|
                           |
Rovanpera only took part in seven rallies, as per his partial season plan. He won four times and would have won at least once more had he not hit rock in Finland. Also Ogier missed wins, the most dramatic being final stage puncture at Sardinia.
In terms of podiums, things stand interestingly paired. Team-mates Evans and Ogier both scored seven podiums, like team-mates Neuville and Tanak both scored six podiums.
Complex points scoring scheme used for 2024 meant that overall positions mattered less and thus Neuville was able to pinch out the title despite scoring less wins and podiums than his rivals.
|
|
           |
Neuville's ability to win the title despite comparative lack of wins is largely explained by his consistency, he scored points on every round. 2024 points scheme rewarded consistency over wins and podiums and Neuville's average points haul per event was over 13% larger than second placed Evans'. The other top drivers to score on all events wer Fourmaux whose season was nothing short of phenomenal and Katsuta.
In DNF's, Hyundai suffered from both Lappi and Tanak not finishing twice. Tanak's crash at season final Rally Japan effectively handed manufacturers' title to rival Toyota.
|
|
                            |
Stage wins were mainly scored by three drivers: Ogier, Neuville and Rovanpera. Whoever claims that Neuville wasn't fast should check this statistics, proving that he did not lack speed but sometimes was either unlucky or hindered by road position, losing time early on to make it back towards the end. Similarly, especially Rovanpera benefited from better starting position, enabling him to rack impressive score from few rallies he attended.
Interestingly, Neuville won clearly the largest number of Power Stages during 2024, scoring 25 extra points from those alone.
In rally leaders category, the same road position advantage and superior rally win performance is evident for Rovanpera. He usually shot into lead and held it, except where he crashed in final moments like in Rally Finland.
|
|
                         |
In events category, the new event in Latvia edged between the Finland and Sweden in terms of fastest overall speed.
Safari was longest rally of the season with most of the other rallies dangling closely around the minimum distance of 300 kilometers. Sardinia had only 266 kilometers of stages, none of which were cancelled, and thus clearly below the minimum required distance.
Sardinia also attracted the most crews, 79 in total and Safari (again) the least, just 28 crews. New event at Latvia was also surprisingly thinly attended. Highest attrition ratio was in Portugal where large portion of the DNF's were competitors who only took part of the first leg which was part of national rally championship and then withdrew.
Longest stage was Amarante at Portugal, with legnth of 37 kilometers. Latvia's Dinsdurbe stage edged out Finland's fast roads and claimed the title of being fastest stage of the season. Apart from super special stages, slowest stages were in Sardinia and Portugal.
Most numerous make of the 2024 events was Ford, thanks to it's popularity in Rally2 category and being manufacturer for single-make JWRC competitors. Clearly most numerous nationality were French, again.
|
|
|
 |
Season 2024 statistical king is not so easy pick. One driver is superior in one category but not on next category. Overall, Neuville fared best so in addition to being 2024 champion, he can represent best in statistics too.
|
|