Neuville will take on the role of road-sweeper on Friday’s stages in this gruelling gravel rally. The Belgian has been rock solid in the WRC this season. Five events have brought one win and two third places. Neuville has consistently secured big points in every event, particularly excelling in the Sunday stages.
“Rally Italia Sardegna is a very technical rally, so we need to have a faultless drive across the weekend. We need really accurate pacenotes and a good setup.”
“The difference in stages between the first and second pass can be huge, so we need to be able to adapt the car to those changes as well.”
Although this year’s Sardinia event will be run in a new sprint format, there will still be 16 stages and almost 270 special stage kilometres. Especially Saturday will be a very long day of driving.
“The heat, tyre wear and length of the days are some of the biggest challenges we face throughout the event. This paired with the little amount of sleep we get due to long road sections makes it a unique challenge.”
Neuville admits that a win might be too ambitious given his starting position. Therefore, he will focus on optimising his points haul once again.
“Our approach to the weekend is the same as usual: we will be pushing for the best possible result considering the conditions, car and other important factors that can influence a rally,” Neuville reflects.
“There’s no pre-event test and shakedown is not representative at all of the remainder of the rally, so that will be the biggest obstacle for us. However, we will work to overcome this and bring home the best result possible.”
