Neuville’s season has been difficult, marked by both bad luck and inconsistencies in his own performance. At this weekend’s Rally Finland, his aim is to finish on the podium – although he admits that victory might be a stretch.
In a perhaps surprising move, Neuville named Toyota’s Kalle Rovanperä as his favourite to win. While the Finn does have the advantage of competing on home roads, his pace on gravel this year has largely been missing.
“It’s hard to say, but it can be kalle or it can be Ott (Tänak) or it can be Seb (Sebastien Ogier). Yeah, it can be everybody. Actually, I would put my money on Kalle first,” Neuville said.
On Sunday, Rally Finland features two runs through the legendary Ouninpohja stage – and both include the use of a virtual chicane, designed to lower average speeds. While simple in theory, the system can cost valuable time if the braking zone isn’t hit precisely.
“It’s a nonsense. Especially the one they put in the stage. There we come flat out, we breake and we go again to the limiter before the next corner. So where’s the need? Maybe if it’s to slow down before dangerous corner,” Neuville scoffed.
“For me, the virtual chicanes make only sense if it’s like in Germany last year when there was a village crossing. And they don’t want us to drive fast in the village. They make a virtual chicane so we can reduce the risk of crashing into a house or whatever. But here in the middle of a long straight, where is the need? I mean, shakedown is the same. There’s no need for it.”
Neuville’s teammate Ott Tänak is widely considered one of the top favourites in Finland. However, Tänak’s chances are made more difficult by his road position on Friday – he’ll be the first car on the stage and will have to sweep loose gravel. On the other hand, thunderstorms and rain are in the forecast, which could play in his favour.
“I think it’s it what it is. We just need to make the best out of it so we know in sections it will it will be demanding, but we just need to take the best out of it and try to stay in the pace and fight for a good position for Saturday. And if we get that, then, I mean, we know the weather will be unpredictable and million things can happen,” Tänak said.
“I think we are okay. We managed to improve a bit since Estonia, where we were not feeling super comfortable in the car and then hopefully we’ve done some steps forward for this weekend and we hope to have a better feeling.”
