Thierry Neuville is refusing to get carried away with his Acropolis Rally lead ahead of what is expected to be the roughest stage of the World Rally Championship event on Sunday.
This year’s edition of the Acropolis Rally has proved to be among the toughest in recent years with all five drivers mathematically in the title fight finding trouble.
Neuville managed to avoid trouble through Saturday’s six stages to move into a 54.9s lead to compete a recovery after his i20 N was reduced to three cylinders in Friday’s opening three stages.
Punctures for team-mates Ott Tanak and Dani Sordo helped Neuville into the lead to claim 18 provisional points for ending Saturday on top of the timesheets — three more than main title rival Toyota’s Sebastien Ogier.
However, the Belgian says “nothing is done yet” with Sunday’s three stages, featuring two passes of the roughest stage of the rally, Eleftherohori, which will host the Power Stage. Neuville is also unsure how to tackle Sunday’s stages that will offer a maximum of 12 points.
“It has been a good day but nothing is done yet and we have to keep that in mind tomorrow is a challenging day, the Power Stage is super tricky, nothing is done,” Neuville told Motorsport.com.
Thierry Neuville, Martijn Wydaeghe, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1
Photo by: McKlein / Motorsport Images
“A lot of things have happened and somehow we have all had some issues nevertheless we are here despite doing three stages with troubles. We have lost less time than the others and we have had a constant run today which has given us the lead.
“We need to find the right balance. I don’t know yet [how to play it]. We need to follow our objectives but we know there are a lot of points to take tomorrow.”
Neuville, who has opted not to react to Ogier’s critical comments directed toward him on Friday night admitted that a good weekend for him would be to leave Greece with his 27-point championship lead over Ogier intact.
“I think if this is a good weekend for me I need to take at least the same amount of points as Seb,” he added.
Ogier shared Neuville’s thoughts on the challenge that will face the crews on Sunday, hinting that there is still a high chance for more drama.
“I think there is always satisfaction when you finish a day here in Greece, it has been a challenging weekend and the three stages tomorrow are far from easy,” Ogier told Motorsport.com.
“I would describe the Power Stage which we have to drive twice as the roughest stage of the weekend. I think we might not have seen all of the action and obviously an important day for both of the championships.
“It is the toughest Greece I have done, but I expect tomorrow to be the worst day”