Everything seemed to be going in the best way for Thierry Neuville at the Rally Italia Sardegna: third position acquired, a pace as good as the first two (Ogier and Tanak), and an advantage so large over his rivals that it was unbridgeable. Not to mention the enormous performance difficulties that afflicted – and continue to afflict – Elfyn Evans.
Instead, things came to a head in Special Stage 8, the last stage of today’s morning lap. At kilometer 15 of Tula 2, Neuville approached a very slow right-hand bend too quickly and his braking efforts to avoid what turned out to be inevitable were of no avail.
The i20 N Rally1 crossed over and ended up with its rear wheels in a deep ditch, remaining stuck. Neuville and Wydaeghe couldn’t even count on the help of spectators, because in that spot – a wooded area, a narrow and curvy road – there was absolutely no one.
At that point it was the end for the World Championship leaders. An inevitable withdrawal at the worst possible time. And it doesn’t matter that it was the first big mistake of their season.
Once back at the Alghero Service Park, Neuville explained the reason for his retirement, what led him to the decisive mistake. He didn’t hide behind a finger, taking responsibility for what happened.
“Well, what happened out there… I was in a very tight, curvy part. Basically I lost concentration a little bit in the previous corner for a split second and… Then I immediately realized that right after there was a slow curve.”
Thierry Neuville, Martijn Wydaeghe, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1
Photo credit: McKlein / Motorsport Images
I had come out of a left-hand turn where, in the morning, I had thought I had done it too slowly. She was on my mind and I had to go faster. Except the next corner came shortly after and I was still accelerating. I wasn’t focused on what was coming next, which was the corner we came out of.”
“Once I understood the situation it was too late to brake effectively and stay on the road. I immediately realized that it would be very difficult to get out of that situation. We were stuck and from that moment it was basically over for us.”
“We found ourselves at a point where there were no spectators who could help us. There was no way to continue even though we had no damage to the car. We were stuck in the ditch.”
Neuville will now have no choice but to aim to take as many points as he can tomorrow, when Super Sunday and the Power Stage will guarantee a surplus of points that will be useful for him in the chase for the world title.
“Tomorrow we will certainly do everything we can to take the 12 points up for grabs from Super Sunday and the Power Stage. We will give everything, we will push as hard as we can to bring home all the points. This is the clear objective. And it will be the best thing we can do Do”.
#WRC #Neuville #apologizes #retirement #moment #deconcentration
