The Hyundai driver, chasing his first world championship, lost power in his car during the final stage of the Friday morning loop. The issue persisted throughout the rest of the day, causing Neuville to drop far down the leaderboard to 15th place.
Despite the setback, Neuville’s championship hopes are not over. He holds a 25-point lead in the standings, meaning he needs just six points to secure the title. He could collect a few provisional points on Saturday, with many more points up for grabs on Sunday.
However, Neuville was in no mood to celebrate when he arrived at Friday evening’s service.
“We don’t know exactly what happened. But obviously I’m not happy, I’m disappointed,” Neuville admitted.
“But it is what it is. And two more days to come and they have to be excellent,” the Hyundai star added.
Neuville already had a strategy in mind for the rest of the weekend.
“We have to focus on tomorrow and Sunday. We have to grab some points. Tomorrow ninth or tenth position should be possible, and that’s the only thing we can hope for.”
“The rally is still long. We need to do our job and grab few points from this weekend. We’re going to do everything we can to make it happen,” Neuville emphasised.
During the evening service, the cause of Neuville’s issue was identified. Hyundai’s WRC program manager Christian Loriaux confirmed the problem was related to the car’s turbocharger.
“We’ve lost the boost pressure on the turbo. We don’t exactly know why, but we think we can fix it,” Loriaux explained.
Rally Japan continues on Saturday with seven special stages.
