Resilience might as well be trademarked by Thierry Neuville. When he eventually hangs up the helmet, it’s his dogged determination that we’ll talk about as his special champion’s trait.
But that doesn’t mean emotions can’t spill over.
Having already lost the lead earlier on Friday to a puncture, the world champion did well to find the light.
“The rally is still long,” he said, vindicated by his decision not to stop and change when he saw he’d lost just 40s rather than close to two minutes.
“There will be much more punctures throughout the weekend.”
But little did he know he’d again be the next driver to suffer.
Tires have not been Neuville and Wydaeghe's friends this season
Arriving at the end of Acropolis Rally Greece’s fifth stage for 2025, he was agitated. Adrenaline, frustration and anger coursing through his body, he was animated at the stage-end. Battling the extreme heat, the moment got to him.
It’s easy to see why. With a 50-point deficit to the championship leader Elfyn Evans prior to the weekend, Neuville could ill afford yet more setbacks if he’s to retain the #1 on his car.
“I feel comfortable in the car – if that is something positive at least! It’s the only thing I can take into the day tomorrow,” he told DirtFish at the end of Friday.
“It’s been a dark day for us, honestly. We got hit by a hammer twice in a row. And it was difficult to stand up after that.”
But not impossible. That word doesn’t feature in Neuville’s dictionary. However the frustration was obvious.
“Obviously, we lost 2m40.4s and we are 2m38.3s behind the leader. So you don’t need to be that good in math to know that we could be in the lead of the rally today. But that’s what it is.
“We tried to catch back some positions tonight. Again, we finished two tenths behind Kalle overnight, which obviously with a better start position tomorrow could have brought us 10, 15, maybe 20 seconds better throughout the day with a better road position. Just things are not going our way at the moment.”
That’s a nod to the wider championship picture.
He continued: “Overall, I mean, we are really trying hard and things don’t come together. So it’s tough, definitely. We put a lot of hard work into the championship, trying to improve where we can.
“We’re still fighting a bit, like I said, with the tires. Obviously, I beat my record of punctures for the whole season on only seven or eight rounds. That has never happened before. I think, actually, I beat the record already with only Kenya Rally with eight punctures on one rally. It’s a pure lottery and it’s not fun.”
Asked if the main frustration then was that external factors are blighting his progress, Neuville responded: “Partly, yeah, partly. Things are not going our way.
“We have done some small mistakes, of course, but yeah, here clearly things don’t go our way. We will see tomorrow. I don’t know what will be possible from our position, but definitely things are going to happen. Hopefully we’re going to stay trouble-free this time and we will see.”
Hankook ‘understands’ Neuville’s frustration
Neuville was far from the only driver to puncture on Friday.
Hankook's Steve Cho welcomes Neuville's feedback
Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta and Kalle Rovanperä (who end the day 4.0s and 0.2s ahead respectively) were also forced to stop and change a wheel, as was M-Sport’s Josh McErlean – while the Irishman’s team-mate, Mãrtińš Sesks, elected to carry on with his damaged tire.
That raised the question: were the tires fit for purpose today?
Hankook spokesperson Steven Cho told DirtFish: “It was a tough day, we knew it would be challenging and it definitely proved to be so. I think overall, it was about as challenging as we thought it would be.
“We knew we would have some punctures. We knew we would have some of these issues. They came all at once due to the water pipe and the concrete [on SS2/4 Aghii Theodori], so that was difficult to watch. It was interesting.
“But I think with a little bit of analysis and some debrief from the guys, I think we can say that the results were within where we expected.”
Can Hankook understand Neuville’s frustration?
“Yes, absolutely. We take the feedback from all the world champions that we have here. Usually the world champions give you the hardest feedback as well. It’s been very valuable for us.
“It’s unfortunate that he’s had those kind of punctures. We’d have to look into each one of them to understand what is driving that. But it’s true, I mean, for us, in motorsports, you can’t stand still. And so I think we’ve had a good start.
“But we’re now already buckled down, thinking about the future, how to get better, where are we going to make those improvements. We have to be careful, of course, how we dial up and dial down, because everything normally comes with another compromise as well. So fully understand the frustration.
“Tires are such a massive part of the package, as you know. So from driving characteristics and all these sort of things, a lot of adaptation has to be done. So fully understand the frustration. And again, you know, we take on the feedback for sure.”
