The Belgian star for Hyundai drove strongly on Friday and Saturday, swapping the lead consistently with Toyota’s Elfyn Evans.
However, on the final day, Sunday, Neuville went off and finished third in the overall standings, behind rally winner Sebastien Ogier of Toyota and Evans.
Despite this, the WRC’s revised and utterly nonsensical points system ensured that Neuville collected a comfortable 19 championship points from Croatia, allowing him to continue leading the drivers’ championship. The driving error on Sunday, however, was a source of frustration for the Belgian.
“There’s definitely frustration,” Neuville commented.
“On the other hand, we were well rewarded from our driving on Friday and Saturday. Those were important points, and they made a difference,” Neuville said, referring to the conditional championship points distributed on Saturday.
Neuville received the maximum conditional points on Saturday.
“We were still the third-best performer, equal with the others and only losing one point to Ott (Tänak). So, we can’t say it was a disaster,” the Belgian summarized.
Neuville’s crash occurred on the third-to-last stage, special stage 18. Evans also went off on that stage.
“The stage was really tricky, but it happened. I tried my best to avoid it, but we were just far too late. When I got the pace note, I immediately hit the brakes. But the corner was also much tighter, and there was nothing I could do,” Neuville explained.
In the crash, Neuville’s Hyundai suffered minor damages. The rear wing was practically torn off.
“It’s a disaster. I didn’t expect it, but it was a disaster.”
Despite the problems, Neuville still maintained his lead in the championship. He now leads the drivers’ championship by six points over Elfyn Evans.
“I’m happy to still be in the lead. Happy to at least keep our advantage. It is no secret we all know that from Portugal on, it’s going to be tough for us, several rallies in a row. And yes, there are many difficult circumstances. It will be tough for us to score many points, at least on Friday and Saturday. Maybe on Sunday, we could be a bit better if we have a better road position,” Neuville anticipated.
“At least for Portugal, we are leading the championship and will be opening the road. We have Kalle (Rovanperä) and Sebastien in better starting positions,” Neuville considered.
Hyundai was able to develop its car in the right direction in fast gravel rallies last year, like in Finland. This gives the team at least some hope of success.
“The car has improved a lot, but I think we still have some work left to do. The Toyotas are very quick at such events, but like always, we keep trying.”
