Thierry Neuville says he cannot afford to cruise through the Rally Japan’s final leg to secure a maiden World Rally Championship title following a stirring Saturday fightback.
The WRC points leader started Saturday outside the points-paying positions in 15th after Friday’s costly turbo failure dashed hopes of a relatively comfortable run to score the six points required to seal the crown.
Neuville anticipated he could recover to ninth after Saturday’s seven stages, only to eclipse the target with seventh position, which carries four valuable points if he finishes the rally on Sunday.
The impressive drive under significant pressure means the five-time WRC runner-up only needs to pick up two points from a maximum 12 available from Super Sunday to clinch the championship.
While Neuville’s focus will be on securing the drivers’s title, he could have a role to play to help Hyundai seal a first manufacturers’ crown since 2020, which means it’s likely he will be required to push.
“I’m not sure we can cruise, because everybody will be pushing for the manufacturers’ title. Andreas [Mikkelsen] will be back in the game and [M-Sport’s Gregoire [Munster] had some great speed today, so I still need to drive fast tomorrow,” Neuville told Motorsport.com.
“Obviously I would be relieved if I didn’t need to push hard for the Power Stage, so if I can be in the top five in the Sunday classification that would be good.”
Thierry Neuville, Martijn Wydaeghe, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1
Photo by: Austral / Hyundai Motorsport
Reflecting on his Saturday recovery, Neuville admitted it was far from straightforward given the pressure of the title fight.
“The drive was great. The most difficult thing for me was managing the risk, as we are going for it and Ott is going for both championships, and the Toyotas are fighting for the manufacturers’.
“They have nothing to lose and everything to gain, and for me it is the opposite, I have everything to lose. I needed a clever approach and still a good drive. We did what we could today, and tomorrow we just need to finish the job.”
Likewise, Neuville’s title rival and Hyundai team-mate Ott Tanak produced an equally – if not even more – impressive drive to open up a 38-second rally lead over Toyota’s Elfyn Evans and keep his drivers’ title and Hyundai’s manufacturers’s title bid alive.
“For the moment I would say [I couldn’t have done any more],” Tanak told Motorsport.com.
“It was not stressful but it was quite exhausting. Once again it has been 12 or 13 hours in the car, with so much information coming in from the route note crews and all the changing road conditions. Then you have the never-ending stages that are super slow and twisty with all kinds of conditions, it is demanding.
“The championship is still open so we really need to do our best, and Toyota is pushing so hard, so we don’t have any breathing space at the moment.”
