Guillaume Marion, Media365, published on Sunday November 24, 2024 at 10:00 a.m.
During the Japan Rally, Thierry Neuville (6th) took advantage of the retirement of Ott Tänak this Sunday to win the title of world rally champion for the first time. Elfyn Evans won ahead of Sébastien Ogier and Adrien Fourmaux.
After having been around for a long time (he was 2nd five times and 3rd three times in the past), Thierry Neuville can finally exult. Indeed, the Belgian driver was crowned world rally champion for the first time at the age of 36. In the fight for the title this year with Ott Tänak, the native of Saint-Vith took advantage this Sunday of his great rival's retirement from the first special of the day to finally be rewarded. This success quickly acquired, Neuville then fought to offer Hyundai the manufacturers' title. Unfortunately for him and his team, Tänak's retirement cost too much (18 points lost) and it was Toyota which won thanks in particular to Elfyn Evans, winner of the Japan Rally this Sunday ahead of… Sébastien Ogier, while Adrien Fourmaux (Ford) took 3rd place.
Neuville: “I think we deserve it”
“Honestly, it came as a surprise (Ott Tänak's retirement during SS17 assured him of the title). I don't know what to say here… But I think we deserve it. It's been a very difficult year. There was a lot more pressure than was necessary in this last race. We knew there would be a risk and we managed the weekend as well as possible with the problem we had (engine problem on Friday which caused him to lose more than seven minutes),” declared Neuville, after winning the title, on RallyTV. Note thatwe had to go back to 2016 to see a driver, like the Belgian this year, be at the top of the driver rankings all seasonhe who won at the start of Monte-Carlo at the end of January.
RALLY – WRC / JAPAN
Final ranking – Sunday November 24, 2024
1- Elfyn Evans – Scott Martin (GBR-GBR/Toyota) en 3h23’41
2- Sébastien Ogier – Vincent Landais (FRA-FRA/Toyota) at 1'27''3
3- Adrien Fourmaux – Alexandre Coria (FRA-FRA/Ford M-Sport) at 1'55''5
4- Takamoto Katsuta – Aaron Johnston (JAP-IRL/Toyota) à 2'02''6
5- Grégoire Munster – Louis Louka (LUX-BEL/Ford M-Sport) at 3'11''5
6- Thierry Neuville – Martijn Wydaeghe (BEL-BEL/Hyundai) at 6'54''1
…
Special stage winners
Fourmaux: 1 (ES1)
Neuville: 5 (SS2, SS11, SS14, SS18, SS19)
Ogier : 3 (ES3, ES15, ES21)
Evans : 5 (ES4, ES7, ES9, ES10, ES12)
Thank you: 4 (ES5, ES6, ES13, ES16)
Katsuta: 2 (ES8, ES20)
Mikkelsen : 1 (ES17)
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