Unlike his predecessor Kalle Rovanperä, Thierry Neuville will compete in the 2025 World Rally Championship as the defending champion with car number 1
Newly crowned World Rally Champion Thierry Neuville will start the 2025 season with car number 1. This marks the return of the prestigious number to the World Rally Championship (WRC) for the first time since 2022.
“It’s no secret that we already have the number 1 on the car, but now it will only be one. I’m looking forward to it,”
Neuville has competed with the starting number 11 in recent years, so he only has to remove one digit. The Belgian first used this starting number in the 2013 season. When fixed starting numbers were introduced for each driver in the World Rally Championship this season, Neuville chose the number 11.
Rovanperä had renounced the number 1
Starting number 1, which is reserved for the reigning world champion, has not been used in the World Rally Championship for the past two years. Kalle Rovanperä retained his usual starting number 69 even as the defending champion. In the 2022 season, Sebastien Ogier was the last driver to compete in the WRC with starting number 1.
More than a month after winning his title at the Rally Japan, Neuville has slowly come to understand what the world title means. “It feels really good. It’s the best reward for all the hard work over the past few years, not just this season. It’s been a beautiful and challenging journey, but we’re proud,” says Neuville.
“We celebrated in style in Belgium, with more than 2,000 people coming together when we returned. That was an unforgettable moment,” recalls Neuville. ‘I was so surprised that most people were even happier than I was. You could tell that they had been cheering for us all season and were relieved that we had finally made it.’
Neuville is relaxed about the rule changes
Neuville’s title defense begins with the traditional Rally Monte-Carlo from January 23 to 26, which the Belgian won last season.
The 2025 WRC season will see some important rule changes. The World Rally Championship will dispense with hybrid drives in the future and switch to Hankook as the new single tire supplier. In addition, a new points system will be introduced: the points previously awarded on Saturday will be dropped, but the total number of points per rally will increase to 35.
“We will see what happens. I don’t expect any major differences, and from the outside you probably won’t notice any difference either,” says Neuville.
