Thierry Neuville has won the World Rally Championship for the very first time after Ott Tänak crashed out of the first stage of Rally Japan’s final day.
Neuville and co-driver Martijn Wydaeghe arrived in Japan 25 points clear of Tänak, and therefore needed to score just six points from the weekend to claim the 2024 title.
But their mission was complicated on Friday afternoon when a turbo problem slowed their Hyundai and dropped them to 15th. Tänak, meanwhile, applied the pressure by fending off Toyota’s Elfyn Evans to lead.
With his i20 N Rally1 restored to full health, Neuville began climbing up the leaderboard on Saturday – eventually making his way past all the WRC2 contenders in Rally2 cars to finish seventh in Saturday’s classification.
Those four points meant he needed just two from Super Sunday and/or the powerstage to become champion, but in the end he didn’t need to as Tänak crashed right at the end of SS17, caught out by pollution on the road which sent him wide and into a roll.
Elfyn Evans therefore leads the rally.
