Neuville has not found top speed at any point during the competition, but despite this, the Belgian is in third place after Saturday and on track for the third-largest conditional points haul in the WRC.
“If we look purely at the positions, we have to be satisfied with the day,” Neuville admitted.
“We can smile a little now, but it was a long day. This was supposed to be the most enjoyable day of the rally, but somehow it wasn’t that enjoyable,” Neuville continued.
Hyundai has struggled with the car’s setup throughout the rally. For some reason, the car has not suited Neuville or any of the other drivers all weekend. However, the situation improved for the afternoon loop.
“I think nobody had a very enjoyable day in those conditions. We got at least a clean run on on our second pass with a bit more stable conditions,” Neuville assessed.
In terms of the championship battle, Neuville’s situation is favorable. His teammate Ott Tänak retired on Friday, and Elfyn Evans had to retire on Saturday evening.
We took a good step forward for the points compared to Ott and Elfyn and didn’t lose much out on a Sebastien either. So if we manage to finish tomorrow and get good points from Super Sunday, we can go home with a smile,” Neuville said.
Neuville has been dissatisfied with his car almost all weekend. So, is the team unable to provide Neuville with the car he needs?
“It’s team work. Somehow something is missing. We need to properly analyse first at all. It looks like all three drivers were missing the confidence and feeling to attack. And as soon as we tried there were mistakes. We saw it with Ott, and somehow I was clever enough to not try too much,” Neuville responded.
