The Hyundai driver started the event strongly and was leading the gravel rally midway through Friday. But then disaster struck.
The reigning champion clipped a stone wall on the penultimate stage of the opening day. That was the end of the road for Neuville—at least for that Friday.
He was able to rejoin the rally on Saturday, and on Super Sunday he managed to salvage five championship points. Even after the rally, however, the Belgian star was still puzzled by what happened on Friday.
According to Neuville, the cause of the poor result can’t be found by looking in the mirror.
“I’m very disappointed. I really believe we missed a lot of luck on Friday, to be honest. I still don’t know what went wrong,” Neuville admitted.
“It was a flat corner, and somehow I lost control of the car, went a bit wide, and took off the whole rear corner.”
After the retirement, there wasn’t much left for Neuville to fight for. On Saturday, he drove safely through the stages, and on Sunday, he pushed hard.
“Obviously, from that point on, only the Power Stage and Super Sunday counted for us. And considering our position, taking five points is not too bad,” Neuville said.
In the Sunday classification, Neuville finished fifth, and on the Power Stage he clocked the second-fastest time behind Toyota’s Kalle Rovanperä.
Hyundai’s WRC team has yet to win a single rally this season, while Toyota remains unbeaten with a 100% win record. Despite the challenging start, Neuville remains confident that Hyundai can bounce back.
The next round of the WRC season is the Acropolis Rally in Greece at the end of June.
“I hope for a strong weekend for the team. It’s what we really need—and deserve as well—because everybody is pushing hard now. We just haven’t turned the corner yet, but soon the wheel will turn, and we’ll be back,” Neuville said with optimism.
