When Thierry Neuville scored a sublime second place on Rally Finland 2013, beating all the Scandinavian drivers, nobody would have believed you if you had claimed that would be his only Finnish podium over the next decade.
But yet here we are.
Ten years on from that strong drive for M-Sport, Neuville is yet to finish higher than fourth in Finland for Hyundai – and has just one top five finish since 2016.
It’s a similar (albeit slightly less bleak story) in Estonia, where Neuville did sneak a podium in 2021.
But it’s certainly not unfair to say that the upcoming run of two fast rallies back-to-back aren’t good news for Neuville.
So what is it? Why are Estonia and Neuville so difficult for Neuville?
“I don’t know,” he told DirtFish.
“The cars have changed, the roads have changed. I remember back in 2013, I had a very good feeling in the car and it was just very simple for me to go fast.
“Since then it has been much more difficult, partly as well because I think the Toyota has been developed over there. They have been fast.
“It has been similar for Ott [Tänak] over the past couple of years with an exception of Finland last year where he was able to pull out a big hammer and did an incredible event.
“So to be honest, I don’t know, maybe the speed is better this year. At least I feel more comfortable in the car but is it going to be enough?
“We don’t know.”
Neuville will be dearly hoping it is enough, as he has a 47-point deficit to Kalle Rovanperä he needs to somehow overturn. And Rovanperä loves both events.
“We need to drive a lot of very sideways, and it’s not what I am particularly very good on,” Neuville added.
“You need to take a bit more risk as well at high speed which, yeah, you need to dare, but you need to feel the control and it’s something where I know I struggle a bit with.
There are a lot of Nordic drivers at the moment in the championship and they are all going to be fastThierry Neuville
“It’s in all the faster sections in any of the rallies I always lose but in all the technical sections I’m always very fast.
“So it’s not a secret, but we are working on it.”
As Neuville alluded to, he did at least have a positive test in Finland last week just before heading to the Goodwood Festival of Speed for two days.
“We had a good feeling on the test,” he confirmed, “me and my team-mates, we are all satisfied with the behavior and the handling of the car.
“So we hope that we decrease a bit the gap to our competitors on those fast rallies.
“EP was the first to test so we took over a couple of things he felt were beneficial to the car and I was able to confirm that, so that’s a good point. And generally I think all three drivers are on similar settings.
“A couple of things on the differential I took over from EP which I liked, so we’re going to see.
“We keep a positive mind and go ahead and see what’s possible.
“[But] I mean it’s no secret there are a lot of Nordic drivers at the moment in the championship and they are all going to be fast.
“So for me it’s a particular challenge – whether Estonia or Finland – and I need to be on it. I need to give my very best to have a chance to end up on the podium.”
If he doesn’t, Neuville’s title dreams may be on ice for another year.
“If we really want to keep our chances alive for the championship we need to beat Kalle by a big margin of points and that’s going to be very challenging,” he said.
“So we’re going to focus on doing our best. If we do the best possible result at the end of the event, we can be satisfied.
“Otherwise, we cannot.”
