“must do better” and learn lessons from the accident Ott Tanak In the Japan Rallywhich caused a “painful” defeat in the World Rally Manufacturers' Championship against according to the team leader Cyril Abiteboul.
The Korean brand lost what could have been its first constructors' title since 2020 in dramatic circumstances on the final day of the season at Rally Japan.
Hyundai finished the season 15 points ahead of Toyota and was on course to win the title before Tanak, who was leading the rally, suffered a serious crash on stage 17, an incident which also ended up injuring his teammate. Thierry Neuville the title of the pilots.
Toyota had closed to within 11 points of Hyundai on Saturday, but Tanak's accident forced the 2019 world champion to give up his two points from Saturday and Sunday.
Therefore, Hyundai and Toyota reached the final Power Stage tied on points, where the latter triumphed in a thrilling climax to claim the improbable crown by three points..
Cyril Abiteboul, Hyundai team principal, asked about the emotions felt when seeing Neuville and his co-driver Martin Wydaeghe winning the drivers' championship and his team losing the constructors' championship in a matter of hours, he said: “It's true that we were very close to winning both… and when you narrowly miss it, it's always a bit boring and frustrating.”
“But I think we need to give some space to Thierry and Martijn, for what they have done and what they have achieved, they really deserve it. Just like I think Thierry deserves it, I also think that Toyota deserves to be where it is, at the top, I still believe that this is where it should be, and we saw it when Seb. [Ogier] He pushed in the last special, Thierry could not follow him. “We must take inspiration from them and demonstrate that there is still one step to take to reach their level, which we can take in 2025,” he said.
Cyril Abiteboul, Hyundai World Rally Team Principal
Photo by: Vincent Thuillier / Hyundai Motorsport
Abiteboul admitted that losing the constructors' title was “painful” for everyone in the team and believes that as a team they can better handle situations where titles are on the line.
The former director of F1 has been pushing for regulations to be changed to allow teams to transmit more data and have more communication with drivers at rallies. In the past, teams could communicate mid-stage differences to their drivers and co-drivers, but the FIA banned this from 2015.
“It's difficult, it's very painful for everyone on the team – just as I'm sure it was painful for them {Ott and Martin Jarveoja],” Abiteboul added when asked about Tanak’s accident and its impact on the fight for the constructors’ title.
“I'll be honest: I still have difficulty measuring to what extent [los pilotos] They know the level of risk they are taking with these cars. These are not circuit races where each lap you can decide to go a tenth faster or a tenth slower, that's not the case. “They have the green light and they are on their own.”
“We are in the age of massive connectivity and we have a huge amount of data, but there is none of that here, and sometimes what is obvious to us when looking at the divide, It was obvious to me that I was going too fast. It's obvious to me, but is it obvious to him? I don't know”.
“The message was clear. We said we had to be third and fifth [el domingo]neither first nor second. There was no need to attack like crazy, but the key question is: how much do they know inside the car that they are attacking so much?
“I started last and I think there was phone coverage during the stage, but no information could be transmitted to the car. I must apologize for not yet having the experience to know its evaluation capacity.”
“It was already a big frustration last year and it's something I didn't understand, having some form of communication with the riders before or after a stage about the level of risk they have to take. I think this is something that “We need to do better – maybe Toyota is doing better, I don't know their protocol, I want to believe that we will all learn and improve from this accident. »
Ott Tänak, Hyundai World Rally Team
Photo: McKlein / Motorsport Images
