Hyundai made a conscious decision when it moved its permanent test site from Finland to France for 2026.
“The reason the team moved to Finland was for a particular requirement to build more performance,” sporting director Andrew Wheatley told DirtFish in January.
“While, maybe, the results don’t necessarily reflect that performance, in places like Estonia and Finland last year, the car was working. The car was fast in Estonia and Finland, and I think that is valuable, and it has effectively done its job.”
Fast forward the clock six months, and there’s a bit more caution in Wheatley’s voice.
Relocating to Fontjoncouse made sense, and still makes sense, but Wheatley knows that this week’s Rally Estonia – and Rally Finland two weeks later – were the compromise of relocating the test site. The team has profited from testing on rougher roads, but the trade off is less high-speed time.