Neuville appears to be the only driver on the team who won’t get to compete in a test rally before the upcoming Rally Latvia in a couple of weeks. Meanwhile, Ott Tänak will compete this coming weekend in the Estonian ERC rally, and Esapekka Lappi is gaining experience after a long driving break on 12th-13th July in Lithuania.
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“I try to find a solution to get some more mileage on fast roads somehow. I don’t know, if it’s possible, but would be good,” Neuville said to RallyJournal.com.
Hyundai introduced a new engine mapping for their car in Poland, but according to Neuville, it was too early.
“If I could get a bit more comfortable with the car on those roads with this new mappings and so on. A lot of struggle this weekend, but mainly the cleaning, of course.”
“Latvia seems to be even more tough. Five stages on the first day with only one pass. So there’s no no way actually to recover. But we’ll go there with a lot of motivation and do the same as we did here.”
It’s at least clear that Neuville won’t be able to get on Hyundai’s test track in Central Finland’s gravel roads before the Latvian rally.
“The last test In Finland was on 1st of February in the snow. The second last has been cancelled. And the other one, it was only for Andreas (Mikkelesen) and Ott. I definitely need more time on those fast roads to be more comfortable in your time.”
“I have nothing, but I’m gonna try to find a solution to get some more driving on.”
Neuville’s situation seems peculiar. The Belgian leads the championship and is chasing his first world title, so one would expect the team to offer its long-time star the best possible conditions for the upcoming rallies.
Reportedly, Tänak and Lappi’s test rallies were agreed upon well in advance. With such a short timeline, it’s unlikely that a test opportunity will be found for Neuville before the Rally Latvia.
