Tänak lies in second place in the drivers' table, 25 points behind teammate Thierry Neuville, after winning last month's Central European Rally, keeping the heat up on the Belgian all the way to the season finale.

Thirty points is the maximum a driver can take from one race weekend.

This means Tänak is still in with a shot at a second title, though Neuville will be in no mood to relinquish finally bagging his first drivers' title ever.

Either way, Hyundai has the winning driver in the bag courtesy either of Neuville or Tänak, though with only 15 points separating the team from Toyota in the constructors' championship, all is still to play for in Japan.

Abiteboul has not expressly stated that the two drivers should not compete against each other, instead focusing solely on the team standings.

He said: "Honestly, it's up to the drivers themselves."

"I think [Neuville] is very risk-averse. We build our rally strategy around that," he continued, speaking to WRC.com.

"The drivers' title has been our main goal since the beginning of the season, so we are, of course, happy to celebrate it together in Japan," he added.

Rally Japan runs Thursday November 21, to Sunday November 24.

Ott Tänak and his Estonian co-driver Martin Järveoja won the 2019 WRC title for Toyota. Since then the pair have driven for Hyundai, with one season at M-Sport Ford last year.

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