After years of near-misses, including five frustrating runner-up finishes, Thierry Neuville could finally celebrate a first FIA World Rally Championship drivers’ title at the season-closing Rally Japan. But his Hyundai Motorsport team missed out on a WRC title double as Toyota Gazoo Racing snatched the manufacturers’ crown after a gripping final day.
Neuville (at right, above, with co-driver Martijn Wydaghe), secured his championship in dramatic fashion early on Sunday when teammate Ott Tanak – the only driver with a mathematical chance of beating him – crashed his Hyundai i20 N Rally1 out of the rally lead on the day’s opening stage. With a 25-point cushion heading into the all-asphalt season finale and Tanak bagging zero points in Japan, Neuville’s title was guaranteed with four stages to spare.
Ott Tanak ended his slim WRC title hopes after crashing out on Sunday’s opening stage. He was quickly joined by Heikki Kovalainen’s Skoda. WRC media
“I am feeling great, to be honest — we worked so long for this,” said Neuville, who’s led the WRC standings since his opening-round victory on January’s Monte Carlo Rally. “I don’t have the words, but I want to thank everybody who was part of it, who fought for us and all of the team as well. We were many times very close; we always give it our all, but this year we have been rewarded for it.”
The late drama capped off a rollercoaster week for the Belgian, who battled back from 15th place after a turbocharger failure on Friday to finish sixth overall. His title win is a first not only for him and Wydaeghe, but also for their home country of Belgium. It’s also the first drivers’ title for Hyundai Motorsport after a decade in the WRC.
While Neuville reveled in his long-awaited triumph, Tanak’s crash delivered a cruel twist to Hyundai’s WRC manufacturers’ title aspirations. The Korean marque had the upper hand heading into the final day, but the pendulum swung back to Toyota and its fleet of GR Yaris Rally1 machines after a tense showdown on the rally-closing Wolf Power Stage. Toyota trio Sebastien Ogier, Elfyn Evans and Takamoto Katsuta delivered clutch performances when it mattered most, helping the Japanese marque take its eighth WRC manufacturers’ title by a razor-thin margin of three points – the closest since Lancia captured the crown by just two points in 1983.
Evans enjoyed a double celebration, inheriting the rally win after Tanak’s retirement and becoming the sixth different winner in a highly competitive 2024 WRC season. The Welshman’s triumph also secured him second place in the drivers’ standings – a bittersweet milestone he’s now achieved for the fourth time.
“It wasn’t looking so good at one point, but we’re very happy with the result and for the team,” he said. “Thank you to my teammates also – they did a great job. We’re sorry we couldn’t deliver championship, but we’ll try again next year.”
Elfyn Evans’ first win of 2024 helped Toyota grab an eighth WRC manufacturers’ title. Red Bull Content Pool
Ogier completed a Toyota 1-2, finishing 1m27.3s behind Evans. The eight-time WRC champ’s rally was blighted by a costly wheel change on Friday that dropped him out of contention for the win, but his recovery drive ensured vital points for Toyota in their title fight.
Adrien Fourmaux capped a breakthrough season by completing the podium in his M-Sport Ford Puma Rally1. The Frenchman’s consistent form has earned him five podium finishes in 2024 and fifth place in the final WRC drivers’ points – his best season to date.
Fourmaux finished just 7.1s ahead of Toyota’s Katsuta, who delighted his home crowd by finishing fourth overall, while Gregoire Munster rounded out the top five after a consistent weekend in the second M-Sport Ford Puma.
In WRC2, the second tier of international rallying, Sami Pajari and co-driver Enni Malkonen sealed the 2024 title in style, delivering a perfectly executed drive to finish second in class on the slippery Japanese stages.
Arriving at the season finale in Aichi knowing that a top-two finish would secure the WRC2 crown, the Finnish duo kept to their gameplan, maintaining a composed and consistent approach to lock in the runner-up spot from start to finish.
The result also marked a championship-winning debut season for Toyota’s GR Yaris Rally2, with Pajari showcasing the car’s potential throughout the campaign.
“It’s a really nice feeling,” said Pajari. “A big relief after two days of driving a bit slowly and taking care of everything, not doing anything silly and reaching the finish line.”
The class victory in Japan went to Nikolay Gryazin, who led the event from the outset in his Citroen C3. Gryazin put in a commanding drive, leading from the opening stage to finish 1m46.5s clear of Pajari and secure his third WRC2 win of the season.
Sami Pajari did what he needed to do in Japan, finishing second in class to secure the WRC2 title. McKlein/Motorsport Images
The 2025 FIA World Rally Championship is set for an expanded 14-round calendar that includes all-new events in Saudi Arabia, Paraguay and Spain’s Canary Isles. But as usual, the action begins Jan. 23-26 at one of the series’ most historic and prestigious events, the Monte Carlo Rally, with its challenging, often icy, all-asphalt stages in the French Alps.
WRC Rally Japan, final positions after Leg Three, SS21
1 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) 3h23m41.0s
2 Sebastien Ogier/Vincent Landais (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +1m27.3s
3 Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria Ford Puma Rally1) +1m55.5s
4 Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnston (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +2m02.6s
5 Gregoire Munster/Louis Louka (Ford Puma Rally1) +3m11.5s
6 Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +6m54.1s
7 Nikolay Gryazin/Konstantin Aleksandrov (Citroen C3 – WRC2 winner) +10m04.3s
8 Sami Pajari/Enni Malkonen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 – WRC2 champion) +11m50.8s
9 Hiroki Arai/Shunsuke Matsuo (Skoda Fabia RS – WRC2) +13m24.3s
10 Gus Greensmith/Jonas Andersson (Skoda Fabia RS – WRC2) +14m15.8s
WRC Drivers’ Championship after 13 of 13 rounds
1 Neuville 242 points
2 Evans 210
3 Tanak 200
4 Ogier 191
5 Fourmaux 162
WRC Manufacturers’ Championship after 13 of 13 rounds
1 Toyota Gazoo Racing 561 points
2 Hyundai Motorsport 558
3 M-Sport Ford 295
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