A frustrated Thierry Neuville has ignited a debate on the World Rally Championship road position rules, saying “there is no reward” for doing a “great job” to lead the championship.
The Hyundai driver’s frustration came to the surface at the end of stage eight at Rally Latvia after a day sweeping the gravel roads at the top of the road order, as per the regulations for being the championship leader.
Neuville ended the day in ninth 1m23.3s behind rally leader and part-time driver Toyota’s Kalle Rovanpera. The Belgian, who has opened the roads since taking the championship lead in Monte Carlo in January, had expected Friday to be the most challenging day of the season, given three of the seven tests were run only once and not repeated.
“I don’t know what to say. Obviously, the strategy to win the championship is not the same anymore,” said Neuville at the stage end. “Now things like doing a part-season are much more fun and a bigger benefit for everything, so it is something to think about.”
When asked by Motorsport.com if he stood by those comments directed at part-time drivers and the current road order rules, he added: “Yeah, definitely. I mean, why I should have the pain in the ass all weekend, all year long?
“I mean, we did a great job in the beginning of the year, and now there’s no reward at all. Basically, you see your championship going down. There’s nothing you can do and nothing you can fight against the others.
“We could have, whoever it is, Ott, Elfyn or myself, the winner of the championship at the end of the year winning maybe one rally.”
Thierry Neuville, Martijn Wydaeghe, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1
Photo by: Tomasz Kaliński
When asked what the solution should be for deciding the road order, he said: “It’s an endless discussion, so I don’t know what I should still add to it. It has been said many, many times. When [Sebastien] Ogier was opening the road there was some tarmac rally in the middle of the gravel rallies, and now we have eight gravel rallies in a row, what can you do?
“Even with a 40-point lead, there’s no way to keep those points, so we have to fight.”
The European Rally Championship, operated by the WRC Promoter, runs a qualifying stage where the fastest 15 drivers on the Qualifying Stage select their starting position for leg one with the fastest qualifier picking first followed by the remaining 15 drivers. A similar…
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