The championship-leading Neuville had climbed to second place in the rally on Saturday morning, but in the afternoon, he had to give in. Reportedly, a fuel system issue in his Hyundai caused the Belgian to fall to fifth place, nearly 12 minutes behind rally leader Kalle Rovanperä.
The setback came at a bad time, as the first provisional points under the new points system were distributed based on Saturday night’s results.
“I don’t have a lot to say,” Neuville shook his head.
“It was visible that the car wasn’t running, and somehow we couldn’t solve the problem. I’m really disappointed with the outcome. You put so much effort into your work and your day, and you don’t get a reward.”
Toyota has dominated the Safari Rally in recent years, and this time again, the Japanese manufacturer is on track for a double victory before the final day. For Hyundai and Neuville, the Kenyan round has been painful.
“It’s the fourth consecutive year we’ve been hit by trouble, so it doesn’t feel very good.”
“We kept fighting, and we will keep fighting. But obviously, we gave away seven points to Elfyn (Evans) and five points to Ott (Tänak). That’s a lot of points we missed out on,” Neuville stated.
Neuville claimed eight championship points from Saturday night. With a maximum of 12 points still up for grabs on Sunday, Neuville still has a chance to score well in Kenya.
“Tomorrow is also a challenging day. We still need to get to the finish, but for sure, we’re going to push.”
