That might be hard to believe when listening to the post-stage comments from the team’s drivers. Adrien Fourmaux, currently second overall, felt he deserved to be leading, while Thierry Neuville – already out of the victory fight – was fuming about his continued bad luck.
“Today was a really positive day. But I think we deserve to be winning – leading tonight,” Fourmaux said bluntly.
“I think we need to get some time back on these two from this morning. I don’t know why it takes so much time to get it back, but actually, it was a really good day for me,” he added.
Fourmaux was referring to the time he lost in the dust kicked up by Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta, which cost him ground to his teammate Ott Tänak and Toyota’s Sébastien Ogier. Fourmaux revealed that Hyundai has submitted a protest and is hoping to receive a time correction.
“We are awaiting the answer,” he noted.
Fourmaux estimated he lost a considerable amount of time behind Katsuta.
“I think we lost more than 10 seconds. But even if it’s five, six, or seven – it’s something, you know,” he said.
Meanwhile, Thierry Neuville suffered punctures and was visibly frustrated throughout the day. He currently sits seventh overall and, to make matters worse, was beaten by Toyota’s Kalle Rovanperä by two-tenths of a second on the final stage – giving Neuville a less favourable starting position for Saturday.
“It’s been a dark day for us, honestly. We got hit by a hammer twice, you know, and it was difficult to stand up after that,” Neuville admitted.
Neuville also felt that he should be leading the rally.
“We don’t need to be that good at math to know that we could be leading the rally today. But that’s how it is. We tried to catch up some positions tonight. Obviously, again, we finished two-tenths behind for the night, which would’ve been a better starting position tomorrow. With a better road position, we could’ve gained 10, 15, maybe 20 seconds throughout the day. So things just aren’t going our way at the moment,” he said.
The reigning champion also pointed out that he has broken one of his own records this season – although it’s not one he’s proud of.
“I’ve broken my personal record for punctures in a single season – and we’ve only done seven or eight rounds. That’s never happened before. I think I already broke the record just in Kenya, with eight punctures in one rally. So it’s a pure lottery – and it’s not fun,” Neuville said with frustration.
Despite everything, Hyundai’s day ended on a high note as Tänak claimed the rally lead during the Friday afternoon loop. He now leads by three seconds over Fourmaux. Ogier trails the lead by nearly 17 seconds.
