Hyundai Motorsport’s Thierry Neuville admits he is aware of the need to score big on Rally Italia Sardegna following an indifferent start to his World Rally Championship campaign.
The Belgian lost ground – and points – on last month’s Rally de Portugal when a turbo problem robbed his i20 N Rally1 car of crucial power for the Sunday leg and dropped him from third to fifth at the end.
Insisting that disappointment is now firmly behind him, Neuville is looking to strike back with a solid result on the Mediterranean island this weekend as he currently finds himself languishing down in fifth in the overall standings on 68 points.
A two-time winner of the meeting in 2016 and again in 2018, a third success for Neuville would come at the perfect moment having so far failed to triumph over his Rally1 rivals in the first five rounds of this season.
“We don’t look back, we look forward,” said Neuville, who was in the ballpark during shakedown this morning. “The target is to have a strong event – for the Championship it is important for us to take the maximum points.
“It won’t be an easy task with the weather conditions, and it is going to be a long rally, but the target is to enjoy it. If we enjoy it, the performance will be there.
“Our target is to deal with the conditions as best we can and fight hard for a good result. Portugal was a tough weekend for us,” he continued.
The punishing nature of Sardinia’s roads will ensure any frailties with the squad’s car will quickly be exposed, but both Neuville and Team Principal Cyril Abiteboul are sure the reliability issues that arose at Rally de Portugal have now been addressed following an investigation.
But questions marks continue to hang over Neuville’s relationship with the car on gravel, with ride and handling known to present him with a headache. However, he reckons his team-mates – series veteran Dani Sordo who is twice a Rally Italia Sardegna winner, and new-for-2023 signing Esapekka Lappi – could hold the answers.
“I had a different set-up from Dani and Esapekka [in Portugal] – that is why we think it is one of the reasons why I was struggling with traction and car balance,” said 34-year-old Neuville.
“Switching my car to similar settings to those of my team-mates should be beneficial in the quest for improved performance and I am already looking forward to putting this to the test.”
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