Wydaeghe expects to be fit for Monte after Rally1 test smash

Neuville's co-driver has shared an update on his condition and broken collarbone

2021ACROPOLIS_FD_140

Martijn Wydaeghe expects to be fit for next month’s Monte Carlo Rally following his and Thierry Neuville’s terrifying testing crash last week in France.

Hyundai had been forced to reschedule the duo’s first meaningful run in the updated i20 N Rally1 – similar to the car they’re expected to rally in the 2022 World Rally Championship season – due to heavy snow, but once they did get behind the wheel on Saturday they suffered a big accident.

The car was pictured badly damaged, without several bodywork panels, resting in a stream. The cause of the accident remains unknown.

Both Neuville and Wydaeghe were taken to hospital on Saturday and were released that same day, but Wydaeghe’s shoulder had been injured.

In an update posted on social media on Tuesday, Wydaeghe confirmed that it was his collarbone that was broken and he had surgery to help recovery.

264666950_383484586899160_3783279827061174570_n

“Don’t worry I will have fully recovered in four weeks,” he wrote. “Thank you for all your kind messages of support and see you in Monte Carlo.”

The Monte Carlo Rally, the first round of the WRC’s new hybrid era, is six weeks away.

Neuville meanwhile got back behind the wheel of a car as soon as Monday, driving one of his LifeLive CrossCars.

He posted on an Instagram story: “The best thing to do after an accident is to jump back into a car. So I did, at the other side of the river…”

Comments