Thierry Neuville is ‘glad’ his World Rally Championship season is ending after a mistake put him out of Sardinia on Saturday afternoon.
Although the 2024 world champion is the only non-Toyota driver to win a round in 2026, Neuville’s season has been a struggle – fighting his natural feeling and making mistakes, including a violent crash at the last round in Chile.
Neuville was leading the season finale overnight by 0.4 seconds over Hyundai team-mate Adrien Fourmaux, but lost the lead to the title-chasing Oliver Solberg by Saturday’s midday service.
I can only apologize. This season has been very tough and we are glad that now it's the last one.Thierry Neuville
Neuville started the afternoon 2.7s behind Solberg, but failed to make it beyond the first kilometer of SS11.
Explaining the mistake, which wasn’t aired, he said: “Yeah, very unfortunate mistake, obviously. The plan obviously was to fight with Oliver and bring home a victory for Hyundai.
“But we went into the stage and a few hundred meters into the stage, I recognized a stone in the inside of the corner which I know, but I thought I was a little bit close [to it].
“I opened a little bit the steering, I closed again, I lost the rear and obviously there was this tree and I took off the wheel. So it was an immediate finish for us.”
Neuville expects to restart on Sunday, where he confessed he’ll be glad to see the back of the season.
“We should be back tomorrow and just try to finish the day and be there for Hyundai to bring the car over the podium. So that’s the target tomorrow – nothing more than that,” he said.
“Obviously very disappointed for the team. I can only apologize. This season has been very tough and we are glad that now it’s the last one.”
