The 2024 WRC season begins its final sprint at Rally Chile, the eleventh and penultimate round of the championship. In South America, the leader of the Drivers’ standings Thierry Neuville mathematically has a first match point to seize his first world title. The Hyundai driver, winner of the last meeting in Greece, could take the crown on Sunday, at the finish of the Chilean event… but exceptional conditions would be needed for that.
Before the start of the Rally Chile, there are still five who are mathematically in the running for the title of world champion: Thierry Neuville, Ott Tänak (34 points behind), Sébastien Ogier (38 points behind), Elfyn Evans (52 points behind) and Adrien Fourmaux (62 points behind). For the Belgian to be crowned champion at the finish of the South American round, he must have a 61-point lead, the equivalent of two “perfect” victories (30 points per weekend and one point to avoid a tie) before the last two events of the season, in Central Europe and Japan.
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Obviously, the new points scale makes reading and forecasting for the championship very difficult, if not impossible (or at least, far too long to be understandable!). To sum up, in Chile, this means that Thierry Neuville must score 27 points more than Ott Tänak, 23 more than Sébastien Ogier, 9 more than Elfyn Evans and that he must not lose a single point to Adrien Fourmaux. Suffice to say that it would take an exceptional alignment of the planets for this scenario to happen!
The Hyundai driver does, however, have the opportunity to realistically eliminate two title contenders in Adrien Fourmaux and Elfyn Evans. As for Ott Tänak and Sébastien Ogier, it will probably be necessary to wait until at least the Central Europe Rally (17-20 October) for Thierry Neuville to have a real chance of winning the title.
WRC
General classification before the Rally of Chile
1) Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) – 192 points (2 wins)
2) Ott Tänak (Hyundai) – 158 points (1 victory)
3) Sébastien Ogier (Toyota) – 154 points (3 wins)
4) Elfyn Evans (Toyota) – 140 points
5) Adrien Fourmaux (M-Sport Ford) – 130 points
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