Last year, Neuville was crowned World Rally Champion for the first time in his career. The Belgian Hyundai star won the opening round of the 2024 season and never relinquished the championship lead after that.
This year has been a far more painful experience. The Hyundai driver has finished third on three occasions, but it has been almost a year since his last victory.
At last weekend’s Rally Finland, Neuville had to settle for sixth place, finishing behind all five Toyota drivers. His promising rally and hopes of a top result were shattered when he suffered a puncture and lost over a minute and a half.
The disappointing finish dropped Neuville a massive 51 points behind championship leader Elfyn Evans. Close behind Evans are Kalle Rovanperä, Sébastien Ogier and Ott Tänak – the top four separated by just 13 points.
Neuville’s task of defending his title is now almost hopeless, if not impossible – something the Belgian is well aware of.
“I passed that age where I would go home crying. But you always spend better holidays when you come home with a good result,” Neuville said bluntly on the official WRC website.
Neuville has every reason to be frustrated. Had he secured a strong result in Finland, his championship situation would look far better.
Instead, the puncture dropped him from second place to well out of contention – and it was far from his first setback with Hankook tyres this season.
“Everybody knows we deserve more as a team, as a crew. But things don’t go our way,” Neuville admitted.
“There’s not much more to say. The efforts are there; the motivation is there. The team is fully behind us and pushing hard. It just doesn’t go our way.
“There has been no rally except Sweden where we were trouble-less and still we got a couple of podiums this year. But other than that, lots of fighting and, yeah, trouble,” Neuville said, laying bare his frustrations.
