Hyundai enters world champion into East Belgian Rally for extra sealed-surface testing mileage
Photography by Hyundai
Words by Alasdair Lindsay, Head of Digital Strategy
Hyundai will enter an i20 N Rally1 into the East Belgian Rally next weekend with hometown hero Thierry Neuville driving, as it seeks to avoid a repeat of the Toyota domination of asphalt seen earlier this season.
Team-mate Adrien Fourmaux did manage to finish on the podium at the season-opening Monte Carlo Rally, the only event this season where the soft Hankook tire has been used extensively. At Rally Islas Canarias, all three Hyundais were well off the pace of their Toyota rivals.
With testing days limited, Rally1 teams have occasionally entered national events to gain extra mileage. Neuville is hoping that heading for Belgian Tarmac will boost his team’s chances on the upcoming Central European and Japanese rounds of the World Rally Championship.
“We’re going to have a preparation event in my hometown, in St. Vith,” Neuville told DirtFish. “So I’m going to try to enjoy that one, work hard with the team to at least find something. And then we’re going to see.
“It will be a bit of a surprise. I think for everyone’s interest [in the WRC], we can only cross fingers that Hyundai will be up on pace for the next event.”
Neuville was only seventh on the WRC's last asphalt round, Rally Islas Canarias, back in April
“We will be more focused on evolutions than the way to our setup particularly,” he added. “Let’s see if we can improve anything on the basics of the car before we start doing the fine-tuning. That rally will give us a bit more mileage and will also give us a bit more feedback on how satisfied we are.”
Much rests on the outcome of that national rally; asphalt development has been otherwise stagnant while the WRC calendar was focused on its core block of gravel events in Europe and South America.
“I don’t think there’s anything more to come than what we had in Canarias, other than small details,” said Neuville. “But we cross our fingers: it’s a different kind of terrain and different kind of driving. It should be more tricky and muddy as well, so we have to rely on that.”
South Belgian Rally takes place on September 27, based out of Neuville’s hometown St. Vith. It features three loops of four stages covering 88 miles of competitive distance.
Words:Alasdair Lindsay
Tags: East Belgian Rally, Thierry Neuville, WRC, WRC 2025
Publish Date September 20, 2025 DirtFish 
https://dirtfish-editorial.s3-accelerate.amazonaws.com/2025/09/SBeOeN9Q-2024CER_FD_-142-780x520.jpg September 20, 2025
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