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.
