Метка: Thierry Neuville

Neuville tames Super Special to claim early lead

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The Hyundai driver managed to navigate through the 2.94km beachside asphalt stage, 0.6s faster than nearest rival Toyota’s Sebastien Ogier.

Without a service before tomorrow morning’s gravel stages, crews were forced to tackle the spectator test in tyre saving mode to protect rubber for Friday’s stages.

“It is difficult weekend ahead of us [starting first on the gravel roads tomorrow]. We tried to be clean and I don’t know if it was too much or not,” said Neuville.

“I don’t want be the one who brings down the great atmosphere we have here but a stage like this with donuts and 70 kilometres ahead of us with the same tyres is absolutely nonsense.

“There are lots of spectators around and I hope they saw something, but I think we can do much better.”

Ogier was among a chorus of drivers who shared Neuville’s view on the positioning of the stage in the itinerary.

“I tried to [be easy on the tyres]. I’m sure everyone has said that is not clever to ask us to do a tarmac stage where we have to drive slow and not make a show,” said Ogier.

“This kind of stage has to be at the end of a loop, then we come here and we kill the gravel tyres and the fans love it.”

Dani Sordo, Candido Carrera, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1

Dani Sordo, Candido Carrera, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1

Photo by: Austral / Hyundai Motorsport

Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta and Hyundai’s Ott Tanak posted identical times to slot into tied third, 0.4s ahead of reigning world champion Kalle Rovanpera, who clearly adopted a tyre saving driving style.

M-Sport’s Adrien Fourmaux was sixth fastest [+3.1s] and will head into tomorrow’s stages having gambled on taking only one spare wheel.

“Sometimes you need to take risks to gain some time,” said Fourmaux of his tyre choice. “To be fair we are quite confident with our tyre choice, and we are just trying to save the tyres tonight. I’m third on the road so I’m not expecting much tyre wear tomorrow.”

Seven-time Portugal podium finisher Dani Sordo, making his first start of the season, was seventh for Hyundai [+4.1s], ahead of title contender Toyota’s Elfyn Evans [+4.3s], who was among those that attempted to save his rubber.

In WRC2, Yohan Rossel set the pace, 1.1s faster than five-time WRC rally winner Kris Meeke, competing in a rare outing in rallying’s top championship. Oliver Solberg was third in class, a further 0.5s in arrears.

The rally continues on Friday with eight gravel stages scheduled, punctuated by a tyre fitting zone at midday.

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WRC Croatia not a “disaster” after final day error

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The Hyundai driver took a 4.9s lead into the final day after winning nine of the 16 stages up to that point, in what was an intense battle with Toyota’s Elfyn Evans.

However, both Neuville and Evans hit trouble in stage 18 on Sunday morning, which effectively ended the pair’s victory hopes.

Neuville drifted into a grass bank following a late pacenote call, costing him 23.3s while causing significant damage to the i20N’s rear wing that left him unable to fight in the remaining two stages.

While frustrated at missing an opportunity to score perhaps one of his finest victories, Neuville was happy to match rival Evans in scoring 19 points and maintain his six-point championship.

“Definitely there is a frustration but on the other hand we have been well rewarded yesterday after our great drive on Friday and Saturday [to score 18 points] and they were important points and they have made the difference,” Neuville told Motorsport.com.

“Despite not scoring many points today we were still the third best performer and equal with Evans and only lost one point to Ott [Tanak]. We can’t say it was a disaster.

“The stage [where we crashed] was really tricky but what happened, happened. I tried my best to avoid it, but we were just far too late and when I got the pacenote I immediately hit the brakes, but the corner was so much tighter and there was nothing I could do.

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

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

Photo by: Romain Thuillier / Hyundai Motorsport

“It [the car] was undrivable [without the rear wing], I couldn’t expect it, but it was a disaster. I was driving fast on the last stage and I lost 30 seconds.”

Although happy to lead the championship, Neuville expects a tough battle to hold onto his advantage when the WRC returns to gravel, beginning with Portugal next month.    

“I’m happy to still be in the lead and happy to keep at least our advantage because it is no secret that from Portugal onwards it is going to be tough for us with several gravel rallies in a row,” he added.

“Without really heavy rain or different circumstances, it will be tough for us to score many points on Friday and Saturday but Sunday could be a bit better if we have a better road position.”

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Ogier takes shock lead as Neuville, Evans crash

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Ogier started the morning 11.6 seconds adrift of Neuville but similar accidents for both Neuville and Evans have pushed the eight-time world champion into a 9.1s lead over Evans.

Evans and Neuville both reached the end of stage 18 with damaged cars — with the latter, who started the day leading by 4.9s, now dropping to third, 10.2s in arrears.

Hyundai’s Ott Tanak survived a moment in stage 18 to maintain fourth [+1m02.3s] while M-Sport’s Adrien Fourmaux handed fifth overall to Takamoto Katsuta [+1m57.1s]. Katsuta also leads the Super Sunday classification by 3.9s from Tanak.

Sunday morning began with a blast through the wide and open roads of stage 17 [Trakoscan-Vrbno, 13.15km] with the lead trio all opting for different tyre strategies to add extra intrigue to the victory battle. Rally leader Neuville selected one hard and four softs, while Evans chose three hards and two softs and Ogier opted for two hards and three softs.

Evans’ decision appeared to help the Welshman on the increasingly dirty road as the early runners dragged gravel onto the surface. The Toyota driver managed to take 2.3s out of leader Neuville to chop the deficit down to 2.6s with three stages remaining.

“I’m pretty surprised already, lots of pollution and quite slippery especially at the end of stage — overall quite good,” said Evans.

Neuville wasn’t overly concerned by Evans’ attack and felt confident his tyre decision would come back to him as the loop progressed.

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

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

Photo by: McKlein / Motorsport Images

“We have different tyre choices, this one will be really dirty on the second pass,” said Neuville. “For the next one I think we have better tyres.

“It’s OK, it’s a dirty road in the morning and we lose a bit of time, but we’re going to push hard.”

Ogier struggled to find the feeling behind the wheel of his GR Yaris but was able to match Neuville’s time to remain 11.6s adrift of the leader.

The stage was won by Katsuta, who took an early lead in the Super Sunday classification. The Toyota driver was 1.8s faster than Fourmaux with Evans third fastest. Tanak was fourth quickest despite battling a stage he claimed was “full of gravel”.

But the rally was turned on its head in stage 18 [Zagorska Sela – Kumrovec, 14.24km] as Neuville, Evans and Fourmaux all hit trouble.

Fourmaux was the first to make an error as he clipped an anti-cut device, which damaged his front right. The M-Sport driver pulled off the road to fix the car and eventually reached the stage end after losing more than 16 minutes.

“After a corner I snapped the steering arm, sometimes it bends, sometimes it breaks,” said Fourmaux. “This time it breaks. We need to score some points today, so we need to regroup and look forward to the Power Stage.”

Tanak also had what he called “more than a moment” running off the road, on his way to winning the stage, but he fared much better than lead duo Evans and Neuville.

Evans clipped a bank with the left rear of his GR Yaris, which pitched the car into a spin, costing the Welshman a vital 19.6s.

“It was just a slippery place, hit the rear hard on the left and it just took off and spun the car unfortunately,” said Evans.

Minutes later, rally leader Neuville ran into a bank, this time with the right rear of his i20 N, resulting in damage to the front and rear wing. The Belgian, who dropped 23.3s to third overall, blamed the incident on a late pacenote.

“There was a lot of corners, when I got the pacenote it was far too late,” said Neuville. “We lost 20 seconds to Ogier so it’s a shame because everything was going well.”

Ogier was third fastest in the stage but inherited the lead ahead of a repeat of the morning stages, which will conclude the rally.



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Neuville, Evans tied for WRC Croatia lead «something special»

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Hyundai’s Neuville and Toyota driver Evans incredibly clocked identical overall times to sit tied for the lead on Friday night after 119.74 competitive stage kilometres.

Neuville claimed three of the four morning stages on the way to opening up a 10.1-second lead over Evans until a puncture on stage six cost the Belgian valuable time.

Evans moved into a 1.6s lead before Neuville responded on the final test to match Evans at the top of the leaderboard.

While the top two couldn’t be separated on times, only 6.6s covered the top three following Sebastien Ogier’s stunning victory on stage eight.

The hard-fought battle has arrived while the championship’s future is firmly in the spotlight as discussions continue among the teams and the FIA to resolve next year’s Rally1 technical regulations.

The FIA wishes to remove hybrid power and decrease the performance of the cars through a reduction in aero and the air restrictor, although these proposed changes have been strongly opposed by the teams.

Asked about the battle for the rally victory, Latvala told Autosport: “It is exciting. In the morning it was looking like it was going to be a tough day for us because Thierry was so strong on the first stage, and I thought our chances were not going to be so great.

“But the drivers improved over the day and eventually having exactly the same time with Thierry and Elfyn is something special.”

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

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

Photo by: Romain Thuillier / Hyundai Motorsport

Hyundai’s WRC programme manager Christian Loriaux added: “It shows the World Rally Championship is exciting and it is close, and it is worth existing, that is for sure. It [Thierry and Elfyn sharing the lead] is quite amazing.”

Evans is among a group of drivers keen for the current Rally1 regulations to remain in place next year and believes the close battle is proof the technical formula works.

“It is good. We know that the technical formula has worked for many years now and the cars and the battles are always close — like I’ve always said, that side works,” Evans told Autosport.

Reflecting on his own performance across the eight stages, Evans felt he left some time on the table, particularly in the final stage, but ultimately was satisfied with his Friday showing.

“There were quite a few things [we could have done better], but overall, it was still quite a good day,” he said.

“I was disappointed with the last stage as I think there was time left in there.

“I think the third stage I was a bit too careful in a few places, but you have to try and find that balance in those conditions to get to the end and go quickly.”

Although the pacesetter for much of Friday, assisted by a road position advantage, Neuville admitted that he had “to give everything” to recover the lost ground after the puncture, and tame his i20 N.

“I mean it was definitely a good fight out there,” said Neuville. “We had to give everything in every stage.

“We are in the lead equal with Elfyn but we lost important seconds this afternoon with our puncture and I was just generally struggling a bit with the balance of the car.

“It got a bit better toward the end of the day, but the last stage was massive dust, so there was lots of cleaning and there was not much more we could have done.”

The rally continues on Saturday although rain showers are expected to add to the challenge for the crews.

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Neuville frustrated as WRC Safari Rally hoodoo continues

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The WRC points leader climbed to second position across Saturday morning, benefitting from punctures delaying his Toyota rivals Elfyn Evans and Takamoto Katsuta.

However, Thierry Neuville’s bid for a podium was dashed when his i20 N struggled for power, and he was forced to stop on several occasions before ending the stage in EV mode.

Neuville was unable to fix the problem that Hyundai stated was related to the fuel system and ultimately lost more than 10 minutes navigating through the afternoon loop.

As a result, the Belgian dropped from second to fifth [+11m48.6s behind leader Toyota’s Kalle Rovanpera], conceding a provisional seven championship points to title rival Evans, who ended the day in fourth overall, from the Saturday classification.

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Neuville cut a frustrated figure in service park given this is the fourth year in succession he has encountered problems on the Safari Rally.

“I don’t have a lot to say to be honest. Obviously, it was visible that the car wasn’t running and somehow we couldn’t solve the problems, so we continued the whole loop like this,” said Neuville.

“I’m really disappointed with the outcome when you put some much effort into that work and your preparations, and you don’t get the reward, and it is the fourth consecutive year we have been hit by trouble, it doesn’t feel very good.

Thierry Neuville, Hyundai World Rally Team

Thierry Neuville, Hyundai World Rally Team

Photo by: Fabien Dufour / Hyundai Motorsport

“We kept fighting and we will keep fighting but obviously we gave seven points to Elfyn and five points to Ott [Tanak], so that is a lot of points we miss out.

“It is not related to Safari, it is not a Safari-related issue, which is even more frustrating.”

Hyundai team principal Cyril Abiteboul added: “Thierry’s issue in the afternoon is something we haven’t really seen before, so we need to have a look at the data and the fuel tank to understand what is going on.”

Neuville will stand to pick up eat least eight championship points if he can finish Sunday’s stages, where a further 12 points are offer under the new-for-2024 points system.

Lappi explains bizarre double bird strike

Neuville’s team-mate Esapekka Lappi also encountered a myriad of issues ranging from punctures to run ins with the local wildlife.

In the final stage of the day Lappi’s i20N was struck by two birds in separate incidents which left his windscreen smashed. The impacts forced the Finn to crawl through the Sleeping Warrior stage due to poor visibility, while Lappi also struggled with debris entering his eyes.

«The last one [stage] was going well but we had a couple of birds and they were at different locations. One was just flying and I don’t know how big it was but [co-driver] Janne [Ferm] was sure it was going to come inside,» said Lappi.

«The windscreen cracked immediately and I could live with that it was not too bad but a couple of kilometres later there was another strike and now the windscreen was really inside [the car]. I couldn’t see anything anymore and we needed to slow down a lot as it was not safe to drive.   

«I still feel something [in my eyes] so I will need to go to see medical staff to try and wash them out.»



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Neuville reveals “MacGyver” style WRC Safari Rally car repair

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The WRC points leader suffered a right-rear puncture towards the end  of stage three after clipping some loose rocks at the side of the road.

Neuville pressed on in the hope not to drop too much time, before his tyre exploded in sight of the finish. The Belgian reached the stage end losing 19.9s but the remains of the rubber had ripped a hole in the right-rear corner of his i20 N Rally1.

Prior to the final stage of the loop, Neuville and co-driver Martijn Wydaeghe pulled over on a road section to enact a repair that included fashioning a device to clean dust from inside the car using a tree branch and a cloth.  

The pair were then forced to wear goggles to battle any dust that managed to creep inside the car while navigating through the final stage. The duo, without hybrid power, reached the finish sitting in sixth overall, 48.0s behind rally leader Kalle Rovanpera.

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“Three or four kilometres into the second stage of the morning loop we got hit by a puncture and then we tried to carry on as fast as we could,” said Neuville.

“Unfortunately, the tyre exploded 150 metres before the finish and destroyed the whole bodywork, so for the last stage we had do some MacGyver stuff to try and survive in the dust but in the end it wasn’t as bad as expected, and in the end we got through with no problem.

There was a lot of [road] cleaning this morning so there should be a little bit less disadvantage on that side but again there are lots of stones, so the risk of puncture is very high. I cross my fingers that we get through without problem,” he added when asked about this afternoon’s stages.

 

Neuville ended the morning loop only 4.9s behind title rival Toyota’s Elfyn Evans, who also endured a tough start to the rally. Evans battled understeer in his GR Yaris in addition to a slow puncture that occurred in the first stage of the day.

“It was not the rhythm or the feeling we hoped to have, let’s say,” said Evans, who intends to make tweaks to the set-up in midday service. “It was a tricky morning.

“It is mostly the feeling behind the wheel and the set-up, getting confidence to turn it is the big thing. But I think everyone has been saying the same thing, but it seems like I’m not dealing with as well as the others. We can be better I think.”

“We probably have to make reasonably small steps to hopefully improve it [the car] a bit. We are not going to revolutionise it over lunch time.”

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Neuville hopeful Hyundai has addressed WRC Kenya reliability woes

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The Safari Rally, which hosts the third round of the WRC season this week, is renowned as a car-breaker thanks to its unique blend of rough terrain and changeable weather.

It has proven to be a bogey event for Hyundai since the event returned to the calendar in 2021, with its only podium finish to date achieved by Ott Tanak finishing third three years ago. The last two editions have seen Toyota score a 1-2-3-4 lock-out while Hyundai battled mechanical issues.

Last year, Neuville suffered a suspension failure which ended hopes of victory as the Belgian recovered to finish eighth on the road, before officials excluded him from the event following a breach of recce rules.

Team-mate Esapekka Lappi was in podium contention but a trio of propshaft failures curtailed his rally, while Dani Sordo finished a distant fifth.

Hyundai has since addressed its reliability issues through a series of upgrades in the off-season, and has made a strong start to 2024, winning the opening two events in Monte-Carlo (Neuville) and Sweden (Lappi).

Championship leader Neuville believes Hyundai will head to Africa stronger than in previous years.

“I think so,” Neuville told Motorsport.com when asked if he thought Hyundai had resolved its reliability issues. “We have constantly improved, however Kenya has been a tough event for us and for all of Hyundai over the past years, so hopefully the fourth time we go there we should be reliable enough.”

Thierry Neuville, Hyundai World Rally Team

Thierry Neuville, Hyundai World Rally Team

Photo by: Vincent Thuillier / Hyundai Motorsport

Neuville said Hyundai’s pre-event test in Spain was productive, adding: “It wasn’t the greatest surface and conditions but at least we were running the car at altitude, so it was interesting to also work on those parameters of the car.”

This year’s Safari Rally reverts to a more traditional Easter date instead of the June berth that the event held since its return in 2021.

As a result, the rally will take place during Kenya’s rainy season, which increases the likelihood of changeable weather. To help combat the possibility of heavy rain, Rally1 cars will be able to fit snorkel devices following a change in regulations.

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When asked about the possibility of extreme weather, Neuville responded: “We expect it to be hot but wet. It could be less rough, but it could be more of a lottery due to the weather. If there is a lot of rain definitely, [snorkels will be crucial].”

Hyundai team principal Cyril Abiteboul added: “Safari Rally Kenya is a historically challenging event for us. The unique conditions increase the potential for cars to succumb to technical issues caused by the surroundings, meaning we have to focus on being robust and reliable first and foremost.

“We have made a strong start to the season so we must go to Kenya with belief in ourselves. It is the first gravel event of the 2024 season, making it somewhat a testing ground for the 2024 iteration of our car.

“Our performance last year showed promise, so we are hoping to take it one step further and leave Kenya with a podium finish as a minimum.”



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Neuville clarifies WRC future amid anger over FIA technical reforms

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The Hyundai driver has moved to clarify his future after comments made in an interview with AutoHebdo this week suggested this season could be his last. The championship leader is in the final year of his contract with Hyundai and is yet to put pen to paper on a new deal.

Neuville has previously told Motorsport.com that he would like to secure a new two-year deal and this view remains. The 35-year-old also clarified that the only situation where he could envisage himself retiring from the championship next year would be if Hyundai decided to pull out.

“I never said I want to retire but I think if a manufacturer pulls out, I will probably retire, that is what I said,” Neuville told Motorsport.com.

“This has been turned that way by the media. For sure if Hyundai decided to pull out, I would probably be retired, but not only me.»

When asked about the comments made last year about remaining in the championship for a further two years, he replied: “Yeah for sure [I would like to].

“I never said that I want to retire; I don’t know where that came from. I said that if Hyundai pulls out, I could be retired by next year for example and that is the truth.

“If Hyundai carries on, and they still want me, then I would like to carry on of course.”

The comments have arrived in the wake of the FIA releasing its vision for the future of the WRC. While Neuville is in favour of proposals to improve the event formats and the championship’s promotion, he strongly opposes plans to make changes to the Rally1 technical regulations for next year.

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

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

Photo by: Romain Thuillier / Hyundai Motorsport

The FIA intends to remove hybrid power from the Rally1 cars and further reduce the performance of the cars through changes to the aerodynamics and the air restrictor to bring them closer to the Rally2 class. The exact details of the proposed aero changes are yet to be confirmed by the FIA.

The world motorsport governing body then wishes to introduce new Rally1 regulations for 2026 based on the current Rally1 car concept. The cars are expected to incorporate a larger spaceframe chassis, produce 330 horsepower and will be capped at €400,000.

“To be honest it was a bit of surprise for myself and many others that is for sure,” Neuville added.

“I would prefer something stable until the end of 2026, and to use that time period now to plan something nicely for the future of the WRC, whatever it would be I don’t know.

“The question is simple; who is going to join the championship in 2025 and 2026 with the regulations we have now in a transition period that change basically every year? I don’t know.

“Why I ask this question is that if we change the regulation [for 2025], it will bring additional costs to the existing manufacturers who are spending millions and millions for more than 10 years.

“They now have to modify the car and, okay, there is the removal of the hybrid — but what is the cost of a hybrid when you have a budget of nearly hundreds of millions of euros? Removing around 15 hybrid kits, which is roughly two million euros per year, where is the difference?

“So why not keep something stable until [the end of] 2026 and use this period now to develop something for 2027? Call all the manufacturers and bring them round one table and ask them ‘Who is interested in entering the WRC?’

“Maybe out of 20 you will maybe see seven, and the seven that stay you ask them what they need. The conversation is then about budgets, amount of people, technology, what type of cars you want to promote. That is the question and then from there you start, and you find a common sense regulation that works for everybody.

“Creating the promoter group within the FIA, changes to event formats, bringing back remote service to be closer to the public and reducing hospitality costs, these are interesting points because these are changes that make sense. If the promotion is great and the return on investment is great nobody cares how much a WRC car costs.”

Neuville says the FIA’s working group had not reached out him or his fellow drivers for input regarding the future vision, which he feels would have been valuable.

“I just find it a bit of a shame that the decisions have gone against what the teams have asked for, and the teams were not really considered in the decision, and also the drivers were not either,” he said.

“With all the feedback we gave, very little has been heard. I have never ever had any contact with the new FIA working group.

“I’m not a manufacturer, but I am the driver leading the championship and I have been here many years, so maybe also I can give some feedback on what has changed over the years and what changes have had a more negative impact over the years.”

Watch: WRC Safari Rally Preview with M-sport’s Adrien Fourmaux

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