Thierry Neuville’s Rally Chile has been compromised by an unexpected drivetrain change after shakedown.
Neuville is fifth overall after the event’s first three stages, 14.5 seconds shy of the rally leader Elfyn Evans, but has described his Hyundai as a “nightmare”.
“It’s more [like] surviving,” the world champion said after SS3. “I feel like we are experimenting during the rallies and it doesn’t feel good. I can only use this setup from the differentials at the moment, so it is what it is. It’s a big struggle – it’s a nightmare.”
It transpires that Neuville’s ill-feeling has been caused by a change of drivetrain after Thursday’s shakedown stage when Hyundai had reliability concerns, but he is considering switching back to it for the afternoon loop.
Neuville told DirtFish: “Obviously we detected some issues with the drivetrain from the shakedown yesterday, and I was told I had to change for today on a much let’s say less locked drivetrain and I was spinning all through the stages this morning.
Neuville hasn't won a WRC event for over a year now
“It’s not what will work here so we’re checking now if I might be able to go back to the other drivetrain and see where it goes. If it breaks, it breaks. If not, we are lucky.
“We have to take some risks. I mean, I’ve not so much to lose.”
Neuville is without a World Rally Championship win in over a calendar year now, and trails the championship leader Evans by 48 points.
Asked how bad the issue was on the old drivetrain, Neuville added: “I don’t know. We were losing preloads all through the shakedown yesterday, all the time. I don’t know. I was told to change, now I’m told maybe it’s possible to go back, so let’s see.”
The Belgian has “not really” been happy with the rest of his car either.
“The confidence has to come from the car,” he said. “We know the roads very well. We know they’re tricky. We have done it many times. But if you don’t get the trust and the progressivity and the confidence you need to go fast, there’s no way to overdrive it. You will go off very quick.”
