WRC leader Neuville: “There is still room for improvement” / WRC

Thierry Neuville will not have fond memories of the Kenya Rally. The Belgian was not spared technical problems with his Hyundai i20 N Rally1 and had a difficult weekend, finishing a distant fifth, far behind winner Kalle Rovanperä, who was untroubled in the Kenyan savannah.

But despite all the obstacles that championship leader Neuville suffered, the Hyundai driver showed a good performance in the end. Despite finishing in fifth place more than ten minutes behind the Finn, Thierry Neuville scored only one point behind Rovanperä (19 against 20). Even better, World Cup runner-up Elfin Evans scored three points below him despite finishing fourth in Kenya. This allowed Neuville to extend his lead at the top of the championship to six points ahead (67 vs. 61).

“It’s good to get more points,” stressed Neuville. “We have a greater leadership than when we arrived in Kenya. In a sense that is good, but we could certainly do better. Unfortunately we had some problems, but we still kept fighting. On Sunday we had the opportunity to collect many points and take eleven out of twelve. So we are happy with the second chance for the day. We would have liked to receive more, especially after three consecutive difficult years in Kenya.”

Thierry Neuville was beaten again by Toyota in Kenya and it was clear to him. All was not well for Hyundai as there is a new reliability concern in Kenya. “There is still room for improvement,” he continues. “However, we managed to extend our lead in the tournament and get a good position on the road to Croatia. Let this happen quickly.”