Thierry Neuville threw away a possible first win of the season with an accident: New leader in Ypres is Ott Tänak
Bitter end for local hero Thierry Neuville: The Belgian has thrown away a possible victory at the Ypres Rally in Belgium with an accident on Saturday’s 15th stage. By then, the Hyundai driver had opened up a 17.2 second lead over his team-mate Ott Tänak and was in the lead.
Neuville had won three of the previous six stages on Saturday and was on his way to his first win of the season when his i20 N understeered in a tight left-hand bend and Neuville slid into a ditch.
Spectators were still trying to push the car back onto the track, but the Hyundai had sustained too much damage to the right front area, forcing the Belgian and co-driver Martijn Wydaeghe to park on a service drive and end the rally.
Neuville caught on the wrong foot
Neuville is already the second high-profile retirement on Saturday, after Craig Breen (M-Sport) drove into a ditch on the tenth stage and overturned, after which the stage was abandoned. On Friday, world championship leader Kalle Rovanperä had already been hit.
“It was actually a very easy slow left-hand bend and there was no information that it could be dirty, and even when the gravel crew went through it seemed quite clean,” Neuville said.
@ypresrally has bitten again, this time it is rally leader @thierryneuville who has been forced to retire YpresRally WRC WRCLive
– WRC – FIA World Rally Championship (@OfficialWRC) August 20, 2022
“But unfortunately, when we arrived, there was a lot of dust in the corner and that was clearly visible in the pictures. I just understeered into a ditch,” said the Belgian. “The conditions are not what we expected because on the first run the corner was clean. I guess a couple of cars in front of us went very hard into the corner and kicked up a lot of dust and we got caught out.”
“I felt a thump as we went into the ditch and a strange noise so I suspected something was wrong and unfortunately the steering was damaged so we couldn’t continue.”
Although he admitted there was “nothing he could have done at that moment” to avoid the accident, Neuville believes in hindsight that turning the car around before it slid into the ditch could have saved his rally. “I think we were going well and the approach was good. It felt like a big surprise to me and there was nothing I could do.”
“Maybe I should have spun, but you always try to keep going and not lose time. But unfortunately it would have been better to spin the car and only lose a few seconds than to go into the ditch. “
Tänak in the lead
The biggest beneficiary is team-mate Ott Tänak, who ends Saturday in the lead. The former world champion has an 8.2 second lead over Elfyn Evans (Toyota) and his teammate Esapekka Lappi, who is third, 1:09.8 minutes behind, after the 16th stage.
Fourth is Hyundai driver Oliver Solberg (+2:51.6) ahead of M-Sport’s Adrien Fourmaux (+3:05.9) and Toyota’s Takamoto Katusta (+5:39.3).
Former Formula 1 driver Jos Verstappen, who makes his World Rally Championship debut in Belgium in a Citroen C3, is in 63rd place after 14 stages. He is more than half an hour behind.
On Sunday, four more stages are scheduled to conclude the Rally Belgium.
