Francois-Xavier (FX) Demaison was recruited to the role of Technical Director in Maꦚy and was on site at l༒ast weekend’s Rally Italia Sardegna to witness Thierry Neuville hand Hyundai its first victory of the 2023 campaign.

Demaison comes with a proven track record in a number of motorsport codes, including Formula One where he enjoyed a spell with W🙈illiams Racing.

it is with rallying the Frenchman has enjoyed his greatest successeꦍs, notably with Volkswagen Motorsport between 2013 and 2016 when it clinched four consecutive drivers’ and manufact𒅌urers’ crowns.

Prior to joining the German outfit – which was victorious on 43 out of 52 rallies it started with its all-conquering Polo World Rally Car, the 54🌺-year-old learned his trade at Subaru in the World Rally Championship.

Hyundai’s sporting arm has been going through something of a transformation, with the first keynote signing coming in May 2021 with the arrival of Belgian Christian Lo🧸riaux who was installed as an engineering consultant.

At the beg🍎inning of this year, Former Renault Formula One boss Cyril Abiteboul was added to the company’s payroll as Team Principal in a sign of its intent to seal a maiden drivers’ ti🅰tle.

Asked during Rally Italia Sardegna what he expected Demaison will bring to the Korean marque’s World Rally Championship assault moving forward, Abiteboul said: “I think that was clear to me since joining that there was a big gap in the oဣrchard in the absence of a 🏅technical director.

“Motorsport is about technology, including rally, we have got very good ingredients, we ꦚhave an excellent powertrain, we have a very good chassis, a lot of effo✱rt in terms of data science, performance analysis and rally engineering.

“At some point you need someone at thꦍe top which is giving a technical direction, someone who is happy to tꦓry and give some strategic directions to the team. You also need [them] to provide strong technical leadership and make sure that we deliver.

“We have got a lot of good ideas, lots of excellent intuitions, but at some 𝐆point we need to turn all of that into a realisation, concrete execution and this is very much what we will be focused on doing,” added Abiteboul.

On top of his sporting endeavours, Demaison will also have a hand on technical resources, and work closely with the reꦇsearch 🍌and development groups within Hyundai Motor Company.