Neuville arrived four minutes late for the sixth special stage and received a 40-second time penalty.
Evans suspected that the Belgian might well have been employing tactics, as the first car’s position in difficult conditions is always particularly challenging. Due to the delay, Evans had to act as the snowplough for Friday’s final stages.
“I don’t know exactly what was happening, but if it was indeed intentional, then I think we need new strategies,” Evans responded to the situation.
Neuville, starting after Evans, beat the Welshman on the next three special stages. The difference in starting position was apparent.
“Of course, when the conditions are this extreme. But you know, they lost 40 seconds there and only gained back 20 seconds, so…”, Evans said.
Neuville, for his part, claimed that it was a technical problem that had troubled him all afternoon, thus, according to him, there was no question of tactics.
“After the service, the car wouldn’t start before the stage. It didn’t work as it should, and we had to restart it. However, we couldn’t get it started again, so that’s why we arrived late,” Neuville stated.
Neuville was not at all ignited by the speculation that he had been playing tactics.
“That’s Elfyn’s concern. He’s entitled to his opinion if he wants. But there’s no reason to be suspicious,” Neuville retorted.
