Rally | Hyundai's team manager outlined how Ott Tänak and Thierry Neuville will be treated in the upcoming season

In January the head of the Hyundai team, which is going to the starting World Rally Championship with two star drivers Cyril Abiteboul tells For Autosportthat by Thierry Neuville and Ott Tänak too sometimes “absolute equality” prevails in the starting period.

Of course, the stable boss reminds us that stable regulations are not a complete impossibility when necessary.

2019 world champion Tänak returns to Hyundai after spending one rather frustrating season with M-Sport Ford.

Neuville has been piloting Hyundai since 2014 and is a four-time World Cup silver medalist and three-time bronze medalist.

Both start the season in Monte Carlo at the end of January as one of the favourites, as the king of the last two seasons Kalle Rovanperä surprised in November by announcing that he will not run a full race program in 2024.

Last season, Hyundai had a clear number one driver: a team order was made in Neuville's favor as early as in the second round of the season, the Swedish Rally. Now Abiteboul assures that the situation is different. At least until something.

“When the season starts, we will have absolute equality in terms of car parts, information, opportunities and contractual rights for each driver. And our third car has a clear role to support [kahta kärkiautoa]”, Abiteboul tells Autosport.

“We have set, and I won't go into more detail about this, a moment in the season where we will evaluate the situation and possibly change our internal rules. And the drivers are aware of this.”

Abiteboul thinks that the mutual struggle of teammates for the championship is a “good problem”, even though Neuville and Tänak sometimes had a certain kind of sloppiness as teammates in previous years.

“I'd like to think that's a good problem to have. I'd rather take two drivers for one than one driver for two [muista talleista] against.”

“We had many situations this year, when one [Neuville] had to fight Kalle [Rovanperä[, [Sebastien] Ogieria and [Elfyn] Evans against, and it was really difficult at times. In the coming season, we will have internal competition, but I think it will also be easier for the driver to know that everything is not on his shoulders alone.”