Ott Tanak will be able to fight “without his hands tied” at the World Rally Championship title-deciding Rally Japan, according to Hyundai team principal Cyril Abiteboul.
Both the drivers’ and manufacturers’ titles will go down to the wire on Japan’s asphalt stages this weekend, with the former to be fought between Hyundai team-mates Thierry Neuville and Tanak.
Neuville leads 2019 champion Tanak by 25 points and is the favourite to claim his maiden world title, with the Belgian only needing to score six points to secure the coveted crown. It will be the first time Hyundai has piloted a driver to the world championship.
While Tanak’s chances of claiming a second title are slim, Abiteboul says his drivers are free to fight each other.
But the Frenchman has emphasised a need for Hyundai to maintain its advantage over Toyota, which currently stands at 15 points, to seal a first manufacturers’ crown since 2020.
“I think Thierry, and we can all understand him, he will naturally take a fairly reasonable approach because he has everything to lose from his perspective,” Abiteboul told Motorsport.com.
“But on Ott’s side it is quite the opposite; he has nothing to lose and therefore I expect and look forward to seeing him in action without his hands tied to anything, so that will be interesting to see.
“He knows that we need him for the manufacturers’ championship, so that is going to be interesting dynamic.
Podium: Ott Tänak, Martin Järveoja, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1
Photo by: Austral / Hyundai Motorsport
“Of course [Ott can fight], but let’s look at the buffer. It is quite big, so Thierry will need to have big issues for Ott to become a threat to him.
“This is why Thierry will make sure he goes through without a big issue.”
Heading into the event, Neuville described his championship lead as “comfortable”, but admitted he would need to find the right balance with his drive to ensure he secures the title and helps Hyundai achieve the constructors’ crown.
“It is a comfortable lead; the worst-case scenario is we need to take six points,” Neuville told Motorsport.com. “In any other scenario, we are pretty fine.
“We need to find the right balance [in Japan] because there is still the manufacturers’ championship to fight for and nevertheless we have that third car with Andreas [Mikkelsen] who will go for a push. We need to find a good balance in between a safe but good drive.”
For his part, Tanak believes there is little he can do to wrestle the title away from his team-mate.
“I don’t know what difference we can make, but we will try our best,” Tanak told Motorsport.com. “But with this scoring system it doesn’t make much difference.
Thierry Neuville, Martijn Wydaeghe, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1
Photo by: Austral / Hyundai Motorsport
“It is true [a retirement can change things], I guess it depends how much Thierry wants it. If he is smart in Japan and does a good job, then nobody has a chance.
“But we also have a responsibility for the manufacturers’ championship. It is still a big job ahead of us so we can’t really focus only on the drivers’ title, we are responsible for the team too.”
