Thierry Neuville starts again in Rally Japan, despite hopeless position: “Do this for the team”

In full battle for victory, Thierry Neuville slid off the track on Friday afternoon. “Luckily there wasn’t too much damage to the car and the team was able to get my car ready for the day. I felt comfortable in the car,” said Thierry Neuville in the media zone.

Neuville can’t do much anymore. The battle for second place in the final standings has been settled and scoring World Cup points is no longer an option, except in Sunday’s power stage. “We do this for the team so that they still have two cars in the race. Although I must say that from our position we cannot do much. We could experiment a bit with the tires here so the team can use that info. But the weather here this year is so exceptional that it seems unlikely to me that we will experience such conditions again next season. Today it was still a bit slippery, but we were able to manage those conditions well. The only thing we have to remember today is that the speed was there. We’re looking forward to another long day tomorrow.”