After eight rounds, Neuville finds himself only in fifth place in the championship standings. He is already 48 points behind his team-mate Ott Tänak, who currently leads the series. The Belgian has only made it onto the podium in the recent Rally Estonia, as well as earlier in the season in Sweden and Kenya.
Alongside Toyota driver Kalle Rovanperä, Neuville has been one of the most vocal critics of the WRC’s new tyre supplier, Hankook. Neither world champion has managed to feel comfortable with the Korean manufacturer’s gravel tyres.
However, Neuville’s pace in Estonia was already on a good level. And since the gravel rally in Finland is very similar, the Belgian’s confidence is now the highest it has been in a long time.
“We have some positive momentum from our podium in Estonia, and we want to finish on the top steps again in Finland,” Neuville emphasises.
“Rally Finland is a special event. I consider Finland to be the home of rallying because it has some of the greatest roads that you can drive a rally car on. It’s not the most technical event, but it has very fast stages and a lot of blind corners.”
Neuville highlights the unique nature of the route, a sentiment echoed by many other drivers. Rally Finland’s “Super Sunday” has been revamped for this year, featuring only two runs of the legendary Ouninpohja stage. It promises a spectacular finale, as the jump-filled Ouni is a stunning climax to the event with drivers fighting tooth and nail for both Sunday points and Power Stage points.
“We’ve been competing here for many years, so we know what to expect, but you always want to be in the fight there,” Neuville sums up.
“With just two runs of Ouninpohja on Sunday it’s going to be a pure sprint, so we need to make sure we know the roads as best as we can – we’ll be flat out”
Rally Finland gets underway on Thursday evening with the legendary Harju spectator stage. In total, the rally features 20 special stages, covering just over 300 kilometres.
