WRC, ERC and national rallying 2024Rally 

OGIER IS OUT. He is angry, 600 meters in the penultimate stage and he is off the road. Under the new points rules, he loses his Saturday points.

Only Tanak can take the championship to Japan now. Both he and Neuville gain 3 with Ogier losing his Saturday points.
 
Last edited:
Ott Tanak is the overall rally winner, Katstuta wins super Sunday with a full 12 point haul. Elfyn Evans scores the most points this weekend.

26 point gap between Neuville and Tanak going to Japan, Tanak needs a maximum haul to win and Neuville to have issues. Neuville needs just 5 points to win the title. Hyundai will have their first drivers champion come what may.

21 points between Hyundai and Toyota going to Japan, it's Hyundai’s to lose but Toyota are strong at their home event so it's definitely not over yet.
 
Last edited:
Lets be honest, It's been an odd season. I feel like Toyota have given this one willingly away. Any combination of Elfyn and Ogier/Kalle full time would probably made it a different story. Still Hyundai won, Nothing against them. Hopefully it may make them commit to the WRC long term and put those Hyundai Out? Rumours to bed.
 
We all know the result. Still I always enjoy these when they finally come around.

 
Last edited:
I'm sorry for this slight off topic post, but I had to share this amazing interview of Panizzi for all rally fans and I couldn't find another thread for it. Unfortunately it's in French, but the auto translated captions are pretty good.

He goes through his entire career, from very humble beginnings, when his father told him he had 2 years to make it or he had to give it up, starting in an Opel Manta he had to build himself, all the way through becoming a Peugeot factory driver and the 106, 309, 206, and his difficult time with the underfunded and underdeveloped Mitsubishi and Skoda. It's full of incredible anecdotes of almost being arrested on recce in New Zealand, finding out Delecour lied about going on early recce because he hit a truck that was delivering trout to his aunt's restaurant, how he lost the Monte because he lacked 5000 euros of funding to be able to communicate with his gravel crew... But also so many interesting tidbits of how he "learned" to drive in rally school, how he adapted to different cars, how he developed new cars for Peugeot, how he sets up cars for rallies, how asphalt rally driving changed after him, Delecour, Loeb & co brought their experience from French championships.

It's honestly an incredible capsule of how rallying was and has evolved and his experience of it all. He also talks about what he thinks is wrong with rally today at the end. I highly recommend it. :D


 
Chris Ingram, Alex Khourani and Castrol MEM are BRC champions!!! ❤️💚❤️ Well done to William Creighton and M-Sport for the great fight.


mem1.png


Ga1ms5EXQAAeezQ.png


Nice to see the bossman Mel and Nicky Grist there at the celebrations.

mem 4.png


(All photo's from https://x.com/BRCrally on X)
 
Last edited:
Yeees!!! So happy for them. Melvyn and Meirion are such hard workers with MEM and their regular Derwen Garage business. Chris Is a supremely talented driver too.

It's funny that when I posted about them winning the BRC I was thinking in my head surely it might make Castrol support them a tiny bit more to allow them a WRC or further ERC entries next year.

We were talking a about the possibility of a MEM WRC 2 entry opening the door for the livery to be put into the game. Looks a decent possibility now.
 
Last edited:
Lots of drama across the opening 2 days of rally Japan, firstly, Toyota's pursuit of Hyundai faces an uphill struggle with Ogier and Katstuta suffering punctures in the opening full leg of the rally, losing 2 and 1 minute respectively to drop them down the order significantly. Evans is still up there, but it won't be enough as it stands.

However, it isn't plain sailing for leaders Hyundai, with Mikkelsen crashing out on SS6 and drivers championship leader Neuville having electrical gremlins which have cost him 8 minutes and put him 15th in the standings. With the new points system though, all is not lost for him, Tanak needs 25 points to secure the title whereas Neuville needs just 6, with 12 points up for grabs just on Sunday as well as any points he can pick up on day 3. It is still very much Neuvilles to lose, but fate is doing all it can to give Tanak the title with him comfortably leading.

FB_IMG_1732276685624.jpg
 
Last edited:
A dramatic final day with Ott Tanak crashing out of the day and the rally meaning Neuville was confirmed as champion before the finish.

Tanaks crash also hands Toyota the constructors championship, coming from 15 points back to win it by 3.
 
The season is officially done, Thierry Neuville is finally world champion, Toyota have another manufacturers crown and Elfyn Evans has another 2nd place finish.



In WRC2, Sami Pajari did what he needed to do to confirm his WRC2 drivers title, marking what will be considered a successful debut season for the Toyota GR Yaris Rally2.


In the teams championship, DG Sport Competition take the crown, a mighty showing for the revamped Citroen C3 Rally2.

Looking forward to 2025, many things yet to be announced in terms of drivers, however Toyota have aready confirmed their full 2025 line up, promoting Sami Pajari to a full time drive with the team, taking them to 4 full time drivers (Rovanpera, Evans, Katstuta and Pajari), with Seb Ogier confirmed for a part time program once again.


Hyundai are widely expected to retain new champion, Thierry Neuville, as well as Ott Tanak for 2025. Dani Sordo is expected to replace Cyril Abiteboul as Team Principal, whilst large question marks remain over Esapekka Lappi and Andreas Mikkelsen. Adrien Formaux has been long rumoured to move to Hyundai with a full time drive, implying he has turned down a part time drive with Toyota. Oliver Solberg is also rumoured to take on at least a part time season for the team.
My Prediction: Full time; Neuville, Tanak, Formaux. Part Time; Mikkelsen, Solberg.

This would leave M-Sport without their new star man, 5th in the championship will feel like a success for him and M-Sport, outscoring fellow full time team mate, Gregoire Munster, by almost 120 points. However, his future is rumoured to lie with Hyundai. At any other time, you would imagine that Munster would be out of a drive, but with seemingly a lack of options, M-Sport may have to keep him on. However, a lack of options doesn't mean no options at all, the pursuit of Oliver Solberg does seem dead in the water, with sponsorship issues getting in the way of a deal being done. If Lappi is dropped by Hyundai, the former M-Sport man could make a return to the team, with 8 podiums in 25 Rally1 starts, a win in Sweden in 2024, he still has plenty of pace, and is versatile, with good speed on all surfaces. Martin Sesks impressed on his 2 starts in the hybrid-less Rally1 Puma, taking 2 stage wins and finishing 3rd at the end of Saturday to secure 13 points at Rally Latvia, he could be a name in the running. As could Yohan Rossel, another man linked with M-Sport, had a good WRC2 campaign, however has no experience of Rally1 machinery.
My Prediction: Full time; Lappi, Munster. Part time; Sesks.
 

Similar threads

MagpieRacer
  • Poll
WRC Modern Classics Season 3 voting
Replies
14
Views
2K
RYAN
RYAN
MagpieRacer
WRC suggestions and wishlist
Replies
11
Views
3K
m355y
m355y
Accro2008
2017 World Rally Championship
24 25 26
Replies
776
Views
53K
Simmpa
Simmpa
MagpieRacer
EA SPORTS WRC Car List UPDATE
Replies
23
Views
7K
MagpieRacer
MagpieRacer
MagpieRacer
GTPlanet Club Rally Championship Season 2
Replies
18
Views
2K
UKMikey
UKMikey

Latest Posts

Back