Thierry Neuville clinched the victory of the “long race” by finishing Saturday 4.9 seconds ahead of Toyota’s Elfyn Evans. However, Neuville still needs to navigate through Sunday’s four special stages, where additional points are up for grabs.
“It was pretty impressive today once again. Or he was impressive already yesterday. It’s clear that he wants to win. He prepared very hard,” Abiteboul commented.
“We’ve made a step in a good direction on all three cars, which just confirms that we were not where we needed to be yesterday in terms of setup. And it was very interesting because the comments of all three drivers were very similar yesterday. So I’m pretty pretty satisfied actually.”
Abiteboul lavishly praised his Belgian star, who has had a strong start to the season.
“You can see that he’s on it. He’s at one with the car, he’s playing with it. He’s even gambling with his co-driver. It’s really good to see,” Abiteboul praised.
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The team boss trusts that Neuville will strike hard on Sunday as well.
“It’s going to be again very tricky. It looks like the weather should be dry. I think it’s going to be another big push from him. When you feel good with the car, it’s better to keep on with the same pace,” Abiteboul reflected.
“We’ll talk this evening to get on the right approach for tomorrow.”
