AdminOtt Tanak extended his lead in the Rally Japan on Saturday, but all eyes were on his Hyundai teammate, Thierry Neuville (above), as he climbed the leaderboard and put himself within touching distance of the 2024 FIA World Rally Championship crown.
Neuville, often referred to as the WRC’s “almost-man” after five second-place finishes in the final points, is finally within reach of shaking off that label and claiming his first-ever drivers’ title – a feat that is also the first for a Belgian driver in WRC history. After a remarkable recovery from 15th to seventh place in just seven stages on Saturday’s penultimate day, Neuville and co-driver Martijn Wydaeghe secured four crucial points for the time being.
After a turbocharger problem on his Hyundai i20 N Rally1 severely disrupted his Friday, Neuville’s comeback has left him needing just two points from Super Sunday to seal the deal. He is assured of his points win on Saturday if he successfully completes the five stages of the final stage, and with up to twelve additional points on Sunday, the 36-year-old is within striking distance of breaking his runner-up streak and confirming his place as the newest world rally champion.
“We have to be happy with our performance today and that we can get back to P7, which didn’t seem very realistic this morning,” said Neuville. “Obviously tomorrow could be a big day, so we’re keeping our fingers crossed and trying to get a good night’s sleep.
“I’ve had enough setbacks in my career,” he added, “so I’ve learned to stay calm and just deal with it. The best thing you can do in a situation like that is fight back, and I think we did that the right way today.”
Although Tanak’s ambitions for a second drivers’ title, in addition to the title he won with Toyota in 2019, now seem small, he harbors Hyundai’s hopes of securing the manufacturers’ championship. The Estonian started Saturday with a lead of 20.9 seconds over Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Elfyn Evans, but that margin had fallen to 15.3 seconds after the three-stage morning round. However, a strong afternoon performance on Aichi’s slippery, leaf-strewn tarmac roads allowed the i20 N Rally1 driver to extend his lead again to 38.0 seconds with just five stages remaining.
As things stand, Hyundai leads Toyota by 11 points in the WRC manufacturers’ standings, with everything still to be played on the final day of the 2024 season finale.
“It was tough, but especially in the second loop we were stronger than Elfyn,” said Tanak. “We have been working on it so far and we will continue to do it. is our big goal and we want to achieve that.”
Just like Neuville, eight-time WRC champion Sebastien Ogier also made progress. A two-minute wheel change on Friday had put the Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 driver behind, but he recovered with a pair of stage wins and three second-fastest times on Saturday, moving him from fifth to third in the overall standings climbed.
Ogier passed Toyota teammate Takamoto Katsuta, who spun on the final stage of the morning, and M-Sport Ford’s Adrien Fourmaux, and now follows Evans’ GR Yaris at 1m32.9 minutes on the night.
After passing Katsuta on the leaderboard following the Japanese driver’s mistake, Fourmaux remained under constant pressure from the local hero and brought his M-Puma Rally1 to a halt overnight, just 6.1 seconds ahead of him on the fourth place.
Also showing decent pace was Fourmaux’s M-Sport Ford teammate Gregoire Munster, who described the day as his “best ever” on tarmac after posting a third fastest time on the morning’s opening stage. Neuville, meanwhile, was more than four minutes behind Munster and 7m43.7s from Tanak in the lead – not that the overall time difference is Neuville’s main concern at the moment as he now focuses on finishing and taking two precious Sunday points.
In WRC2, the second tier of international rallying, Nikolay Gryazin is on the brink of his third class victory of the season, but it is second-placed Sami Pajari who is poised to take the bigger prize.
Toksport Citroen C3 driver Gryazin retained control of WRC2 at the final round of the season and extended his lead to an impressive 1m25.3s on Saturday’s stages, but Pajari was more than happy to end the day in a controlled second place to conclude, knowing that such a result will be enough to secure the WRC2 title.
The 22-year-old Finn, co-driven by Enni Malkonen in their Printsport Toyota GR Yaris Rally2, was still quick enough to post three fastest times in class when he came to a stop overnight 51.4 seconds ahead of Hiroki Arai’s R5 spec Skoda Fabia.
“It was a very nice day, very consistent riding I would say,” said Pajari. “The car works fine and I tried to take it easy.”
Sunday’s final stage includes five fully tarmac stages, amounting to a not insignificant 43.85 competitive miles. The Wolf Power Stage, which ends with bonus points, is a second blast during the 13.69-mile Lake Mikawako test.
WRC Rally Japan, positions after stage two, SS16
1 Ott Tanak/Martin Jarveoja (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) 39m48.0s
2 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +38.0s
3 Sebastien Ogier/Vincent Landais (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +2m10.9s
4 Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria Ford Puma Rally1) +2m19.1s
5 Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnston (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +2m52.2s
6 Gregoire Munster/Louis Louka (Ford Puma Rally1) +3m07.1s
7 Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +7m43.7s
8 Nikolay Gryazin/Konstantin Aleksandrov (Citroën C3 – WRC2 leader) +7m55.9s
9 Sami Pajari/Enni Malkonen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 – WRC2) +9m21.2s
10 Hiroki Arai/Shunsuke Matsuo (Skoda Fabia RS – WRC2) +10m12.6s
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