Hyundai Motorsport’s Adrien Fourmaux and Alexandre Coria have finished fourth in Finland with team-mates Thierry Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe jumping to fifth on the rally’s final stage. It marks a fine recovery from a difficult Friday afternoon that has ultimately denied the team a stronger result.
The 2026 Rally Finland was typically unpredictable, with conditions on Friday turning from sunshine to torrential rain at a moment’s notice. Despite showing front-running pace, including stage victories for Fourmaux on SS1 and SS9 and a joint victory for Neuville on SS10, Hyundai Motorsport’s crews paid a heavy price for Friday’s changing conditions, losing precious time and slipping from podium contention.
Local heroes Esapekka Lappi and Enni Mälkönen made an early exit from their home event. The Finnish duo were growing in confidence, building on the experience they gained in Estonia. Unfortunately, on Friday’s SS4, a misjudged pace note saw them take the wrong line into a crest, which sent them wide and into a ditch. The car then rolled, damaging the roll cage of their Hyundai i20 N Rally1, which prevented their return to the event.
Fourmaux and Neuville entered Saturday focused on recovering lost ground in sixth and ninth. A clean morning run elevated Fourmaux to fourth overall after incidents for Martin Sesks and Elfyn Evans. The Frenchman remained firmly in the battle for a podium finish, entering the final stage of the day on level time with Evans in the fight for third, but ultimately had to settle for fourth overall. While Fourmaux delivered another assured performance, Neuville was struggling to find the perfect balance inside his Hyundai i20 N Rally1. Nevertheless, the Belgian recovered one position during the day to end Saturday sixth overall.
Fourmaux began Sunday with a 3.8-second deficit to Evans and was determined to hunt down the final podium place. That charge was briefly interrupted on the opening pass of Himos-Jämsä by an unexpected cockpit visitor, with a bumblebee causing an unwelcome distraction. Fourmaux lost valuable time to Evans, and the resulting deficit proved too much to overcome. Although he settled for fourth, the Frenchman secured third in both the Power Stage and Super Sunday to score additional championship points. His team-mate Neuville climbed to fifth in the classification, also taking fourth in both the Super Sunday and Power Stage standings with a determined run through the final test.
Crew Notes: Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria (#16 Hyundai i20 N Rally1)
Crew on the pace on Thursday and Friday, claiming two wins and seven top-five stage times
Frenchmen finish in fourth in valiant recovery from Friday’s weather-related set-backs
Fourmaux said: “I have some mixed feelings at the end of Rally Finland. I’m very happy because I was really enjoying the rally, and I’m very pleased with the pace I was giving in the stages. I’m just a bit disappointed not to finish on the podium. We lost 1 minute 25 seconds to Sami in the rain on Friday, and today we have ended the rally 1 minute 35 seconds behind, which shows how close the gaps are if we removed the rainy stage. However, I’ve no regrets. We scored good points on Sunday, but I do feel we deserved more than that.”
Crew Notes: Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (#11 Hyundai i20 N Rally1)
Belgians leapfrogged Takamoto Katsuta to finish Finland in fifth
Closed the rally on upward trajectory with fourth in Power Stage and Super Sunday
Neuville said: “Friday was the toughest day for our rally, and after that we were just waiting for today to take some Power Stage and Super Sunday points. In the end we scored four bonus points, which is a decent result considering what happened on Friday. It was a bit of bad luck; we went a little wide, hit one stone, and that was enough to damage the suspension. Then we were unlucky again with the timing of the rain. The result of that made the rest of the rally very challenging, but I was able to enjoy today.”
Hyundai Motorsport WRC Sporting Director Andrew Wheatley said: “Rally Finland is a real case of ‘what if?’ We came to Finland confident we could fight for the podium and without the challenges on Friday, we believe we could have achieved a result that would better reflect the team’s hard work and efforts. Today has been a strong showing from Adrien and Thierry, taking third and fourth in both the Power Stage and points in the Super Sunday classifications. It has been an incredible Rally Finland with many stories to tell, as a team we can be happy with the strength and reliability of our car, but above all it has been a fantastic spectacle for the fans and for rallying as we look to a new era. We were hoping for more, but we will regroup and come back fighting in Paraguay.”
Next rally
WRC’s next challenge sees the return of iconic red-earth gravel as Rally del Paraguay returns August 27-30 for the first of a South American double header
Hayden Paddon and John Kennard will return to the Hyundai i20 N Rally1 cockpit for their fourth WRC event of the year following appearances in Monte-Carlo, Croatia and Japan.
Final Overall Classification – Rally Finland
1 S. Pajari M. Salminen Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 2:27:58.0
2 O. Solberg E. Edmondson Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +26.7
3 E. Evans S. Martin Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +1:19.5
4 A. Fourmaux A. Coria Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +1:35.9
5 T. Neuville M. Wydaeghe Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +3:52.5
6 T. Katsuta A. Johnston Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +4:18.2
7 J. McErlean E. Treacy Ford Puma Rally1 +4:32.7
8 J-M. Latvala J. Hänninen Toyota GR Yaris +8:25.5
9 R. Virves J. Viilo Skoda Fabia RS +8:46.9
10 T. Suninen J. Hussi T oyota GR Yaris +9:03.0 ..
Super Sunday Classification – Rally Finland
1 O. Solberg 27:00.3
2 E. Evans +2.9
3 A. Fourmaux +15.5
4 T. Neuville +19.3
5 S. Pajari +19.7
2026 FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers’ Standings
After round 10
1 Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team 514
2 Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team 340
3 Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team 2 184
4 M-Sport Ford World Rally Team 130
2026 FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers’ Standings
After round 10
1 E. Evans 201
2 S. Pajari 171
3 T. Katsuta 160
4 O. Solberg 156
5 S. Ogier 139
6 A. Fourmaux 129
7 T. Neuville 125
8 E. Lappi 25
9 H. Paddon 21
10 J. McErlean 21 ...
All results remain subject to official FIA confirmation.
