20
By winning the title last Sunday, at the end of the Japan Rally, Thierry Neuville became the 20th world rally champion in history, and only the 8th different champion in the 21st century. With this title, he joins Sandro Munari (1977), Markku Alén (1978), Björn Waldegård (1979), Ari Vatanen (1981), Hannu Mikkola (1983), Stig Blomqvist (1984), Timo Salonen (1985), Didier Auriol (1994), Colin McRae (1995), Richard Burns (2001), Petter Solberg (2003) and Ott Tänak (2019) on the list of drivers who have won a single WRC crown.
2
A title after only 2 victories during the season, it is a first in WRC since Sébastien Ogier 2017 (if we except the 2020 season, impacted by Covid with only 7 rallies). That year, it was Thierry Neuville who won the most rallies, with four victories, but that was not enough for him. The record is still held by Richard Burns, who won only one rally when he was crowned in 2001.
21
Among the records broken by Thierry Neuville this weekend, that of the driver having won the most victories before obtaining a first world title. From his first success at the 2014 Rally Germany to the world title at the 2024 Rally Japan, the Belgian has won 21 times in the WRC. For comparison, Juha Kankkunen and Tommi Mäkinen, both quadruple world champions, have respectively 23 and 24 victories in the premier category… Now, the driver who has won the most rallies without having been titled is none other than Jari-Matti Latvala (18 victories), today Team Principal of Toyota.
5 533
Here is a record which testifies to the patience and perseverance of Thierry Neuville: since his first WRC rally, during the Rally of Spain in 2009 in a Citroën C2 R2 Max, the Belgian had to wait 5,533 days before finally win the title! The previous record was held by Stig Blomqvist who had waited 4,280 days since his WRC debut before being crowned in 1984. During these fifteen years, Thierry Neuville had time to compete in 166 rallies, win 21 victories… and finish five time vice-world champion until the delivery of the first world title!
100%
Winner of the Monte-Carlo Rally with a unique success in 2024 (30 points in Monte-Carlo, a performance never equaled this season), Thierry Neuville led this 2024 season from start to finish! Quite an achievement when we know the difficulty of the sweeper’s task on gravel rallies, where the championship leader must start first during the first stage. To find the trace of such a performance, we must go back to the 2016 campaign where Sébastien Ogier also led the championship from start to finish thanks to his two victories at the start of the season.
36
At 36 years, 5 months and 8 days, Thierry Neuville became the oldest world champion since Didier Auriol thirty years ago. As a symbol, the 1994 world champion was also at the start of the Japan Rally in the national category… a category which he also won! The oldest world champion in history remains Hannu Mikkola, who was 41 years, 5 months and 30 days old when he won his title in 1983 with Audi.
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Obviously, Thierry Neuville not only won his first WRC title, he also gave Belgium its first world rally champion title. In the history of motorsport, the native of Saint-Vith became the 4th Belgian world champion in an FIA championship after Jacky Ickx (Endurance in 1982 and 1983), Stoffel Vandoorne (Formula E in 2022) and Laurens Vanthoor (WEC in 2024). Thierry Neuville also brought Hyundai a first Drivers’ title in the WRC.
READ ALSO > “Outlap” podcast n°16 – Thierry Neuville finally world rally champion!
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