It may have taken longer than a lot of people would have liked, but that's the price you pay if you're a company that's looking to break ground in a racing series it hasn't entered since 2003..

After a year of testing and development, Hyundai->ke201 has finally pulled the covers off of the i20 World Rally Championship->ke523 racecar. And if we do say so ourselves, it looks positively glorious.

The unveiling happened at a recent event in Frankfurt when the Hyundai Shell World Rally Team officially announced that it had finally wrapped up the project in time for next season's WRC season. Lead driver, Thierry Neuville, was given the honor of presenting the car with teammate Juho Hänninen serving as the driver of the second vehicle.

Earlier this year, Hyundai presented an updated version of the racecar at the Geneva Motor Show->ke228 yet it was clear that the show car at the event was still a long ways away from being completed. This one, though, is the final product, and it comes complete with all the cursory aerodynamic modifications set to rally specifications, not to mention a cavalcade of graphics and liveries that show all of the team's partners for next year's WRC season.

Updates to the chassis and suspension were of importance for the team, seeing as it will be tackling a racing series that will feature its share of bumpy roads. There's also a new rear wing, a front spoiler, and an interior that's been redesigned specifically for rally purposes.

Based on our estimates, the 2014 Hyundai i20 WRC racecar is likely to receive a 1.6-liter, in-line-four engine that produces close to 300 horsepower, which should be good enough to hit 60 mph in five to six seconds to go with a top speed of about 160 mph.

Click past the jump to read about the previous incarnation of the Hyundai i20 WRC, the one that we saw at Geneva last March

2014 Hyundai i20 WRC by Hyundai Shell World Rally Team

Specifications
  • Make: Array
  • Model: 2014 Hyundai i20 WRC by Hyundai Shell World Rally Team
  • Engine/Motor: inline-4
  • Horsepower: 300
  • Torque: 300
  • [do not use] Vehicle Model: Array

2014 Hyundai i20 WRC

Hyundai is returning to the World Rally Championship next season after an 11-year absence and it's decided to field a rally-spec race car that can definitely hold its own against the competition.

The company's announcement last year cleared the way for the development of the i20 WRC racer and at the Geneva Motor Show earlier this year, Hyundai introduced the rally car for the first time. It still didn't have a lot of the components it does now, but after more time spent on the tech block, the car, along with the company's official WRC team, finally received their long overdue time in the spotlight.

Whether or not the car translates to wins in the WRC for Hyundai is another matter entirely. But for what it's worth, the Korean brand is doing all it can to make the i20 WRC a real player in the coming rally season.