Thierry Jean Neuville
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Thierry Jean Neuville

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Thierry Jean Neuville (born 16 June 1988 in St. Vith) is a Belgian rally driver competing in the World Rally Championship for Hyundai Motorsport. He finished runner-up five times (2013, 2016–2019) and won his maiden drivers' world title in 2024, becoming the first Belgian to win the WRC Drivers' Championship. He helped Hyundai win their first manufacturers' title in 2019 and repeated the feat in 2020. His co-driver is compatriot Martijn Wydaeghe.

Neuville is a native German speaker born in the German-speaking municipality of St. Vith. He drove his first rally at age 19 in 2007, piloting an Opel Corsa on an event in Luxembourg. In 2008 he won the Royal Automobil Club of Belgium Rally Contest, initiating his competition 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, handed a drive at the Ypres Rally by the BF Goodrich Drivers Team in a Peugeot 207 S2000; he crashed out while lying fourth. He also made his WRC debut that year at the 2009 Rally Catalunya with a Citroën C2 R2 alongside co-driver Nicolas Klinger, retiring from the event.

In 2010 Neuville drove a self-entered Citroën C2 S1600 in five of the six rounds of the Junior World Rally Championship alongside Klinger, winning in Bulgaria on asphalt before retiring twice from leading positions; he finished seventh in the championship. He also drove a Peugeot 207 S2000 for Peugeot Belgium-Luxembourg, supported by Kronos Racing, at six events in the 2010 Intercontinental Rally Challenge, achieving a career-best third place at the Ypres Rally that year.

In 2011, continuing with Peugeot Bel-Lux (co-driver Klinger replaced by Nicolas Gilsoul after Monte Carlo), Neuville won the Tour de Corse and Rallye Sanremo in the Intercontinental Rally Challenge. Heading into the season finale in Cyprus as a title contender, an alternator failure caused retirement and the title went to Andreas Mikkelsen.

Citroën signed Neuville for the 2012 WRC to drive selected rounds in a Citroën DS3 WRC for their junior team. His first error-free event was the Acropolis Rally, where he finished sixth. He deputised for the injured Nasser Al-Attiyah at Qatar World Rally Team in New Zealand, securing fifth. His best result of the season was fourth in France, where he led a World Rally event for the first time. He finished the season seventh.

Neuville joined Qatar for 2013, driving a Ford Fiesta RS WRC. He scored his maiden WRC podium in Mexico with third place, then accumulated a string of podiums — third in Greece, second in Italy, Finland, Germany and Australia — that made him the surprise championship contender of the season. He finished runner-up, 114 points behind Sébastien Ogier.

On 5 November 2013 Hyundai Motorsport confirmed it had signed Neuville on a multi-year deal to lead its 2014 WRC entry. He won his first WRC event — and Hyundai's first — at the 2014 Rallye Deutschland, with teammate Dani Sordo second for a Hyundai 1–2. He finished sixth in both 2014 and 2015.

From 2016, Neuville finished runner-up in the championship every year through 2019. In 2016 he won the Rally Italia Sardinia, winning nine of nineteen stages, and paid tribute after the race to former mentors Philippe Bugalski and Jean-Pierre Mondron. In 2017 new regulations introduced and Neuville won the Tour de Corse, Rally Argentina, Rally Poland and Rally Australia; he led the championship after Ott Tänak's retirement in Finland but lost the lead at Rallye Deutschland following suspension and transmission damage. He finished runner-up to Ogier for the third consecutive time. In 2018 he took his seventh WRC win and first on snow by winning Rally Sweden, becoming the third non-Nordic driver to win that event. He won further in Portugal and Sardinia, the latter by seven tenths of a second on the final stage. He lost the title to Ogier in Australia after hitting a tree and retiring.

In 2019 Neuville won the Tour de Corse and Rally Argentina. At Rally Chile he crashed heavily after misjudging a fast crest, requiring medical assistance; both he and co-driver Nicolas Gilsoul escaped major injury. He won in Spain in the penultimate round but Tänak secured the title by finishing second. Neuville finished second in the overall standings, and his results alongside teammates' helped Hyundai win their first manufacturers' title. That season he extended his Hyundai contract to the end of 2021.

In 2020 Neuville won the season-opening Monte Carlo Rally battling with Ogier and Elfyn Evans, but mechanical issues in Mexico and Estonia cost him heavily in a pandemic-shortened season. He was fourth in the drivers' standings at year end; however, teammates Tänak and Sordo finished second and third, giving Hyundai their second consecutive manufacturers' title.

After three consecutive seasons finishing third from 2021 to 2023, Neuville won his first WRC Drivers' title in 2024 alongside co-driver Martijn Wydaeghe, also securing Hyundai's first Drivers' Championship title after over a decade in the WRC. He won the season-opening Monte Carlo Rally and the Acropolis Rally and remained consistent throughout the campaign. Despite mechanical issues at the season finale in Japan, he secured enough points to confirm the championship before the final stage.

In total Neuville has won 22 world rallies, all for Hyundai. Initially known as an asphalt specialist, he has won on asphalt, gravel and snow.

Neuville made his touring car debut in the 2019 ADAC TCR Germany Touring Car Championship at the Nürburgring, driving a Hyundai i30 for Engstler Motorsport as a guest driver. In race one he took pole position, set the fastest lap, led every lap and won. In race two he started tenth on the reversed grid and finished sixth in wet conditions. As a guest driver he was ineligible to score points. After the event he expressed a desire to contest more circuit races, including the 24 Hours Nürburgring.

Although Neuville uses French pacenotes, he is a native German speaker. His younger brothers Yannick Neuville and Tom Heindrichs are also rally drivers. He became a father on 8 July 2019; his daughter Camille was born to him and his girlfriend Déborah Ghys.

This article is based solely on the supplied corpus. No external sources were consulted; claims that could not be substantiated against the corpus were omitted under the drop-the-claim rule.

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