The new WRC highs Neuville reached to defeat Monte master Ogier

Motorsport is renowned for its never-ending desire for perfection. And to beat the king of Monte Carlo Sebastien Ogier on his home turf, it’s a prerequisite.

This is what Thierry Neuville achieved to score perhaps the greatest of his 20 World Rally Championship victories to date. The Hyundai driver delivered a statement win to defeat Ogier in a gripping head-to-head at the time-honoured Monte Carlo season-opener, sending a message to his rivals that he is very much a contender to take Kalle Rovanpera’s crown.

“It was an amazing team effort to come here and take the victory but not only taking the victory but being the boss this weekend,” said Neuville. “The whole team has done a great job. Winning with a good margin in the end is a special feeling.”

Rovanpera’s decision to go part-time this season was still being felt as the teams returned to the mountains surrounding Gap after a two-year hiatus, as the WRC went in search of a more traditional Monte featuring iconic snow- and ice-covered roads. The weather didn’t want to play ball, resulting in one of the driest events on record, but there was still plenty of ice patches to offer a proper Monte Carlo challenge to crews. Even striking local farmers blocking various motorways were unable to prevent this rally from being an absolute Monte classic.

It's fair to say there are plenty of hot topics in the WRC currently. The two creating the most headlines provided a backdrop to proceedings.

A new points structure ratified by the FIA designed to spice up rallies, particularly on the final day, divided opinion in the service park. The structure is somewhat complicated, with points now awarded to the top 10 at the end of Saturday via the following: 18-15-13-10-8-6-4-3-2-1 scale. These can only be secured by finishing the rally on Sunday, when the top seven fastest crews across the final day can score points (7-6-5-4-3-2-1). This allocation is then added to the 5-4-3-2-1 bonus points on offer for the Power Stage.

Photo by: M-Sport

Although there were just eight Rally1 cars in attendance on the Monte, and the weather didn't play ball, it provided a thrilling spectacle from the off

The majority of the drivers are not in favour of the system, with Ogier perhaps the most vocal stating: “These new rules make no sense. I cannot understand. I hope I'm wrong, but so far, I see only inconvenience of changing that system. You devalue completely the victory, you make it complex and nobody will really understand from the wider public, except [if] you are a nerd and really into rally.”

In a contrasting view, M-Sport boss Richard Millener welcomed the change: “I think it’s great. Nobody likes change, but I think we have to change. This is a big change, but I think it has brought in a lot more strategy.” Hyundai boss Cyril Abiteboul joked that he would have to ask Chat GPT when questioned if he had run any simulations to factor in the new points system before the rally.

The points system is all part of wider plan to improve the WRC, which includes a discussion regarding its future technical pathway that has been partially triggered by the presence of only eight Rally1 cars on the entry list at Monte Carlo. While the entry is the lowest for some time, the old adage that “you only need two cars to make a great race once” again came true.

Neuville had the bit between his teeth on stage four and appeared set to overhaul leader Evans, but his run was punctuated by a wild spin. The Belgian was very lucky to emerge with bent steering

Amid this challenging period for the WRC, Monte Carlo proved that the love for rally is as strong as ever as thousands of fans flocked to the mountains for Thursday night’s stages. Fireworks and flares lit up the night sky to create a Bonfire Night on steroids scene, creating vision and pictures that sent the social media world into a frenzy.

Toyota’s new team leader Elfyn Evans emerged through the crowds having lit up the timing screens with his pace to lead the rally by 15.1 seconds from Neuville. Ogier, battling a road becoming increasingly dirty, was third, 21.6s adrift. The big talking point was Hyundai, as all three cars suffered throttle mapping issues, but it was new signing Ott Tanak that fared worst.

“The problem has got really bad now,” said Tanak, who ended Thursday in fourth, 22.8s behind Evans. “I’m happy to be here. It’s incredible what this thing is doing.”

However, his rally hopes suffered a more costly blow when action resumed early on Friday morning. A patch of ice at a left-hander in stage three caught out the Estonian, resulting in his i20 N slowly sliding off the road and into a ditch. Luckily, spectators were on hand to push Tanak back on the road but at the cost of over 40s.

Photo by: Austral / Hyundai Motorsport

Tanak's return to Hyundai was thwarted from the off by engine problems, and an off early on Friday morning

Tanak wasn’t the only driver to suffer on that sheet of ice. Team-mate Neuville was lucky to only brush a snowbank, while Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta dropped more than five minutes after skating further into the ditch. M-Sport’s Gregoire Munster also dropped time at the same corner.

“It was just my mistake, so stupid,” said Katsuta, who was the first to now benefit from the new points structure. “I will try to finish the stages and see what I can do.”

The prospect of largely dry asphalt stages populated by small patches of ice provided a tougher challenge than if they were blanketed in snow and ice. It created a headache around tyre choices and increased the importance of route note crews to advise on rapidly changing conditions before each pass.

Neuville had the bit between his teeth on stage four and appeared set to overhaul leader Evans, but his run was punctuated by a wild spin. The Belgian was very lucky to emerge with bent steering. “I have no idea,” said Neuville. “There must have been some gravel or something that I didn’t have in my notes, but it was a big surprise.”

While Evans didn’t add to his stage win tally, he ended the morning loop with 10.7s lead over Ogier, who kickstarted his bid for a 10th Monte Carlo win by stunning the field by 11.2s on stage five. It prompted an unusual reaction, with Ogier close to tears. “I was struggling so far – I am having a tough week, but I am trying my best,” said Ogier.

Friday afternoon marked the start of an Ogier versus Neuville head-to-head as the pair traded fastest stage times. Evans was unable to match the pace of the pair but managed to cling onto to his rally lead as Ogier’s stage eight win slashed the deficit to 4.5s, with a fast Neuville poised, 16.1s adrift.

Ogier’s drive proved that he is the “master” of navigating icy sections according to Toyota team boss Jari-Matti Latvala. Evans on the other hand was lacking confidence, but cleverly was thinking about his championship bid given Ogier is running a partial campaign. “Of course, we are driving quickly, but I’m not willing to increase the risk level to catch him [Ogier],” said Evans.

Tanak held fourth (+1m13.6s), ahead of the impressive Adrien Fourmaux, who delivered a controlled drive on his return to Rally1 with M-Sport. New Hyundai signing Andreas Mikkelsen continued to adjust to his i20 N on his Rally1 debut in front of Munster.

Photo by: Toyota Racing

Evans adopted a mindset of focusing on collecting points rather than risking everything for victory

Saturday was dominated by the Ogier versus Neuville show. Evans, hampered by a hybrid issue in stage 10, struggled to find the confidence to push and lost his grip on the lead to an inspired Neuville. The Hyundai driver delivered a devastating blow in a frosty stage nine to take a stunning 18.8s out of Monte master Ogier, while being 9.6s faster than Evans.

A modest Neuville said his effort was “decent”. It was more than decent. It propelled him into the fight and caused some concern for Ogier, who declared that his information was simply “too safe”. Ogier responded to win stage 10, but Neuville ended the morning 5.1s ahead of Evans, with Ogier 7.7s adrift to create a thrilling three-way fight.

It quite quickly turned to a two-horse race in the afternoon as Ogier and Neuville became locked in a tense scrap. Evans stuck to his mantra of not taking extra risks, a smart call with points on offer at the end of Saturday.

The perfection Neuville found on Saturday was on display on Sunday. A fastest time on stage 15 prompted Ogier to effectively concede defeat. Neuville wasn’t finished though

“I think Elfyn knew that he was not able to fight for the victory so he is thinking about the championship and by thinking about that he perhaps went into his comfort zone, and it can happen that when you go into this comfort zone you slow down more than you think,” said Latvala.

Latvala also issued a wake-up call to Ogier after losing time to Neuville. The eight-time WRC champion duly followed the order. Two stage wins followed, including the incredible milestone of a 700th stage victory, which was enough to wrestle the lead away from Neuville by a mere 0.8s.

But there was a final twist. Neuville responded in the darkness of stage 14 with something special that made everyone sit up and take notice. In the his own words it was simply “perfection”. This is a rare phenomenon in rallying. He took 4.1s out of Ogier to take a 3.3s lead into Sunday.

Neuville admitted he was spurred on by the thought of beating Ogier and claiming the 18 points now on offer for leading on Saturday night: “I was faster than him also in the morning loop so we decided to go for it and we had the perfect stage, it was brilliant.” Asked if he had been thinking about the points, or simply about beating Ogier, Neuville replied: “A bit of both!”

Ogier knew he had a fight on his hands: “Thierry did a good stage. It looks like we need to try harder. We are still in this fight.”

Photo by: Austral / Hyundai Motorsport

Neuville threw everything at Ogier to reclaim the lead with a drive he described as perfection to end Saturday's leg

Evans’s victory bid seemed over after the Welshman admitted “the feeling” in his GR Yaris was not there but was looking to make the most of the Super Sunday format. “The new format is sort of like the start of a new day, so we will treat it like that,” he said.

Evans did provisionally take 13 points into Sunday. The Toyota driver joined Tanak, who continued to battle engine issues, Fourmaux, Mikkelsen (who survived a wild off on stage nine), the recovering Katsuta, and WRC2 runners Pepe Lopez, Nikolay Gryazin and Yohan Rossel as the points scorers.

The perfection Neuville found on Saturday was on display on Sunday. A fastest time on stage 15 prompted Ogier to effectively concede defeat. Neuville wasn’t finished though.

He made the most of this harmony between himself and his i20N to complete a clean sweep of Sunday’s stages to bag the maximum Sunday points and the Power Stage bonus five points, resulting in a perfect 30 points haul. Defeating Ogier by 16.1s to claim a second career Monte Carlo win almost left Neuville lost for words.

“I don’t know what to say to be honest, it was such a great weekend,” said Neuville. “We knew when you come here you always have to count on Seb to be there for sure. We wanted this victory. I had a big smile on my face when I drove through the stages and I knew the time was going to be good, and that is the greatest feeling you can get.”

Neuville’s boss Abiteboul declared that his driver is the strongest he’s ever been. An ominous thought for his championship rivals.

“I hope that maybe what happened this weekend is also because he is a stronger person, stronger driver and stronger competitor than he has ever been,” said Abiteboul. “For sure, to me it is certainly the case since I have joined the team.”

Ogier was gracious in defeat. At the finish he explained he reasons behind his stage five emotions, which made his performance even more commendable.

Photo by: Toyota Racing

Ogier was gracious in conceding defeat to Neuville after an epic duel

“Well done to him, he has been really fast this weekend,” said Ogier, who took five points for being third fastest on Sunday. “For me it’s been a rollercoaster of emotions. I struggled a lot on Friday especially. It was hard to say goodbye on Monday to a person who was very important to me, who basically launched my career in motorsport and who bought me my first kart.

“I think I can be proud. I never gave up the whole weekend. I seriously thought about whether to start this rally or not, so at the end I really did it as I have engagement with my team and I need to stay professional and you can see that it wasn’t easy.”

"This time this new points system has been kind but I’m sure there are some losers on the system as well" Elfyn Evans

Although not fan of the new points system, Evans benefited from the format to claim six points being the second fastest driver across Sunday, in addition to his two Power Stage points. It means Evans, who finished third outright, trails Neuville by nine points in the championship.

“The end result is not so bad and ultimately not so far off the target but given the position we were in on Friday evening it is obviously a disappointing weekend,” said Evans. “I guess this time this new points system has been kind but I’m sure there are some losers on the system as well.”

The hobbled Tanak finished fourth, ahead of the impressive Fourmaux, and the pair claimed the same positions in Sunday’s classification. Mikkelsen finished sixth but left the weekend scoring three points fewer than Katsuta, who was seventh overall and fifth on Sunday to highlight a quirk in the new scoring system. Munster, who claimed a first top-three stage time on stage nine, also picked up point thanks to the new format, rejoining the rally on Sunday after beaching his Puma against the barriers in stage 12.

Point scoring systems and WRC’s future pathway discussions aside, Monte Carlo 2024 will be remembered as the time Neuville succeeded in finding perfection.

Photo by: Austral / Hyundai Motorsport

A clean sweep of stage wins on Sunday means Neuville is in fine form heading into Sweden