Neuville struggled to find proper pace at any point, and on top of that, he was hit by punctures and technical problems.
The reigning world champion came away from the Greek heat empty-handed.
“I think you said it all. I have nothing to add, to be honest,” Neuville sighed.
But in the end, Neuville did have quite a bit to say.
“Honestly, I think we lost a good result here, especially due to the tyre issues, which for me are not only issues of functioning, but there was more to it than that,” Neuville said.
“Something has to be done better on that side, and it needs to be investigated a bit deeper. I’m not the only one—if I understood correctly, someone else had a similar issue. But that shouldn’t happen. It cost me a good result here this weekend,” he continued.
The new WRC tyre supplier Hankook’s tyres did not seem to cope well with the extreme heat and rough terrain in Greece.
“We had internal damage in the tyres, which obviously happened while mounting the tyres on the rims. And the tyre wasn’t even fine, so it just let go in the stage,” Neuville explained.
“In the end, there was no hole in the tyre, but just from compression, it was losing air all the time. Eventually, I had to stop and change it. So that’s not the level of the sport,” Neuville said bluntly.
