When Thierry Neuville had dragged his car out of a drainage ditch on Central European Rally, it seemed a knife-edge moment that could have sent the destiny of this year’s World Rally Championship drivers’ title in either direction had been settled.
Neuville dropped out of the lead battle but he could simply drive to the finish, collect a healthy points haul and head to Japan knowing he had a comfortable lead – which given the turbo problems which would strike on the season finale, ended up being crucial.
That’s how it seemed from the outside, anyway. But as one of Hyundai’s mechanics discovered when Neuville rolled into the Karpfham tire-fitting zone, all was not well on the underside of the i20 N Rally1.
We’re only learning this now for good reason – it was kept on Hyundai’s cutting room floor until today. But in its new end of season documentary, Never Just Win: The Making of a World Rally Champion, there are some new snippets in amongst a behind-the-scenes look at how Neuville clinched his maiden world title.
Anthony Barth, Neuville’s number one mechanic, recalled the moment they suddenly realized that without a proper midday service, Hyundai had to improvise to keep Neuville in the rally. And funnily enough, they copied a trick previously deployed by Toyota rival Elfyn Evans.
“One of my mechanics removed the sump guard on the front and looked at the cross-member,” said Barth. “He called me over and there was already a small crack on the cross-member.
“I remember that Elfyn Evans in Finland, he broke a toe arm on the rear and repaired it with a hose clamp and spanner. So basically we did the same – two hose clamps, one 14mm spanner and a prayer to God.”
In Hyundai’s 90-minute documentary effort, there’s plenty of interesting moments. Martin Järveoja explains the terrifying initial moments after Ott Tänak’s crash where he feared his injuries might have been much worse than they turned out to be, there’s onboard footage of Tänak encountering a fallen arch on Rally Latvia and an emotional Martijn Wydaeghe after Neuville’s Croatia shunt.
Hyundai’s documentaty can be viewed on its YouTube channel.
