Ogier and co-driver Vincent Landais triumphed following an incident-filled Sunday that saw the pair inherit the lead after Hyundai driver Neuville and Toyota’s Evans both crashed in stage 18 of 20.

Ogier took the first win of his 2024 partial campaign from Evans by 9.7s, while Neuville had to settle for third [+45.9s] after his costly error. 

The battle for victory developed into a three-way fight from Friday’s opening leg as Neuville started strongly and took advantage of opening the road to surge into the lead.

After stage six Neuville opened up a 10.1s advantage over Evans before witnessing his lead reduce to 0.1s after picking up a front-right puncture caused by a rock in the middle of the road towards the end of the stage.

Evans managed to edge into the lead on stage seven but Neuville fought back on the day’s final test to incredibly end Friday tied for the rally lead with Evans after 119.74 competitive kilometres.

The stage however belonged to Ogier, who was 9.2s quicker than his nearest rival, a time that hauled himself into the victory fight to sit 6.6s behind Neuville and Evans.

The intense fight for the lead continued into Saturday when the expected heavy rain failed to arrive and tyre decisions played a factor. Neuville’s decision to take more hard tyres compared to Evans and Ogier, who took more softs in anticipation of rain to arrive, proved the marginally correct call.

Elfyn Evans, Scott Martin, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1

Photo by: Toyota Racing

However, the lead swapped between Neuville and Evans before the former produced blistering pace to win the final two stages of the day to move into a slender 4.9s lead. Ogier remained in third, 11.6s adrift after surviving two wild moments that could have ended in drama. 

But the battle took another turn on Sunday when Evans cut the deficit to 2.6s before the pair both made errors and ran into different grass banks on stage 18. Evans lost 19.6s following his impact that pitched the car into a spin, while Neuville shipped 23.3s after emerging from the bank with a damaged rear wing and no hybrid power on his i20 N. Neuville attributed the mistake to a late pacenote call. 

The unfolding drama handed Ogier the advantage and despite a brief visit to the grass bank in stage 19, the eight-time world champion held his nerve to claim a 59th WRC victory and his 100th podium.

Evans managed to secure 19 points, the same amount as Neuville. Evans continues to trail championship leader Neuville, who took nine stage wins this week, by six points.

Hyundai’s Ott Tanak finished a distant fourth overall [+58.6s] after struggling with the setup of his i20N. The Estonian did however walk away with an impressive 20 points after finishing second in the Super Sunday standings and setting the second fastest time on the Power Stage.

Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta finished fifth [+1m55.5s] and ended Sunday’s classification fastest to claim seven points on top of two more from the Power Stage.

M-Sport’s Adrien Fourmaux had held fifth for the majority of the rally before clipping an anti-cut device in stage 18, which cost the Frenchman 16 minutes to repair his steering. Fourmaux reached the finish to bank his eight points for finishing fifth on Saturday, and then snatched a further five points from winning the Power Stage, to maintain third in the championship.

Adrien Fourmaux, Alexandre Coria, M-Sport Ford World Rally Team Ford Puma Rally1

Photo by: McKlein / Motorsport Images

Andreas Mikkelsen’s second Rally1 hybrid appearance for Hyundai ended in sixth [+4m01.0s] ahead of M-Sport’s Gregoire Munster [+5m11.0s], who enjoyed a clean rally.

In WRC2, Nikolay Gryazin took a comfortable 38.2s victory from Citroen team-mate Yohan Rossel.

Neuville’s co-driver Martijn Wydaeghe put down a proposition on the event’s recce after noticing that the final stage of the Saturday morning and afternoon loop featured a 9.11km stage.

Wydaeghe suggested that if Neuville posted two fastest times on the passes through the stage then he would buy a Porsche 911.

While Neuville was already eyeing the stage wins to help extend his lead in an intense head-to-head with Evans, the Belgian duly delivered two committed runs to win the stages on his way to opening up a slender 4.9s overall lead.

“It started on the recce because the last stage of the Saturday loop is 9.11km so I said at the start if you are able to do two fastest times on that stage, I was to buy a [Porsche] 911, but that was maybe a most stupid decision I took in my life. Let’s see [what happens],” Neuville’s co-driver Wydaeghe told Autosport.

“Of course, my target was to take the two fastest times in that stage that was clear but not for any prize,” smiled Neuville. “I knew if I did a good stage the time would be good, and we did a good stage and it was a bit messy towards the end as the hard tyre didn’t work but I was very happy when we got the message that we were fastest.

“I think everybody knew [what we were doing].”

Neuville’s efforts topped a faultless drive across Saturday’s eight stages, of which he set fastest times in five of the tests, amid a relentless battle with Evans, with the pair never split by more than 4.9s, having started the day tied for the lead.

Thierry Neuville, Martijn Wydaeghe, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1

Photo by: McKlein / Motorsport Images

“It is tough,” said Neuville when asked about the battle. “You know when the countdown clock goes down you know you are going for a real battle.

“I remember rallies of the past and now it is not like you can be a bit more careful on a few corners you have to be perfect everywhere. You cannot just say let’s brake five metres more early you need to be flat out on every corner without making a mistake, it is tough.”

Hyundai team principal Cyril Abiteboul praised Neuville for his efforts behind the wheel but admitted there were plenty of nervous team members watching Saturday’s final stage as he attempted to win the challenge set by Wydaeghe.    

“I think the relationship between Thierry and Martijn is really nice to see,” Abiteboul told Autosport. 

“I think he was prepared to elevate the risk level at the end of the stage simply for the gamble with Martijn.

“We were all smiling, laughing, holding our breath and biting our nails as we could see that he was pushing very hard. I think it is good as you need to want something in sport today. I think Thierry wants it more than other drivers.

“We have a few cars in the Rally1 category but my gosh the level of competitiveness is mind blowing and indeed this fight between Thierry and Elfyn has bene pretty amazing, so hats off to Toyota and Elfyn they have been fantastic competitors, and they will remain to be tomorrow.

“It is super tight, but we got those provisional [178] points tonight which is great and a fantastic reward for Thierry and Martijn. It is clear they want to win this rally.”

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Neuville and Evans started the day tied for the lead after ending Friday on identical times, and the fiercely competitive battle continued across the morning’s four stages.

But it was championship points leader Neuville who had the measure of the Welshman to move into a 4.7s lead as the crews headed for service.

Toyota’s Sebastien Ogier ensured the battle for victory remained between three drivers as the eight-time world champion held third 11.3 adrift of Neuville. Hyundai’s Ott Tanak maintained fourth [+52.2s] ahead of M-Sport’s Adrien Fourmaux [+1m06.4s]. Takamoto Katsuta [+1m56.5s], Andreas Mikkelsen [+3m14.0s] and Gregoire Munster [+3m58.0s] rounded out the top eight.      

The expected rain showers stayed away from the stages but there were spots of moisture in the air as the crews tackled stage nine [Smerovisce – Grdanjci — 15.72km].

With the road order reversed, the leaders faced the dirtiest road conditions but it seemingly didn’t affect joint rally leaders Neuville and Evans significantly.

While the pair started the day deadlocked, it was Neuville who edged clear into an 0.8s outright lead.

Despite facing the worst of the road conditions, Neuville delivered an inspired run to post a time 0.5s adrift of M-Sport’s Fourmaux, who claimed his first stage win of the event to date.

Adrien Fourmaux, Alexandre Coria, M-Sport Ford World Rally Team Ford Puma Rally1

Photo by: McKlein / Motorsport Images

Evans admitted he was “a little bit steady” during his pass that was 1.3s slower than Fourmaux. It proved to be a contested stage with Fourmaux, Neuville, Ogier, Tanak, Evans and the improving Mikkelsen covered by 4.2s.

Conditions remained dry by the time the crews reached stage 10, the longest of the loop.

Once again Neuville and Evans couldn’t be split as the duo posted identical times through the 20.77km Stojdraga — Gornja Vas test as Neuville held onto to his 0.8s rally lead.

The stage was won by Ogier, who stepped up his charge to reel in Neuville and Evans. The Toyota driver took 0.3s out of the pair to cut the deficit to 6.8s to remain firmly in the victory hunt.

Katsuta produced his best drive of the event to date to end the stage 0.4s but remained in a distant sixth overall.

There was however a small drama for Tanak who drifted wide at a left hander and clipped his right rear on a kerb. It appeared the incident didn’t cost the Hyundai driver too much time despite ending the stage with the wheel slightly bent. The Estonian was however quicker than Fourmaux to extend the gap in the fight for fourth to 11.6s.    

Ott Tänak, Martin Järveoja, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

Neuville grabbed the headlines in stage 11 by chalking up his fifth stage win of the event after edging rally rival Evans by 0.9s. Evans admitted it wasn’t an easy task managing his tyre choice of three softs, two wets and one hard given the absence of the forecast rain.

“0.9s is a lot, I’m really happy. I don’t think I could go any faster in there,” said Neuville, who moved into a 1.7s overall lead.

Third-placed Ogier dropped 1.6s to Neuville in the stage that included what he described as a “very close call” over a jump early in the test, that resulted in some damage to the front of the GR Yaris.

Tanak was only a tenth slower than Ogier as the Hyundai driver showed much stronger pace compared to Friday. 

However, Neuville saved his best display until the final stage of the loop outlining the work he had achieved in preserving his rubber.

The Belgian produced a committed effort which was rewarded with a time 2.9s faster than Ogier and 3.0s quicker than Tanak and Evans. Ogier managed to log his time despite being forced to run a wet tyre on the rear of his car to reduce the puncture risk on one worn tyre in his package.

“Quite a decent stage, the onboard must be really cool. We had a better tyre management of the loop and kept good profiles of the tyres,” said Neuville.

Evans added: “It was really slippery and I wasn’t so happy with my run to be honest.”

The battle for fourth took another swing towards Tanak as Fourmaux reported a misfire from his Ford Puma’s engine during the stage.

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In WRC2, Nikolay Gryazin continued to lead the class form Citroen team-mate Yohan Rossel by a margin of 59.9s.  

The crews will repeat the stages this afternoon to conclude Saturday’s leg.