Neuville encountered problems on Friday’s sixth stage of the iconic rally. The Belgian driver overshot a corner, causing the rear suspension of his Hyundai to fail.
Although Neuville managed to finish the stage, his damaged car lost significant time. He then drove several minutes along a road section before stopping for repairs with his co-driver, Martijn Wydaeghe.
According to the rules, all four wheels of the car must rotate freely on road sections driven in normal traffic. In Neuville’s case, this condition was not met, as the left rear wheel was clearly not in proper working order.
The stewards noted that Neuville and Wydaeghe stopped after being informed by their team that the car was not fully compliant. The pair explained during the stewards’ hearing that they hadn’t realized the extent of the damage.
However, Hyundai’s team had assumed that the crew should have been aware of the issue. According to the ruling, the Belgian crew pulled over for repairs only after hearing from the FIA that one of the car’s wheels was not rotating freely.
Ultimately, the stewards imposed a €10,000 fine on Neuville. The penalty could have been harsher; he could have been disqualified from the competition. Typically, such a violation would have resulted in exclusion.
The stewards concluded that Neuville’s crew did not gain a competitive advantage from the incident, making a fine the appropriate sanction.
Neuville’s Rally Monte-Carlo has not gone smoothly overall. Heading into Sunday’s final three stages, he is in eighth place.
