. “It’s definitely important to strengthen our weak points and focus on the package.”
So Toyota is wary of Hyundai’s speed; Hyundai is aware of Toyota’s stronger reliability record. Which force will prove stronger?
“In rallying, it’s always difficult to predict,” said Tänak. “I guess we just need to go and see where we are.”
With six gravel rallies still to go – including Estonia and Finland where Hyundai’s updates are really expected to be a benefit – Ogier’s “interesting” prediction looks solid.
Words:Luke Barry
Tags: Hyundai, Juha Kankkunen, Ott Tanak, Rally Italy Sardinia, Rally Italy Sardinia 2025, Sébastien Ogier, Toyota, WRC, WRC 2025
Publish Date May 30, 2025 DirtFish 
https://dirtfish-editorial.s3-accelerate.amazonaws.com/2025/05/EgsEzui0-Ogier05POR25cm451-1-780x520.jpg May 30, 2025
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