WRC: Bouffier returns to Hyundai as tester

Bryan Bouffier has returned to Hyundai to work as a test and development driver in the World Rally Championship, with his efforts geared mainly toward the team's all-new 2015 car.

The former Monte Carlo Rally winner formed part of Hyundai's test squad last season, but was not signed for competition this year.

As the strain of competing in a full WRC program allied to ramping up development on the next generation i20 WRC begins to tell, the Korean marque has welcomed the Frenchman back. His first assignment will be to compete on the Antibes Rally (May 30-31) as a test event.

Bouffier, who won the Antibes Rally in 2006, said: "I will do my best to help them to prepare for the 2015 season, bringing my experience and knowledge and giving the team the most detailed feedback possible. The aim is to do some good mileage on tarmac and give the team as much feedback as possible for the remainder of the season."

Team principal Michel Nandan admitted Bouffier deserved a second chance.

"We have been talking for a while now and we decided that he definitely deserved another opportunity," said Nandan. "We decided to participate in Antibes next month to do some mileage on tarmac and test some components for the second half of the season in a competitive environment rather than in a traditional test session.

"Having won this rally before and being a French Tarmac rally specialist, Bryan was the obvious choice for this event which we will treat the event as a test for collection of data to continue the development of the Hyundai i20 WRC."