Neuville mastered the complex points system used throughout the season and secured the first World Rally Championship title of his career.
But defending that title has proven unexpectedly difficult this year. With more than half of the season completed, Neuville sits only fifth in the drivers’ standings—already 48 points behind his Hyundai teammate Ott Tänak, who has taken over the championship lead.
Neuville admitted after Rally Estonia that the situation is far from ideal for him.
“48 points. So it’s still a lot,” he told RallyJournal.com
“But again, if we get a couple of good weekends in a row now, that would be nice. Challenging weekends ahead.”
In Estonia, Neuville hinted that he may have found something that could improve his performance in the upcoming rallies. Naturally, the Belgian is also hoping for error-free weekends—he can no longer afford any zero-point events.
“Hopefully we get some clean ones, and then we’re gonna see. I mean, consistency is the key point for us—but not only—we also need to score big points,” Neuville summed up.
Next week, Neuville aims for a top result at Rally Finland. While he hasn’t traditionally been seen as a specialist on fast gravel events, that perception has started to change in recent years. He finished third in Estonia.
“I think it’s my third or fourth podium here in Estonia, if I remember well,” Neuville pointed out.
“Obviously we have been massively struggling on fast rallies with Hyundai in the past. Since we are testing more in Finland as well, our car is more competitive on those roads where basically the Yaris has been built for many, many years now.”
“So we improved, definitely—and I was happy. I mean, if you take Oliver out of the game, I was very close to the top all weekend long. Things weren’t perfect. We have areas to improve, and hopefully we can work on that for the upcoming event,” Neuville previewed.
Rally Finland takes place from 31 July to 3 August.
