Thierry Neuville can secure the 2024 World Rally Championship this weekend at the Central European Rally.
The Belgian holds a 29-point lead over his Hyundai teammate Ott Tanak with two rallies to go. With 60 points up for grabs, Neuville must outscore the Estonian by two points to secure his maiden WRC title.
But Tanak is looking to fight all the way and challenge his teammate for the title. The 36-year-old won the 2019 championship with Toyota, and Tanak has a ‘superhuman’ ability in title deciders that allows him to push and compete at the top.
The issue in this case is that his championship rival is his teammate, who has led the standings since his won the Monte Carlo Rally. Heading into the Central European Rally, Neuville wants to avoid an ‘internal fight’ with Tanak and wrap up the drivers’ title as soon as possible.
Thierry Neuville ‘can’t be happy’ after mistake on stage one of the Central European Rally
After a shakedown session, Thursday saw two special stages take place in the Czech Republic to kick off the 18-stage Central European Rally that runs across three countries.
At the end of the day, Sebastien Ogier led the field by 0.9 seconds overall over Neuville after the Frenchman won stage one by 0.6 seconds over his Toyota teammate Takamoto Katsuta.
READ MORE: What Sebastien Ogier is ‘more focused on’ than the WRC drivers’ championship
It was not the best of starts for Neuville as he clipped a hay bale on the opening stage and suffered cosmetic damage to the aero on the front right of his Hyundai.
The championship leader recovered well for stage two, beating Ogier by 1.1 seconds and was a second quicker than his rival and teammate Tanak.
Despite this recovery which puts him in a good position for Friday, speaking with Motorsport.com, Neuville was left unhappy with the mistake he ‘stupidly’ made which put him behind Ogier.
“I can’t be happy, to be honest,” he said.
“I took off the aero on the front right by stupidly touching a straw bale, it will handicap me for the whole day tomorrow. Let’s see, it wasn’t too much of a disaster.”
Can Thierry Neuville finally secured his maiden WRC title?
While there is still multiple stages left to run in the rally, Neuville is on course to secure the title after the opening two stages.
The Belgian has been racing full-time in the WRC since 2012 and has never been able to get over the final hurdle and take the crown.
READ MORE: Thierry Neuville told why WRC rivals can go ‘flat out’ at the Central European Rally but he can’t
In that time, Neuville has finished second five times – four times consecutively from 2016 to 2019 behind Ogier – and has finished third in the last three seasons.
With two wins and five podiums to his name thus far in 2024, Neuville has one hand on the trophy as the Central European Rally wears on.