Hyundai's technical director looks back at an incredible career at motorsport's highest levels
Photography by Hyundai & Girardo & Co. Archive
Words by David Evans, DirtFish Head of Media
François-Xavier Demaison emerged from Hyundai’s command center, saw me and headed straight back inside. It’s not the first time. Moments later, he re-emerged, grinning. And carrying a newspaper.
Sitting down with Demaison was something I’d been looking forward to for a long time. Our careers had followed an entirely similar timeline, with both of us landing on planet WRC in the late 1990s. This was something he reminded me of as we sat down. When I asked why he’d brought the newspaper.
“I’ve been looking at you in there,” he said.
Slightly confused, he turned to the requisite page and pointed to a picture of himself and Marcus Grönholm both staring intently under the bonnet of a Peugeot 206 WRC. It’s 2002 and I’m in the background – looking, I have to say, poised and ready to offer valuable technical insight into what the issue might be…
David Evans' technical expertise wasn't needed when Demaison worked with Grönholm on the Peugeot 307 WRC
Across the following hour or so, I remembered how much I’d forgotten about F-X’s career. And I learned a lot more. I’d forgotten, for example, that he started his career working for Renault UK in the British Touring Car Championship.
That was the first of two stints with Williams – the second being the considerably higher profile and coming as the second of two stints in Formula 1. The first?
“It was with Peugeot,” he said. “I was there for one year when Peugeot was supplying Jordan with the engines.”
From there it was back to touring cars and then, in 1998, change came. Peugeot turned its guns on the World Rally Championship and – a decade and a bit after it last won all before it in the mid-’80s – the Parisians would return. With Demaison more than ready to get his hands dirty.
Petter Solberg is among the world champions to have benefited from Demaison's input
“I always said, I arrived in rallying by accident,” he said. “I was a junior engineer with the team and I was going to work with Marcus. You remember, he didn’t do the first event [in Corsica], so I worked one rally with François Delecour.
“When I met Marcus, he was saying: “Who is this engineer? He knows nothing about rallying… why do I have the junior guy?” We got to know each other. He’s a farmer boy and so am I.”
Demaison’s career in rallying has been marked by incredibly strong – and successful – relationships with drivers. Grönholm became Petter Solberg became Sébastien Ogier. Rallying, for F-X, then became Formula 1 became rallying and Le Mans.
He’s had – and is having – an incredible journey. And me? I loved it. As you know, I’m all about pace noting memory lane.
To watch the full interview with François-Xavier Demaison – and benefit from other exclusive podcasts and columns from key WRC service park figures – join Club DirtFish today.
Tags: Club DirtFish, François-Xavier Demaison, WRC, WRC 2025
Publish Date August 20, 2025 DirtFish
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