It is entirely funny how Citroen was criticized for dropping Meeke for one rally after 4 crashes in 3 rallies in 2017.... afterwards they didn't drop him even when two next rallies were both disaster (no speed In Finland and crash on first SS in Germany.
They kept him in the car and he won the 3rd rally.

Now when Hyundai drops Mikkelsen
one rally after finishing 2nd "he has had enough chances". What was it he did again? Oh he finished 7th scoring more points that both Toyota drivers, the horror.

The only logical explanation is that Loeb's performance there is the main reason and they definitely wanted him to drive. When deciding whom to drop they picked Mikkelsen. So 1. Want Loeb =>2.Drop one of the others => 3. Mikkelsen. Not the complely other way around as some people here suggest.

The underlying reason might be that Hyundai expects good improvement from the changes they have planned after Sardinia (that will benefit anyone who drives the car) and tries to squeeze out as much points as possible with "worse" car they have now.