Thierry Neuville says he feels “15 or 20%” after spending Friday night on the toilet – perhaps a legacy of working too much on the car in the sun.
Neuville ended Friday night fourth overall at Safari Rally Kenya, but told DirtFish in the media zone that he was feeling dehydrated.
On Saturday morning, before the start of the day’s first stage, he then revealed to DirtFish that both he and Martijn Wydaeghe had “spent a horrible night” feeling unwell.
Over the course of the morning loop, Neuville punctured and dropped two minutes but his pace was poor anyway, as he’s now fifth and five minutes off the lead.
“I’m maybe at 15 or 20%, I don’t know,” he said.
“I think we pushed too hard yesterday working on the car in full sun, I felt very bad yesterday night, the whole night couldn’t sleep, spending my time on the toilet and it doesn’t work any better this morning.”
Regardless of his health, Neuville described his morning as “tough”.
The world champion continued: “I tried to do my best and I was struggling like hell with the conditions, so I couldn’t make the car turn in on the rough sections. We will change the dampers [in service because] I was crashing through all the time, so many big hits and the speed wasn’t there.
“I’m trying to look a bit more after the car definitely, even though I was trying yesterday as well. But yeah, it’s just the conditions – in the muddy sections I have no control.
“Actually I’m just a passenger so I don’t want to take any risk.”
