Following his WRC title triumph on FORUM8 Rally Japan earlier today, these are three cars that helped to make Neuville an ERC star.
Sun 24 Nov 2024
WRC champion Neuville’s ERC cars
Before he took the FIA World Rally Championship by storm, Thierry Neuville contested five rounds of the FIA European Rally Championship between 2009 and 2011 and performed course car-driving duties on his home event, Belgium’s Ypres Rally, in 2013.
2009: Peugeot 207 Super 2000
Having been selected by Belgian media for the BFGoodrich Drivers’ Team seat on the 2019 Ypres Rally, Neuville made his ERC debut, his first outing at four-wheel-drive level. Behind the wheel of a Kronos Racing Peugeot 207 Super 2000, the young Neuville set a top-four stage time and was fourth overall when he crashed out.
2010-2011: Peugeot 207 Super 2000
With Kronos Racing chiefs Jean-Pierre Mondron and Marc van Dalen his guiding lights, Neuville embarked on a major Intercontinental Rally Challenge bid between 2010-2011 in a Peugeot 207 Super 2000 backed by the Belgian and Luxembourg Peugeot importers. He contested four ERC events during that time and claimed a best result of third in Ypres in 2010.
2013: Ford Fiesta R5
Neuville took a break from his WRC campaign with the M-Sport-run Qatar World Rally Team to give the British firm’s all-new Ford Fiesta R5 its first public airing as a course car on the ERC-counting Ypres Rally in 2013, as Kris Meeke got behind the wheel of the Fiesta-rivalling Peugeot 208 T16.
A reminder that ERC Greatest Car semi-finals week begins tomorrow (25 November). Follow the ERC’s social media channels to vote.
Japan
Poland
Turkey