Neuville wants monkey off his back in Finland

Title-chasing Thierry Neuville says that he is prepared to go all-in for victory over the closing two days of Secto Rally Finland.

Neuville has never visited the top step of the podium at the high-speed gravel fixture before – and he recognises this weekend could be his best ever chance of getting that monkey off his back.

He starts Saturday less than seven seconds behind overnight leader Elfyn Evans, who inherited top spot when his Toyota Gazoo Racing team-mate Kalle Rovanpera crashed and rolled on the day’s antepenultimate test.

That allowed Neuville to gain another position having done so earlier on Friday when M-Sport Ford’s Ott Tanak was forced to retire his Puma Rally1 with what the Estonian described as a “dead” engine after damaging the sump guard on bed rock.

Currently third in the World Rally Championship standings, a victory for Neuville would potentially move him ahead of 2021 Rally Finland winner Evans if the latter finishes runner-up and claims less than four points on Sunday’s Power Stage.

“Now we have no choice,” was Neuville’s honest assessment looking ahead. “Kalle – one of our main contenders – is out and Elfyn is also in front of us in the Championship. We are fighting for a victory and we are going to go for it.”

It was not a perfect Friday by any stretch of the imagination for Neuville who accidentally slowed before the flying finish boards on stage seven after a lapse in concentration and again on the next stage when fans waved him to slow down 800-or-so metres away from the scene of Rovanpera’s crash.

Despite these hiccups, he was generally satisfied with his work. “The day was good; I don’t think I have been in a position to fight for a win in Finland before,” he said.

“It was very challenging – lots of grip changes – but we kept it all under control. We worked a bit on the car to find more speed, but we could see the Toyotas were faster. We had to keep our rhythm and make no mistakes. Tomorrow, we are going to push even harder.”

While Hyundai Motorsport Team Principal Cyril Abiteboul believes Neuville and even Rally1 newcomer Teemu Suninen – fourth overall, 28.8s behind Evans –  are “in the hunt for the rest of the rally”, he added: “We have seen today that things can change very quickly. We need to stay really focused on the job at hand.”