Thierry Neuville is only sixth in the Swedish Rally. — © Hyundai Motorsport / Fabien Dufour
After the first full day of racing in the Swedish Rally, Thierry Neuville is only sixth in the standings. The Hyundai driver, who started sick at the start, is almost 37 seconds behind leader and teammate Craig Breen.
Gert Vermersch
Last year, Neuville narrowly lost in Sweden to the later world champion, Kalle Rovanperä. It is therefore logical that the East Cantonner went to cold Umea with high expectations. But things went wrong during the final preparations for the second round of the world championship: Neuville had to miss the last test session with a high fever.
Even at the start on Thursday evening, the Hyundai leader did not feel very well, as witnessed by the cough and watery eyes. On Friday things went a bit better, but then the car didn’t seem to be able to follow. “The thing doesn’t seem to want to turn in,” said Neuville at the end of the morning loop. “The car is constantly understeering, and then it is difficult to develop speed.”
In the afternoon Neuville seemed to be able to pick up a bit more pace, but then he hit one of the many snowdrifts. Not bad in itself – just about every driver in Sweden sometimes pushes against the white walls – but the front bumper and spoiler of Neuville’s Hyundai did not survive the blow. The result: less downforce on the front axle and even more understeer. “Not the best day, no,” said Neuville with a shrug at the end of the day. “The damage to the front made it very difficult to set good times. Also, as second on the track, we didn’t have the best starting position. Nevertheless, we were still able to limit the loss of time relatively, we will see what happens next.”
Up front, Craig Breen (Hyundai) and Ott Tänak (Ford) fought an exciting duel. In the end it was the Irishman who was allowed to rest first, with 2.6 seconds ahead of the Estonian. On Saturday, 126 km awaits the WRC drivers. against the clock.