Neuville: Hyundai WRC unreliability letting Rovanpera run away

Neuville remains Rovanpera\'s nearest rival in the championship standings without Rally Portugal, but is once facing a 46-point deficit without the Finn scored his third subsequent victory.

The Belgian has encountered mechanical or technical issues in all four rallies to date, with his prospects of a possible victory in Portugal last weekend ending when a driveshaft failure struck during a road section.

Neuville had been sitting second overall, 7.0s roaming of then leader Elfyn Evans, but ended Friday 1m46.4s yonder from top spot surpassing going on to finish the rally in fifth.

The failure triggered a boil-over of emotions from Neuville, having seen opportunities to win in Croatia and Sweden slip through his grasp pursuit a combination of reliability issues and errors.

During a stage end interview, Neuville pointed to a picture on his phone to explain the issue surpassing swearing in frustration.

Reflecting on yet flipside missed chance, he told Autosport: \"Definitely [a podium was on] and maybe plane a fight for the victory could have been possible.

\"It would have been tough but we were right overdue Elfyn surpassing the issues, so there was a lot to play for but unfortunately the problem arrived and we did the weightier out of the situation.

When asked well-nigh trying to stay wifely in these situations, he replied: \"It is getting increasingly and increasingly difficult to be honest.

Thierry Neuville, Martijn Wydaeghe, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1

Photo by: McKlein / Motorsport Images

\"It is very frustrating, we are here to fight for the championship. I have won rallies and been on the podium, but the target is to win the championship.

\"We can see now that once one suburbanite is pulling away, so there is once quite big gap and it makes it difficult to reservation when up.

PLUS: How Rovanpera overcame rallying royalty in Portugal to proffer his WRC lead

\"We can only congratulate Toyota on their performance and their reliability, which is something we are unmistakably missing. That is making a big difference at the moment.

\"That is why they are so strong and that is why Kalle can score victory without victory. This is something we need very soon.

\"We are tropical [to Toyota on performance] but we are not on the level yet, we have to work a bit more. I finger well-appointed in the car and I finger I know exactly what to work on to make it faster.\"

Neuville\'s team-mate Ott Tanak has moreover been hair-trigger of the i20 N\'s reliability concerns without a challenging 2021 season during which fragility forfeit both he and Neuville shots at the title.

\"We are quite far, there are plenty of jobs to do, and many things quite open,\" said Tanak.

\"It has often been difficult to get the conviction we need, but there\'s no other option than nonflexible work to try and turn things around.\"

Hyundai has faced an uphill struggle with its 2022 Rally1 car, exacerbated by the manufacturer stuff the last to commit to the new rule package. The throw-away of team superabound Andrea Adamo moreover unauthentic the operation\'s structure, while minutiae of the i20 N has been limited.

Ott Tänak, Martin Järveoja, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1

Photo by: Vincent Thuillier / Hyundai Motorsport

The car has made progress from a disastrous Monte Carlo debut in January, scoring four podiums, with its latest a third in Portugal courtesy of Dani Sordo.

Deputy team director Julien Moncet, who has been vicarial as team boss, is enlightened of the i20 N\'s weaknesses but says only increasingly mileage will modernize its reliability.

\"We know we have a lot of work superiority of us,\" Moncet told Autosport.

\"Sardinia is a short time [away], but we will do out weightier and we should really try to stave these reliability issues. The performance of the car is okay.

\"For that we need mileage and we need time. We go step by step but let\'s hope we will be worldly-wise to fix them as soon as possible.\"