As leader of the World Rally Championship, it’s not unexpected for Thierry Neuville to be feeling somewhat pessimistic about his chances at this week’s Rally Latvia given the road-sweeping handicap he will be saddled with.
The Hyundai driver’s objective is clear: score more points than title rivals Elfyn Evans and Ott Tänak. But as always, he knows that’s going to be “difficult” with his Friday start position.
“Rally Latvia is going to be another challenging rally, and it is always more difficult when you are first on the road and the first to discover the conditions,” Neuville explained.
“We know the surface of the event is very similar to Estonia, maybe even a bit faster, but Poland has helped us to prepare for a fast rally after a series of slower, more technical events.
“We’ve been watching a lot of onboard footage from other championships to learn the characteristics, the itinerary, and start to get a feel for tire choices and setup.
“I’m mainly focused on my two main championship rivals and trying to take more points from them, but it will be difficult.”
Why? Neuville isn’t usually one you’d consider short of confidence, and after all he’s battled through his road position disadvantage before. But there’s a reason Rally Latvia is causing him particular cause for concern.
Unlike most events which follow what’s often referred to as a cloverleaf pattern – loops of stages repeated in the afternoon the other side of a service halt or tire-fitting zone – Friday at Rally Latvia comprises just two repeated stages from seven.
The Milzkalne (3.1 miles) and Tukums (17.1 miles) tests will both feature in the morning and afternoon, but Andumi (11.1 miles) will only run in the morning while Strazde (10.8 miles) and Talsi (12.75 miles) are exclusive to the afternoon. That means Neuville will face five stages (or 75% of the day’s mileage) in first-pass conditions which are traditionally hardest to sweep.
Neuville has grown accustomed to clearing a path for others this season
“The cleaning will be massive,” Neuville added.
“Some stages aren’t repeated, and a lot of fast part-time drivers will be there, so while our expectations are not so high our motivation to finish ahead of our rivals is strong.”
What of Neuville’s rivals?
Tänak isn’t exactly in a purple-patch of form right now – crashing spectacularly out of what was supposed to be his Latvia warm-up in Estonia, and retiring on the first proper stage of Rally Poland after an unavoidable collision with a deer.
But the 2019 world champion still took maximum Super Sunday points in Poland despite being the first car on the road, and is a renowned expert at high-speed and commitment events.
Tänak flew through Poland's Sunday stages
The Estonian has previous experience in Latvia too, although not since 2013. After two difficult results, he’s keeping his expectations measured.
“I like driving these types of profiles, but while I have competed at this event in the past I haven’t been there for over 10 years,” Tänak said.
“The roads are very similar to what we have seen in previous rounds such as Poland, where we had a very successful Sunday, and surface-wise it is comparable to our home event in Estonia.
“We weren’t able to demonstrate our full potential in Poland after our retirement on Friday, so hopefully Latvia will be a smoother ride. It is hard to say what to expect from the weekend but we will try to extract the most out of Rally Latvia.”
Elfyn Evans is Neuville’s closest rival in the championship, narrowing the gap to 15 points after Rally Poland.
Evans scored a confidence-boosting second place last time out in Poland
Although a puncture wrecked his shot at powerstage points, Poland was still a positive event for Evans as he finished second and exuded far more confidence than on the previous, slower gravel events in Portugal and Sardinia.
Being the unassuming character that he is, Evans was never about to declare his rally-winning ambitions to the world. But he is sounding assured that he can mount a strong challenge this week.
“I’m looking forward to seeing what Rally Latvia is all about,” Evans said. “On paper it could be quite similar in character to Rally Poland as another fast gravel event, but I’m sure that it will have its own specific challenges and we have to discover those and see the stages for ourselves.
“We had a pretty good feeling with the car in Poland and we hope to be able to carry that forward, and I believe we can still build upon what we learned that weekend.
“Hopefully we can continue our good momentum in the championship, enjoy the event and come away with some good points at the finish.”
