Of all the ways for it to happen, nobody thought it would be quite like this. Thierry Neuville’s extremely long wait to lift rallying’s biggest prize is over, after team-mate Ott Tänak crashed out of the lead of Rally Japan.
First appearing in the WRC all the way back in 2009 at Rally Spain in a Citroën C2 R2 Max, 166 starts, 68 podiums and 21 wins later Neuville has become a champion of the world.
He has looked like a champion-in-waiting ever since finishing runner-up to runaway champion Sébastien Ogier in 2013, but he’d never quite managed to get it across the line before 2024.
Uprated World Rally Car regulations from 2017, coupled with Volkswagen’s sudden withdrawal, presented Neuville with his first major world title shot but unreliability and inconsistent form squandered it to Ogier.
Neuville's early WRC outings came aboard a Citroën C2
In the years since the Belgian has continually shown blinding speed and been a contender for the championship, but began to garner a reputation as a ‘nearly man’. Five times (2013, 2016-2019) he finished second, but this year he’s finally made amends.
Having waited so long for a world title does, however, earn Neuville some more WRC history, as in this feature we explore the longest waits for a maiden world championship.
These have been determined by calculating the days between a driver’s first WRC start and the day they became world champion.
5 Richard Burns
Richard Burns clinched his only WRC title on home soil in 2001 - 11 years after making his debut on the same event
There’s some pleasing symmetry in the start of Richard Burns’ journey in the WRC, and the day he became England’s first drivers’ world champion. Eleven years, to the precise date, since his first start, he clinched the title for Subaru.
That 11-year wait undersells Burns’ rise to the top though, as between 1990 and 1993 he only ever made one WRC start each year, at home on the RAC, as part of a domestic program building up to the world stage.
The first year Burns started with any kind of chance of the championship was 1998, his first full season at Mitsubishi alongside eventual world champion Tommi Mäkinen. Burns won two events on his way to sixth in the standings.
Moving to Subaru for 1999, however, was when Burns emerged as a real contender, as he scooped two runner-up finishes behind Mäkinen and then Marcus Grönholm. He then went one better in 2001 after a classic season where multiple drivers were in the running, but Burns eventually prospered.
4 Timo Salonen
After many years aboard Datsuns and Nissans, Timo Salonen dominated 1985 season in Group B Peugeot
Timo Salonen had to wait marginally longer than Burns for his world championship, but only by a matter of days. Like the Briton, the Finn also won his title 11 years after his first start (and at home too, in Finland) but the 1985 event simply ran later in the year than 1974, hence Salonen’s longer wait.
Unlike Burns, though, Salonen’s world championship-challenging form came almost from nowhere.
A maiden win (Canada 1977) came very quickly after just five starts, and more podiums in Fiats and then Datsuns proved the Finn clearly had a turn of pace. But with all due respect to Nissan and its 240RS, Salonen found himself at the wrong place when the Group B supercars came on stream.
1985 would change all that, when Jean Todt recruited Salonen to partner Ari Vatanen for the Peugeot 205 T16’s first full season.
It proved a masterstroke. Salonen won five rallies, including a then-record four in a row to claim the championship by August after an utterly dominant season.
3 Marcus Grönholm
Four-time world champion Tommi Mäkinen handed the baton to countryman Marcus Grönholm in 2001
Another to make a number of WRC starts at home before ever committing to a proper world championship program, Marcus Grönholm debuted in 1989 but never competed on the world stage outside of Finland until 1992, or Scandinavia until 1995.
It wasn’t until 1997 that ‘Bosse’ started to make his presence known in the WRC, picked up by Toyota’s works team for both Finland and GB in a Corolla WRC.
However his big move was in 1999, as with several options on the table Grönholm chose to accept Peugeot’s and help lead the development of the 206 WRC before a full-season assault in 2000.
And this is where the methodology behind this list does Grönholm a disservice, because in his first full WRC campaign in a top-class car the Finn didn’t just win an event for the first time, but his first world title as well.
2 Stig Blomqvist
Engine failure on 1984 Sanremo prolonged Stig Blomqvist's wait - but only until next time out in Ivory Coast
Prior to Thierry Neuville’s championship success this year, Stig Blomqvist held the record as the driver who had to wait the longest from his first WRC start to his first title.
The so-called ‘original Stig’ was a main player in the WRC ever since its inception in 1973, and holds the enviable record of winning on his first ever start in Sweden. Thereafter he largely remained a loyal Saab servant, sticking with the brand until 1981 with a brief switch to Talbot.
Audi then came calling for 1982 with its all-conquering quattro, giving Blomqvist his chance of real success. Two strong seasons followed, capped off by a win at the 1983 RAC. It was a sign of things to come, as five victories across the following year allowed him to usurp team-mate Hannu Mikkola to the title Blomqvist had long since deserved.
1 Thierry Neuville
After 15 years of trying, 2024 was the year it all came good for Neuville
And so we come to the man of the moment.
Making his first steps in the WRC with a Citroën C2 S1600, Neuville took a year away in 2011 as he chased the Intercontinental Rally Challenge title in a Super 2000 Peugeot.
Joining the Citroën Junior Team for 2012 brought Neuville back to the WRC and in a World Rally Car, but it was a move to M-Sport (officially the Qatar World Rally Team) in 2013 where Neuville netted seven podiums – including five in a row – that really announced him to the world.
Hyundai entered the championship for 2014, and installed Neuville as its lead driver. A maiden victory in Germany proved the potential, but a difficult year in 2015 forced Neuville to rebuild.
It's been a decade since Neuville's maiden WRC win on Rally Germany
A strong second half to 2016 earned him second in the standings before his big shot came in 2017 with arguably the best car. But two retirements from leading positions on the first two rounds cost him dear and the title went to Ogier.
Chasing the world title but not quite managing it then became the story of Neuville’s career – particularly in 2018 and ’19. But a change in points structure which Neuville grasped better than anybody meant he finally righted his wrong in 2024 – leading the championship from start to finish.
So whenever Neuville eventually retires from the WRC, his story won’t be one of ‘what if’ but instead a destiny finally fulfilled. Fifteen years after his first WRC start, Neuville is finally a world champion.
Waits to become world champion (shortest – longest)
Carlos Sainz – 1366 days
Kalle Rovanperä – 1802 days
Sébastien Loeb – 2008 days
Sébastien Ogier – 2044 days
Petter Solberg – 2106 days
Björn Waldegård – 2520 days
Tommi Mäkinen – 2577 days
Ari Vatanen – 2585 days
Juha Kankkunen – 2689 days
Walter Röhrl – 2822 days
Miki Biasion – 2930 days
Colin McRae – 3204 days
Didier Auriol – 3856 days
Ott Tänak – 3860 days
Hannu Mikkola – 3936 days
Richard Burns – 4018 days
Timo Salonen – 4041 days
Marcus Grönholm – 4111 days
Stig Blomqvist – 4280 days
Thierry Neuville – 5533 days
