The defending World Champion was leading the rally at the start of the afternoon loop, but disaster struck on the penultimate stage of the day. The Belgian star hit a stone wall at high speed, damaging his Hyundai and forcing him to retire.
“Unfortunately this was not what we were looking for. But the smallest mistake paid cash,” Neuville lamented.
“I lost the front in the entry of a flat corner, a really flat corner. I had to correct my line, and there was a stone ten centimetres from the line which ripped off our rear suspension,” the Hyundai driver explained.
Neuville had successfully navigated the same section in the morning. However, after the first pass, he made one change to his pace notes — and that may have sealed his fate.
“On the first run, I was close to flat, and that’s why I marked it as flat for second pass. I guess the other drivers took it flat. I just lost a bit the front and at that speed those little margins, we paid cash.”
Neuville entered Rally Sardinia fifth in the championship standings. His gap to the leaders will now grow significantly by the end of the weekend, as he will not score points from the final classification.
But the Belgian still has one lifeline. He’ll be able to rejoin the rally on Saturday, and on Sunday, a maximum of ten championship points will be available if he sets the fastest time on the final Power Stage.
“Let’s see and try to get a bit more mileage. We will check the car is working fine tomorrow. And then Sunday, of course I try to give our best. It won’t be easy with a bad road position, but we’re going to try,” Neuville said.
Rally Sardinia continues on Saturday with six special stages.
