After years of near-misses and countless heartbreaks, Thierry Neuville can finally bask in the glory of clinching his maiden FIA World Rally Championship title at FORUM8 Rally Japan, where Toyota GAZOO Racing sealed the manufacturersā crown after a gripping final day packed with drama.
Neuville and co-driver Martijn Wydagheās championship was secured in dramatic fashion early on Sunday when team-mate Ott TƤnak – the only driver who could challenge him – crashed his Hyundai i20 N Rally1 HYBRID out of the rally lead on the dayās opening stage. With a 25-point cushion heading into the season finale, Neuvilleās title was guaranteed with four stages to spare.
“I am feeling great to be honest, we worked so long for this,ā said Neuville, who has led the championship since his round one victory at Rallye Monte-Carlo.
āI don’t have the words, but I want to thank everybody who was part of it, who fought for us and all of the team as well. We were many times very close; we always give it our all, but this year we have been rewarded for it.ā
The late drama capped off a rollercoaster week for the Belgian, who battled back from 15th place after a turbocharger failure on Friday to finish sixth overall. His historic win is a first not only for him and Wydaeghe, but also their home country of Belgium and the Hyundai Motorsport team after a decade in the WRC.
While Neuville savoured his long-awaited triumph, TƤnakās crash delivered a cruel twist to Hyundaiās manufacturersā title aspirations. The Korean marque had the upper hand heading into the final day, but the pendulum swung back to Toyota after a tense showdown on the Wolf Power Stage. SĆ©bastien Ogier, Elfyn Evans and Takamoto Katsuta delivered clutch performances when it mattered most, helping the Toyota brand snatch its eighth WRC manufacturersā title by a razor-thin margin of three points ā the closest since Lancia captured the crown by two points in 1983.
Evans enjoyed a double celebration, inheriting the rally win after TƤnakās retirement and becoming the sixth different winner in a highly competitive season. The Welshmanās triumph also secured him second place in the driversā championship ā a bittersweet milestone heās now achieved for the fourth time.
āIt wasn’t looking so good at one point, but weāre very happy with the result and for the team,āĀ he said.Ā āThank you to my team-mates also, they did a great job. We’re sorry we couldn’t deliver [the drivers] championship, but we’ll try again next year.
Ogier rounded off a Toyota 1-2, finishing 1min 27.3sec behind his team-mate. The eight-time championās rally was marred by a costly wheel change on Friday that dropped him out of contention for the win, but his recovery drive ensured vital points for Toyota in their title fight.
Adrien Fourmaux capped a breakthrough season by completing the podium in his M-Sport Ford Puma Rally HYBRID. The Frenchmanās consistent form has earned him five podium finishes in 2024 and fifth place in the driversā championship ā his best season to date.
Fourmaux reached the finish just 7.1sec ahead of Toyotaās Katsuta, who delighted the home crowd by finishing fourth, while GrĆ©goire Munster rounded out the top five in another M-Sport entry.
In WRC2, Nikolay Gryazin stormed to a dominant category victory and an impressive seventh place overall in his CitroĆ«n C3 alongside codriver Konstantin Aleksandrov, but it wasnāt enough to deny Sami Pajari the championship. The Finnās second-place finish in Japan in a Toyota GR YarisĀ secured both the WRC2 and WRC2 Challenger titles, capping off a remarkable year for the rising star and co-driver Enni MƤlkƶnen.
The FIA World Rally Championship is poised to deliver more excitement in 2025 with an expanded calendar that includes all-new events in Saudi Arabia, Paraguay and Spain. The action restarts at Rallye Monte-Carlo which takes place from 23 ā 26 January. – www.fia.com
