Hyundai already working on “Plan B” for 2026 WRC driver line-up

Ott Tanak’s decision to step down from full-time rallying means Hyundai will have a changed driver line-up for 2026

Hyundai had already been working on a “Plan B” for its 2026 World Rally Championship driver line-up should it lose Ott Tanak from its team.

Tanak today announced plans to take a break from full-time rallying and leave the Korean brand following the Saudi Arabia season finale later this month. The 38-year-old stated that he wishes to spend more time with his family, but revealed that this “isn’t a complete goodbye” and won’t be cutting ties with rallying completely.

The 2019 world champion’s future had been a hot topic in the service park for weeks. Speaking before Tanak’s announcement on the eve of Rally Japan, Hyundai sporting director Andrew Wheatley admitted that it was the team’s priority to keep Tanak for 2026, but reiterated that such a decision would be determined by the 22-time WRC rally winner.

When asked hypothetically what the team’s plan would be should Tanak decide to leave, Wheatley revealed that the squad had already been working on a shortlist of options to fill the seat if it became available.

Ott Tänak, Hyundai World Rally Team

Photo by: Austral / Hyundai Motorsport

“Absolutely, we always have a Plan B – and you should have a Plan C,” Wheatley told Motorsport.com prior to Tanak's announcement.

“As far as we are concerned, we are very happy to have Ott in the team if that is what he wants to do, but if he doesn’t want to do that then we will respect that decision.

“Obviously, we are having to take everything into consideration, I have been doing calculations and sums and stats tables and understanding performance on rallies to understand what the balance would be if there was a change. One of the challenges we have in the championship is there is not free testing, so you can’t get a driver up to speed quickly.

"I think we are very clear about the target for next year, which is to be as competitive as we can. It is the last year of Rally1 and we need to make sure we have the best possible performance. When you are looking at the different options, absolutely, you want to bring young drivers into the team because they are full of energy, but we also have to balance that against making sure they are competitive.

“You need people with either speed or experience or both, but that is not easy. It is a short list [of drivers] and you are not looking at 20 options, you are looking at a fairly small group and we are in touch with all of them.”