The defending world champion approached a right-hand hairpin bend far too fast during the sixth special stage of the rally. The speed was clearly excessive, the tyres locked up during braking, and Neuville ended up in the ditch.
In the incident, Neuville’s left rear wheel buckled, causing the Belgian star to lose nearly two minutes. Based on video footage of the situation, Neuville made an obvious driving error by entering the corner at excessive speed. However, Neuville was not entirely willing to take full responsibility for his mistake.
“I was working on the car and just driving as good as I could bring it home. I expected more grip from the tyre. I never built up grip, and I slide down all the way,” Neuville said.
“So at the end, we were too fast for the corner.”
Fortunately for Neuville, he managed to repair his car and limp back to the service area. The two-minute loss was ultimately a minor setback, as a complete retirement had also been a close call.
“The brake disc was damaged and it was basically locking the wheel, so I had to remove everything to get the wheel free and turning again,” Neuville told.
Neuville is in ninth place in the rally, just under two minutes behind Toyota’s Elfyn Evans, who leads the race. On Friday, three more special stages will be run in the Rally Monte-Carlo. The competition concludes on Sunday.
