Neuville will be the first car on the road again in Latvia this coming weekend. Fast gravel rallies are not the Belgian’s favourite, and with the starting position disadvantage, Neuville is focusing on the overall picture.
Fortunately for the Hyundai star, the new WRC points system favours consistent and calculated driving. Neuville aims to stay as close to the lead as possible on the opening day, Friday, with the main goal of accumulating a significant amount of points on Sunday.
“Rally Latvia is going to be another challenging rally, and it is always more difficult when you are first on the road and the first to discover the conditions,” Neuville says.
“We know the surface of the event is very similar to Estonia, maybe even a bit faster, but Poland has helped us to prepare for a fast rally after a series of slower, more technical events.”
For Neuville, the Latvian rally is entirely new. Therefore, he has been spending a lot of time watching videos to get familiar with the stages.
“We’ve been watching a lot of onboard footage from other championships to learn the characteristics, the itinerary, and start to get a feel for tyre choices and set-up,” Neuville explains.
As stated, Neuville is not aiming for victory. His goal is to compete against his main WRC rivals, Toyota’s Elfyn Evans and teammate Ott Tänak.
“I’m mainly focused on my two main championship rivals and trying to take more points from them, but it will be difficult – the cleaning will be massive,” Neuville points out.
“Some stages aren’t repeated, and a lot of fast part-time drivers will be there, so while our expectations are not so high our motivation is to finish ahead of our rivals is strong.”
The Rally Latvia kicks off on Thursday morning with a shakedown. The actual competition starts on Thursday evening in the capital, Riga.
A total of 20 special stages are planned, covering around 300 kilometres.
