The 2022 World Rally Championship was a turning point in the sport's technical history: every factory entry was required to run a 1.6-litre turbocharged engine paired with a mandatory 100 kW hybrid unit for the first time. Hyundai Motorsport fielded Thierry Neuville and co-driver Martijn Wydaeghe in the i20 N Rally1, a car specifically engineered for this new Rally1 regulation — distinct from the i20 Coupe WRC that had competed in preceding seasons. This IXO Models die-cast in 1:43 records a specific moment in that transition: Round 11, Rally Finland, 4–7 August 2022.
Hyundai i20 N Rally1: the first hybrid generation
The i20 N Rally1 was Hyundai Motorsport's response to the FIA's 2022 Rally1 technical regulations, which mandated a standardised hybrid system alongside the traditional turbocharged petrol engine. The 1.6-litre four-cylinder unit works in conjunction with the 100 kW electric component to deliver power on the stages and comply with the new homologation framework. The car measures 4,090 mm in length — a dimension set partly by the regulation and partly by the road-going i20 N platform it references — and represented a clean-sheet engineering programme for the Korean manufacturer's motorsport division.
Jyväskylä, August 2022: a podium in the hybrid era's first year
Rally Finland 2022 ran from 4 to 7 August around Jyväskylä, the event's traditional base, over fast gravel stages that reward aerodynamic stability and high-speed precision. Neuville and Wydaeghe brought car #11 home second overall, behind Kalle Rovanperä. For Hyundai, this result was one of the first hybrid-era podiums, demonstrating that the new i20 N Rally1 package was competitive on one of the calendar's most demanding and historically significant rounds. Neuville himself is one of the most podium-rich WRC drivers never to have taken the championship title, and his 2022 Finland result adds another chapter to that record.
IXO Models 1:43 die-cast: material and execution
This 1:43 scale model is produced by IXO Models in die-cast metal. The livery replicates the Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team scheme: white base with the blue and teal graphics of the Hyundai and Mobis sponsors. Mobis — Hyundai's parts and service division — has been a headline sponsor of the team's WRC programme since 2014, making the colour scheme instantly recognisable across multiple seasons. The model is registered as car #11, specifically referencing the Rally Finland 2022 specification rather than a generic season livery.
In the display cabinet
This model sits naturally alongside other Neuville/Wydaeghe 1:43 entries from the 2022 WRC season — Monte Carlo, Safari, Ypres and beyond — allowing a collector to trace the full hybrid debut campaign car by car. It also contrasts cleanly with earlier i20 Coupe WRC pieces from the 2019–2021 period, making the technical and regulatory shift visible on the shelf. For those focused on the 2022 Rally Finland specifically, the Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 of race winner Kalle Rovanperä is the natural companion piece to complete the top two of that result.
