Ecstatic? Vindicated? Relieved? Which would you guess best described Thierry Neuville this time last week after securing a first World Rally Championship victory of the season in well over a year?
A first World Rally Championship victory as world champion don’t forget, and first of the entire 2025 season at the 14th and final opportunity.
“Honestly, it’s a victory,” Neuville told DirtFish in Saudi Arabia. “It feels good to end up the season with a victory and we’re happy to get at least one victory this year. But even more happy that the season is over, to be honest.
“There’s no energy anymore, there’s no power. The last couple of rallies have been fighting to find the fighting spirit and [that’s] something I never had lost, but the recent rallies have been difficult and I was just waiting [for] the end of the season.
“Somehow I find back a better feeling here this weekend and found a bit back the feeling I needed to be more competitive. So that’s a positive thing.
“But yeah, don’t be over optimistic. We have a lot full of challenges ahead of us for the upcoming weeks to be ready for ’26.”
Victory for Neuville, his first since Acropolis last September, was badly needed
There’s an awful lot to unpack there, so let’s start with the obvious.
The one thing Neuville has never lost, really at any point of his career, is that fighting spirit. That dogged determination to make something out of nothing will be what the Belgian is best remembered for whenever his WRC career ends.
But we saw it in Japan. He wasn’t the same character. Even a week before the event started and Hyundai’s pre-event press release landed in the inbox, he was talking about improving the car for 2026 being the priority over a “top result”. And as the event unravelled, he lacked the same motivation to power through the problems that team-mate Adrien Fourmaux did.
The entire season leading up to Japan had been a struggle. Punctures while fighting for the podium, mistakes while leading and a general lack of pace vs Toyota, with each passing round the frustration only grew.
It was the closest you’ll ever see Neuville to giving up.
Perhaps it was the fresh challenge and the element of unknown that Saudi Arabia presented, but the 37-year-old was far more like his usual self last week. The result followed.
While Neuville cautioned this means precious little for 2026, carrying a victory into the next campaign can only help boost morale at Hyundai.
“Let’s say I have been struggling a lot this year to see the team going down and… I was not losing faith but I was not far off,” Neuville revealed.
“So we have seen some recent changes with some key elements which have changed, key persons in charge as well now again, back in charge or replacements which, yeah, give me a bit more faith for next year and I think give more faith for the whole team for next year.
“My target was also here at the end of the season to give an extra boost of motivation to the team and hats off to Adrian as well. Together we were able to make a 1-2. He would have deserved definitely as much as us the victory.
Can Hyundai use this win - its second vs Toyota's 12 in 2025 - as a springboard for 2026?
“But yeah, at the end it’s a 1-2 for the team and a good boost for the team for the upcoming weeks which are the crucial part of the end of the season.”
A final word, though, must revert to the here and now and the man who replaces Neuville as the reigning world champion: Sébastien Ogier.
“Hats off, well done,” Neuville praised. “It’s good to have him in the championship, that’s no question. I always enjoyed fighting against him. He’s the toughest competitor to fight against.
“He has done an incredible season. He had incredible races and he didn’t put many feet wrong this year, so it worked.”
