Preview: Round 1 - Rallye Monte-Carlo

Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team has its sights set on a strong start to the 2026 FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) season next week at Rallye Monte-Carlo (January 22-25), the jewel in the championship crown.

Competitors will fight for victory on 17 stages across 339.15km of Monegasque and French roads. With unpredictable weather conditions commonplace at the opening round, tyre choice will be crucial in ensuring success. Crews must find the right balance between grip and speed as they transition between icy and dry tarmac sections on the winding roads of the French Alps.

Hyundai Motorsport is once more targeting victory at the season opener as it did it 2020 and 2024, with permanent crews Neuville/Wydaeghe and Fourmaux/Coria aiming to finish on the top step. Paddon and Kennard will be the first of three rotational crews to man the third Hyundai i20 N Rally1 car, marking their return to the championship for the first time in eight years. Thorough testing and unyielding experience put the team in good stead for a solid result at the end of the weekend.

A special livery will run at the first round of the season, inspired by iconic French motorsport graphic novels. The design on the Hyundai i20 N rally1 car features comic-style visuals associated with the world of rally, honouring the spirit of racing that captivates rally fans and readers alike.

Q+A with Hyundai Motorsport WRC Sporting Director Andrew Wheatley

What are the team’s goals for Rallye Monte-Carlo?

“Following a successful test, we want to push to the limit and ensure that we are as competitive as we have been in the past. The team has been competitive, the car has been competitive and the drivers have been competitive, so there’s no reason why we can’t be in that position again this year. I think it’s going to be a challenging rally this year; the conditions are going to be difficult, potentially more testing than the last couple of years, and that puts an extra pressure on everybody. We’ve tried to ensure that we have made the best preparations for every possible condition in order to get the best performance out of the team.”

What are your expectations for this event?

“The big challenge in Monte Carlo is going to be the variation between the fast-dry sections and the tricky, icy and snowy sections. Quite often those conditions come in the same stage, and that puts extra pressure on the drivers in terms of tyre selection – this is where it can get complicated. The opportunity to get it right is equal to the opportunity to get it wrong, and we’ve tried to make sure that we’ve put ourselves in the best possible place to make those right decisions.”

How has pre-event testing prepared the team for Monte-Carlo?

“The volume of pre-event testing we have undertaken is significant, and all the team did an incredible job at being able to identify where the most difficult conditions are going to be. We worked hard to get ourselves to test in the areas those conditions would be, a lot of test roads booked, and as a result the team had the opportunity to select the best roads, but the weather had its own plans and that’s incredibly challenging for the team. They’ve done a fantastic job at being able to manage that over the last two-week window – that’s the key at the moment.”

Views from the crew  

Thierry Neuville said:

Rallye Monte-Carlo is always a tough event to start the season with, but there’s always a lot of excitement around it. There are new challenges, a new opportunity for a good season, and the chance to win the rally that everybody wants to win. To have a good event you need to trust the car; it has to be easy to drive in all kinds of conditions, and if you trust that the car is predictable, it makes your life much easier. It’s tough to predict the conditions now, but we can say for sure that we will have a mix of drier and icier sections. We’ve won it twice, and we always say, “there’s never two without three”, so hopefully we can be right up there and stand on the top step at the end of the rally.

  Adrien Fourmaux said:

I’m very excited to be returning to Rallye Monte-Carlo in the  Hyundai i20 N Rally1 car. It’s infamous because of the mixed conditions we always face, and the intensity of the event is unique. It marks the start of the season, so being back in the car is always something special and I’m really looking forward to it. I always try to make sure I have an easy car in Monte Carlo. It needs to be drivable in all the conditions we could face, which means snow, ice, rain and dry conditions. It’s been snowing a lot in the north Alps, so I think we will definitely have some snow, even if it’s just on the side of the roads. Our target is to win the rally – if there’s one to win, it’s this one.

Hayden Paddon said:

There’s definitely a mix of nerves and excitement ahead of Rallye Monte-Carlo, but I’m sure once we get into it those nerves will settle. It’s the most challenging event of the season, so it’s a daunting prospect, but I’m excited to drive a very cool car at such a historic event. We did a test at Hyundai Motorsport’s new base to get some proper mileage in the car so we can adapt and learn a bit more about the Hyundai i20 N Rally1. I don’t think anyone truly knows what to expect from the surface and weather conditions until we get there – that’s the unpredictability of Monte Carlo – so we have to prepare for every possibility. Our goal is for us to finish, and we’ll be keeping it clean to support Thierry and Adrien in their fight at the front.