The team principal of Hyundai Motorsport, Cyril Abiteboul, has set highest goals before the start of the new season as his team and Ott Tanak could be the Red Bull and Max Verstappen of WRC in 2024.
Abiteboul comes from the world of Formula 1 as he was the managing director of Renault Sport from 2014 to 2020. At the start of 2023, Hyundai announced that he will replace Julien Moncet and would be the permanent person in charge in their project in World Rally Championship. Since his having started his new job, he learned many things about rallying as he was not familiar with the sport while he tried to create a stronger structure by appointing Francois-Xavier Demaison as the team's technical director as Hyundai did not have one in this role. Furthermore, he had to manage a difficult situation after Craig Breen's passing as the Irishman was a very beloved person to the Alzenau-based team, but at the same time he had to decide who will share the third car with Dani Sordo. Last but not least, the most important thing is that he persuaded Ott Tanak to return back to the wheel of the i20N Rally1 for 2024 as the Estonian driver was not satisfied with Moncet's management and car's reliability issues in 2022.
"In my own history in motorsport, I’ve always been inspired by the organisations that are all about a winning strategy, and everything is driven by the results", Abiteboul said.
"I’m thinking about Red Bull and, frankly, if Ott was in Formula 1, I am pretty sure that he would be driving for Red Bull Racing.
"That’s the inspiration that I want to carry for Hyundai – I would like that we can be the Red Bull Racing of the WRC, and Ott could be our Max Verstappen".
Source: Motorsport.com
Photo Credits: Hyundai
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