Thierry Neuville has revealed to DirtFish that a differential setting issue is costing him time on Rally Finland’s stages on Saturday, but he’s confident it won’t cost him fifth position.
Neuville inherited fourth after Craig Breen’s retirement on SS12 on Saturday morning, but moved ahead of Takamoto Katsuta across the morning, holding a 5.2-second advantage.
But while the Hyundai driver has had a reasonable morning, he’s not entirely comfortable with the differential settings on his car.
Normally, the team would be able to make the necessary adjustments in the service area, but that won’t be the case for Neuville after an issue was discovered.
“Unfortunately the diff settings I have on yesterday, I can’t choose anymore today, due to some leakage,” Neuville explained to DirtFish.
“We went to go back to the settings from yesterday morning which I don’t feel so comfortable.”
The issue isn’t a rally defining one for Neuville, but he admits that the setup he is now running will cost him time, especially on the fast sections of Finland’s stages.
“It’s a different driving. I like when I feel the front pulling away and pointing to the direction I steer.
“It’s a bit more neutral now and hard to get the feedback, but it won’t make a big difference.
“The rhythm we are going now, we easily lose in every flat out section a bit of time.
“But it’s not a worry because now Katsuta is behind and we need to keep him behind. That’s the main goal.”
And his response when asked if he’s confident of keeping Katsuta at bay?
“It should work, yeah.”
