Thierry Jean Neuville (, ; born 16 June 1988) is a Belgian rally driver who is competing in the World Rally Championship for Hyundai Motorsport. During his career, he has finished as runner-up five times (2013, 2016–2019) and achieved his maiden drivers' world title in 2024, making him the first Belgian to win the driver's championship. He helped Hyundai win their first manufacturers' title in 2019, as well as repeating the feat in 2020. His current co-driver is compatriot Martijn Wydaeghe.
Born in St. Vith, Neuville started rallying in 2007. Between 2009 and 2011 he competed in the Intercontinental Rally Challenge; in 2009 he also made his World Rally Championship debut at the Rally Catalunya and in 2010 he competed in the Junior World Rally Championship. With promising results across the categories between 2009 and 2011, he was signed by the Citroën Junior Team and made his World Rally Car debut in 2012. In 2013, driving for the Qatar World Rally Team, he was a surprise runner-up in the championship, having scored his first podiums in the sport, finishing 114 points behind Sébastien Ogier.
When Hyundai Motorsport re-entered the sport in 2014, the Korean manufacturer signed Neuville as their lead driver. Neuville won his first World Rally Championship event, as well as Hyundai's first, at the 2014 Rallye Deutschland. In addition to his first victory, he had aided Hyundai score their first podium earlier in the season. Neuville finished the 2014 and 2015 seasons in sixth place, but finished runner-up in the drivers' championship from 2016 to 2019. In 2016, he was again a distant second to Ogier, but since new regulations for World Rally Cars were introduced in 2017 he has been battling closely for the drivers' title with rivals Ogier and Ott Tänak. In 2017 and 2018, he narrowly missed out on the title to Ogier, while in 2019 he was second to Tänak. Despite being second in the drivers' championship in 2019, Neuville's results helped Hyundai win their first manufacturers' title.
In total, Neuville has won 22 world rallies, all for Hyundai. Initially known as an asphalt specialist, he has won events on asphalt and gravel. He has also won on snow, winning the Rally Sweden in 2018 and he became one of the few non-Nordic drivers to win the event. In addition to rallying, Neuville has also contested circuit racing, debuting in the 2019 ADAC TCR Germany Touring Car Championship.
Rally career Early career Neuville was born in the German-speaking municipality St. Vith. He drove his first rally when he was 19 years of age, in 2007, his debut rally car was an Opel Corsa he piloted on an event in Luxembourg. In 2008, he was the winner of the Royal Automobil Club of Belgium Rally Contest, which initiated his rally career. The following year, he won the Citroën Rally Trophy Belux, in a Citroën C2 R2 Max.
Neuville made his Intercontinental Rally Challenge debut in 2009 when he was handed a drive at the 2009 Ypres Rally by the BF Goodrich Drivers Team in a Peugeot 207 S2000. He crashed out of the rally while lying fourth.
For the 2008 Rally Finland, Neuville was entered in a Ford Fiesta ST and would have made his WRC debut, but he did not start the event. Instead, he made his WRC debut at the 2009 Rally Catalunya with a Citroën C2 R2 with Nicolas Klinger as his co-driver, an event he eventually would retire in.
Private career (2010–11)
2010 Neuville drove a self-entered Citroën C2 S1600 in five of the six rounds of 2010 Junior World Rally Championship, alongside Klinger. In the two opening rounds, on gravel, 2010 Rally of Turkey and 2010 Rally de Portugal, Neuville retired in both events while leading the category, in Turkey it was due to a mechanical fault while in Portugal he crashed out. It was not until the third round in 2010 Rally Bulgaria, on asphalt, Neuville won his first event in the category. Retirement followed in the next event in Germany after an engine failure. His final event of the campaign was the 2010 Rallye de France where he was third in the category. Despite leading many of the events, along with many stage wins, of the season, Neuville would finish the championship in seventh position, due to the many retirements.
The same year, Neuville, with Klinger as co-driver, was signed to drive a Peugeot 207 S2000 at six events in the 2010 Intercontinental Rally Challenge for Peugeot Belgium-Luxembourg (Bel-Lux), a team supported by Kronos Racing. His first event was the 2010 Rally Islas Canarias, where he retired due to suspension damage while running in seventh position. Having so far only contested asphalt rallies in the 207 S2000, he contested his first gravel rally in the car, at the 2010 Rally d'Italia Sardegna, where he secured fourth. He was a career-best third at his country event, the 2010 Ypres Rally. His final three events for the season were the 2010 Czech Rally, 2010 Rallye Sanremo and 2010 Rally Scotland. He retired in the Czech and Scottish rallies. In Sanremo, he was eighth, securing the final points position. Neuville finished the season in ninth place, collecting twelve points across his six events.
2011 Neuville continued with the Peugeot Bel-Lux team in the 2011 Intercontinental Rally Challenge. At the season opener in Monte Carlo he crashed his 207 S2000 in the first stage and retired. After Monte Carlo, co-driver Klinger was replaced with Nicolas Gilsoul for the rest of the season. In the next event, 2011 Rally Islas Canarias, Neuville battled for the win but finished third behind winner Juho Hänninen and second placed Jan Kopecký. First victory came in the following at event in 2011 Tour de Corse with a convincing drive, finishing 15.5 seconds in front of Kopecký. He was the early pacesetter at the following 2011 Prime Yalta Rally but going off-road and a puncture meant the Belgian could only finish in sixth position. At the 2011 Ypres Rally, suspension damage resulted in retirement. At the following 2011 Czech Rally, Neuville was fourth. In Hungary, the 2011 Mecsek Rallye, Neuville was just 0.8 seconds shy of winning the rally, behind winner Kopecký. His second victory would arrive in 2011 Rallye Sanremo, winning by just 1.5 seconds. In the penultimate round in Scotland, Neuville was sixth, having spun and dropped time to the leaders. Heading into the finale in Cyprus, Neuville was one of five drivers who were able to win the title. Neuville held the rally lead early on, but soon after, an issue with the alternator on his car developed and the Belgian had to retire. The title eventually went to Andreas Mikkelsen, who won the rally, while Neuville finished fifth in the standings.
Citroën Junior (2012)
Citroën signed Neuville for the 2012 World Rally Championship, driving selected races in a Citroën DS3 WRC for their junior team. The season saw Neuville make his World Rally Car-debut. At the season opener in Monte Carlo, Neuville crashed out of the event early. He remained scoreless until the fourth round in Portugal where he finished in eight position. Prior to Portugal, he had won his first stage win in Mexico. In Argentina, he was fifth, despite rolling his car early in the event. Neuville's results had so far been plagued by the use of Rally 2-rules, his first error-free event was in Acropolis where he was sixth. Neuville's season did not include New Zealand with the Citroën Junior Team, but as Nasser Al-Attiyah in the Qatar World Rally Team was injured and unable to compete, Neuville replaced him for the Qatari team in the event. He was battling for fifth place with fellow World Rally Car-rookie Ott Tänak, with Neuville eventually securing the position due to Tänak retiring. He scored no points in Finland after crashing from sixth place. He was running close of a podium finish in the following event in Germany, but, like in Finland, he was outside the points due to a crash. He returned to the points by finishing seventh in Wales. His best result of the season came in France, where he led a World Rally-event for the first time in his career and eventually finished fourth, after many stage wins. Another outing for the Qatar team in Sardinia, the penultimate event of the season, meant Neuville contested the full season. He was outside the points in Sardinia, as well as in Catalunya, the final event of the season, due to incidents on both rallies. He finished the season in seventh position.
Qatar (2013)
Neuville joined Qatar for the 2013 season, now driving a Ford Fiesta RS WRC. He retired for the third time in Rallye Monte-Carlo, after going off track on the third stage. In Rally Sweden, he got off the mark by scoring a fifth place on a surface he lacked experience on. Then, in Mexico, he was one of the men of the rally, getting his maiden podium finish (third place). Round four, Portugal, was disappointing, since he finished out of the points, after returning to the rally in Rally 2 after retiring from fifth place. Fifth place was again for Neuville, in Argentina. Then came a streak of podiums which turned Neuville into the surprise driver of the season: third place in Greece and second place in Italy, Finland, Germany and Australia.
At Rallye Deutschland, which Neuville considers his home rally, the Belgian was in second place during the second day, trailing Jari-Matti Latvala just for a few seconds. But in a surprise twist, Latvala left the road and Neuville did the same thing right after him. Neuville led the rally for a stage, but eventually, and in the second to last stage of the day, he lost the lead to Dani Sordo. The next stage of the day was cancelled, so the drivers entered the final two stages separated by just eight tenths of a second. The penultimate stage was won by Sordo, which left the Spaniard three seconds ahead of Neuville in the overall classification. Both gave everything in the PowerStage and Neuville eventually had a small off in the very last section of the stage, therefore losing the chance to win. He ended in second place, 53.0 seconds behind Sordo.
At Rally Australia, Neuville was in third place, 25.2 seconds behind Mikko Hirvonen, before the PowerStage. With Sébastien Ogier comfortably in the lead, he needed to finish in second place overall and in the PowerStage in order to still have a mathematical chance at the title. Hirvonen punctured in the stage, allowing Thierry to finish in second overall and second in the PowerStage. After this dramatic finish, a frustrated Ogier and Neuville were the only ones still with a chance for the title, although Ogier only needed to score a single point in the remaining three rounds. Ogier eventually secured the title in the next rally in Alsace by taking a point on the Power stage, which ran as the opening stage of the rally. A podium for Neuville in the last rally of the season in Wales secured his spot as second in the championship, ahead of Latvala.
Hyundai (2014–present) 2014
On 5 November 2013, Hyundai Motorsport GmbH confirmed it had signed Neuville on a multi-year deal to lead its entry into the WRC from 2014.Hyundai signs Thierry Neuville to lead WRC charge – AUSmotive.com After the halfway point of the 2014 season Neuville had scored two podiums for Hyundai and ran sixth in the overall standings.
Neuville rolled six times during the shakedown of the ADAC Rally of Germany, stopping in the vineyards. The car was repaired and Thierry Neuville and co-driver Nicolas Gilsoul finished the rally in first position. That was Neuville and Hyundai Motorsport GmbH's maiden win in the WRC. Previous year's winner Dani Sordo, who was now his teammate, finished second, so it was not just Hyundai's first win, but also a double victory.
2015
Neuville started the 2015 season strongly, finishing fifth and second in Monte Carlo and Sweden respectively. He finished eighth in the third round in Mexico but had been battling for lead with Ogier during the first day before going off the road.