The new Hyundai World Rally Team has scored an unlikely 1-2 victory at the Rally Deutschland after Thierry Neuville and Dani Sordo swept into the lead on the final morning of the event.
The pair found themselves in front after rally leader Jari-Matti Latvala (Volkswagen) and Citroen’s Kris Meeke crashed on the final morning of the event.
It marked Hyundai and Neuville’s maiden WRC triumph.
Latvala went off the road in a vineyard section about 14km after the start of the opening 18.03km Dhrontal stage. Then Meeke, holding with an 8.4sec lead over Neuville, Meeke crashed into a wall early in the following Grafschaft stage, ripping the rear left wheel from his Citroen DS3.
The victory to Neuville seemed even more unlikely after the Belgian driver crashed his i20 during the pre-event shakedown requiring an all-night rebuild from Hyundai mechanics.
“It’s a nice feeling, we have done an unbelievable job,” said Neuville
“I can only say thank you to our team for the unbelievable job they did after our roll at shakedown. We kept the pressure on and it paid off!”
With Volkswagen losing both Latvala and team-mate Sébastien Ogier to crashes, it ended the team’s winning run of 12 events which started in Australia last year.
VW took some consolation with third place going to Andreas Mikkelsen.
The next round of the WRC will be Coates Hire Rally Australia on the Coffs Coast in NSW from 11-14 September.
VIDEO: Morning stages
RESULTS: Rally Deutschland
| Pos | Diver | Team/Car | Time/Gap |
| 1 | Thierry Neuville | Hyundai | 3h07m20.2s |
| 2 | Dani Sordo | Hyundai | +40.7s |
| 3 | Andreas Mikkelsen | VW | +58.0s |
| 4 | Elfyn Evans | M-Sport Ford | +1m03.6s |
| 5 | Mikko Hirvonen | M-Sport Ford | +1m10.5s |
| 6 | Mads Ostberg | Citroen | +1m22.7s |
| 7 | Martin Prokop | Czech Ford | +4m52.8s |
| 8 | Dennis Kuipers | M-Sport Ford | +9m18.1s |
| 9 | Pontus Tidemand | M-Sport Ford | +11m35.4s * |
| 10 | Ott Tanak | Autotek Ford | +11m37.2s * |
* WRC2
2014 FIA DRIVERS´ STANDINGS
| Pos | Driver | Total |
| 1 | Sebastien Ogier | 187 |
| 2 | Jari-Matti Latvala | 143 |
| 3 | Andreas Mikkelsen | 110 |
| 4 | Mads Ostberg | 74 |
| 5 | Thierry Neuville | 73 |
| 6 | Mikko Hirvonen | 73 |
| 7 | Elfyn Evans | 57 |
| 8 | Kris Meeke | 54 |
| 9 | Martin Prokop | 37 |
| 10 | Henning Solberg | 26 |
| 11 | Juho Hanninen | 20 |
| 12 | Bryan Bouffier | 18 |
| 13 | Dani Sordo | 18 |
| 14 | Robert Kubica | 12 |
| 15 | Ott Tanak | 11 |
| 16 | Benito Guerra Latapi | 8 |
| 17 | Hayden Paddon | 8 |
| 18 | Chris Atkinson | 6 |
| 19 | Pontus Tidemand | 6 |
| 20 | Jaroslav Melicharek | 4 |
| 21 | Dennis Kuipers | 4 |
| 22 | Nasser Al-Attiyah | 3 |
| 23 | Lorenzo Bertelli | 2 |
| 24 | Matteo Gamba | 2 |
| 25 | Craig Breen | 2 |
| 26 | Yuriy Protasov | 2 |
| 27 | Jari Ketomaa | 1 |
| 28 | Karl Kruuda | 1 |
| 29 | Khalid Al Qassimi | 1 |
2014 FIA TEAMS´ STANDINGS
| Pos | Teams | Total |
| 1 | Volkswagen Motorsport | 305 |
| 2 | Citroen Total Abu Dhabi WRT | 138 |
| 3 | Hyundai Shell World Rally Team | 131 |
| 4 | M-Sport World Rally Team | 128 |
| 5 | Volkswagen Motorsport II | 109 |
| 6 | Jipocar Czech National Team | 40 |
| 7 | RK M-Sport World Rally Team | 21 |
| 8 | Hyundai Motorsport N | 12 |
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