Hyundai fined for breaching homologation rules at WRC Rally Japan

Hyundai has been fined €25,000 and issued a further suspended €25,000 fine for breaching regulations at the World Rally Championship season finale in Japan.

A lengthy stewards’ hearing that concluded on Tuesday deemed that rear differential cases on the i20 N Rally1 cars driven by new world champion Thierry Neuville and team-mate Andreas Mikkelsen “were found to be not in compliance with Homologation Form Ra1-22/02.”

Stewards issued a €25,000 fine, with a further €25,000 that will be invoked if Hyundai fails to correct the Homologation Form Ra1-22/02 before the pre-event scrutineering ahead of the 2025 WRC season opener in Monte Carlo in January, or if a similar breach occurs.

The stewards report read: “During the hearing, Mr. Christian Loriaux [Hyundai’s WRC programme manager] explained that the picture in the homologation form was the one of the prototype case made in 2021.

“Due to their mistake, they had missed to ask for a correction of the photos enclosed in the homologation form.

“Mr. [Cyril] Abiteboul [Hyundai team principal] apologised for their lapse and stated that in Hyundai they need to improve their internal processes in order to avoid this type of mistakes.

“He also added that the CAD file matches with the parts installed in their cars and this should be taken into consideration to underline that they have acted in good faith.

“After due deliberation, the Stewards concluded that it was indeed the responsibility of the Competitor to make sure that the part installed in their cars complied with the homologation form and vice-versa.

“However, it has to be taken into consideration that if the competitor wanted to change the external part of the rear differential casing, they were allowed to do so as per Art. 5 of the 2024 Homologation Regulations for cars in group Rally1.

“Therefore, this incident appears to be the consequence of an administrative/clerical error in not updating the homologation form accordingly and that this was caused by a lack of control in the internal processes of Hyundai, as stated by Mr. Abiteboul during the hearing.

“Accordingly with the jurisprudence in the past, the penalty for this type of infringement was disqualification. However, the International Court of Appeal has already deemed that in “exceptional circumstances”, the objective responsibility of a competitor for a case of non-compliance of its car can lead to a less severe sanction than disqualification.

“According to the jurisprudence, clerical errors or mistakes in the homologation documents can constitute ‘exceptional circumstances’.

“The Stewards concluded that Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team was nevertheless in breach of the above-mentioned regulations and the fine imposed is the appropriate penalty in this case.

“Furthermore, to encourage the continuous improvement of Hyundai internal processes and to have the homologation form corrected before the first event of the 2025 FIA World Rally Championship, an additional fine is imposed with the suspension of sentence.”