On the other hand, the Belgian didn’t have high expectations for the rally, as he had to clear the road as the first car out. In the end, he secured points for a sixth-place finish on Saturday night and collected a total of eight points on Sunday.
Particularly, winning the Power Stage at the end of the rally lifted Neuville’s spirits.
“I struggled to find good setups. We were able to make some changes on Sunday. I got a bit more speed and obviously I was concentrating on the Power Stage. The other guys were involved in a fight for victory, and Ott (Tänak) was taking much more risks than us,” Neuville said.
“I had to balance the risks throughout the day and push hard in the Power Stage. It was nice to get the fastest time.”
Neuville had some regrets about Saturday in particular. Neuville lost two World Championship points by finishing 0.1 seconds behind debut driver Martins Sesks, who took fifth place.
“It was not our weekend. It’s very challenging being first on the road, and Friday was a real struggle for us. Balancing between the risks we could take and the speed we had to go didn’t work out as we had hoped,” Neuville told.
“But in the end, we take some points from the weekend and look forward to what’s coming, even if it will not be much more interesting for us.”
Neuville must keep in mind in every race that the World Championship battle cannot afford any interruptions. He already suffered one statistical defeat in Sardinia at the beginning of June, so it’s quite a balancing act.
“There was no reason to push more than what we felt comfortable with considering we were first on the road on Friday and didn’t have great conditions on Saturday,” Neuville summarised.
“There was no real chance for us to work on the setup, so I just had to follow my gut and push hard.”
