Tänak, who clinched the world title in Rally Catalunya at the end of October with Toyota, made the announcement at the beginning of the month, putting an end to weeks of speculation that he was leaving Toyota for Hyundai.

Hyundai won the manufacturers' title over Toyota after the season-ending Rally Australia was canceled due to forest fires in New South Wales.

"We are looking forward to his feedback," said Hyundai team chief Andrea Adamo after Tänak tested the Hyundai i20 for the first time.

"Ott hadn't driven this car yet, this is his first time and we want to know what he thinks," Adam added.

"We are looking forward to working with him. It's great that another top driver is contributing to the development of the car," Adamo continued, adding that Tänak, 32, from Saaremaa, had requested different settings for the car but was unable to say what those were.

Tänak joins Belgian Thierry Neuville, runner up in the 2019 season, and takes his co-driver, Estonian Martin Järveoja, with him.

Sebastien Ogier, six time world champion and the only other driver who was able to catch Tänak towards the end of the season, has effectively replaced Tänak at Toyota, after leaving Citroen. The latter pulled out of the WRC for 2020 altogether.

The 2020 season opener is at Monte Carlo on Jan. 23-26.

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