Hyundai takes a strategic decision to drop Ott Tänak from scoring manufacturer points – freeing him from some component usage restrictions
Photography by Hyundai
Words by Alasdair Lindsay, Head of Digital Strategy
Ott Tänak will not score manufacturer points for Hyundai at any of the final three rounds of the 2025 World Rally Championship.
The decision, confirmed by the publication of the Central European Rally entry list, means only Thierry Neuville and Adrien Fourmaux will be nominated for manufacturer points at CER, Japan and Saudi Arabia.
A Hyundai Motorsport statement said: “For the final three rounds of the 2025 FIA World Rally Championship season, Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team will only nominate Thierry Neuville and Adrien Fourmaux for manufacturers’ points.
“This strategic decision allows Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja to compete without manufacturer nomination and by taking full advantage of the sporting regulations, the team is ensuring Tänak and Järveoja are in the strongest possible position to continue their fight for the drivers’ and co-drivers’ titles.”
Tänak suffered an engine failure on the opening day of last month’s Rally Chile. As permitted by the regulations he swapped to the other engine in his two-motor allocation for Saturday and Sunday but this unit suffered overheating issues, leaving Tänak down on power.
Faced with taking a five-minute penalty for a fresh engine at Central European Rally, or swapping cars with a team-mate who in turn would have to take this penalty, Hyundai has instead opted for a far more radical solution.
Deselecting Tänak for manufacturer points frees him from many of the restrictions in Article 17 of the WRC sporting regulations, which determines limits for mechanical component use for points-scoring manufacturer cars.
Engine sealing applies to ‘car names’ in the regulations but cars not nominated for points don’t require its driver to be paired to a car name and submitted to the FIA before entries close – so the two-engine limit no longer applies.
It also frees up other elements of component usage. Tänak’s car no longer needs to respect the ‘linked parts’ rules which dictate the same gearbox and differentials must be used for both Central Europe and Japan.
That rule also applied to the South American double-header and led to Tänak inheriting Adrien Fourmaux’s engine from Paraguay which failed in Chile – the switch was designed to give Tänak a fresh transmission without penalty thanks to Fourmaux’s retirement the rally prior.
Tänak can run a brand new engine for CER without penalty thanks to his deselection from Hyundai's manufacturer points-scoring lineup
He remains limited to one spare gearbox and set of spare differentials per event.
There are other advantages for Tänak: his car is no longer included in Hyundai’s limit of nine chassis for the 2025 season and there is no sealing of subframes or steering racks required. His entry also falls outside the limitation on the number of personnel allowed to work on the car during services for points-scoring cars – this was 12 mechanics across three cars for Hyundai.
Tänak is currently 43 points off the lead of the championship, which is currently led by Sébastien Ogier. He is however the lead Hyundai driver.
Hyundai meanwhile trails Toyota by 125 points in the makes’ race. Toyota will clinch the manufacturers’ title if it finishes Central European Rally with a lead of 120 points over Hyundai.
Words:Alasdair Lindsay
Tags: Hyundai, Ott Tanak, WRC 2025
Publish Date September 23, 2025 DirtFish 
https://dirtfish-editorial.s3-accelerate.amazonaws.com/2025/09/ns2i8aiT-2025CHILE_RT_222-1-780x520.jpg September 23, 2025
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