Second in the general classification of the Rally of Croatia this Friday noon, 12.5 seconds behind the leader Kalle Rovanpera, Thierry Neuville was then, as he wished, in the fight for victory in this third round of the World Rally Championship.
First and second in the starting order, the two men took advantage of the very tricky and very rainy conditions (the road deteriorated sharply over the passages) to widen a big gap over their opponents…
But on the road, before arriving at the service park to refurbish his car, the engine of Thierry Neuville’s Hyundai refused to restart… And he had to, together with his teammate Martijn Wydaeghepush the car a distance of 800 meters.
The two men arrived completely exhausted at the check-in and received a 40-second penalty after checking in late. They are now in fourth place overall, 52.5 seconds behind Kalle Rovanpera.
“It’s probably an alternator problem, we’re still looking into it, has explained Julien Moncet (Hyundai Motorsport) at the microphone of Olivier Gaspard, RTBF’s special correspondent in Croatia. He had to push the car to get here and he clocked in late. They are incredible, now it’s up to us to show that we are behind them and to push as hard as they do. He is still in the game, it could have been worse: he could have given up, it could have been a disaster.”