Aju Business Daily

SEOUL -- Hyundai Motorsport, the motorsport wing of South Korea's Hyundai auto group, has grabbed its first champion trophy in this year's season of the World Rally Championship (WRC), which is one of the world's most popular motorsports along with Formula 1 (F1) racing.

Hyundai Motorsport said in a statement on Wednesday that its racing team has grabbed top standings in the 2019 season of WRC, administered and regulated by Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), with a margin of 18 points over Japanese carmaker Toyota. FIA is the international governing body of motorsport.

The announcement came after FIA unexpectedly called off the final leg of this year's WRC race in Australia due to a massive bush fire that ranged across the country's east coast.

"We are immensely proud to secure our first-ever FIA World Rally Championship manufacturers’ title after a highly competitive season against tough opposition. Since the establishment of Hyundai Motorsport in 2012, we have built up a dedicated team at our factory in Alzenau, who have worked tirelessly to achieve this goal." Hyundai Motorsport President Scott Noh was quoted as saying.

Hyundai established "Hyundai Motorsport GmbH", a motorsport division, in December 2012 to up its image in the global racing market. Hyundai's motorsport team drives a super-pumped up rally car version of i20, a compact hatchback.