NEUVILLE CLOSE TO NEW DEAL
Hyundai is understood to be closing on a deal with Thierry Neuville – but the identity of his team-mates remains unsure inside the German-based squad.
Signing the current World Rally Championship leader is reckoned to be almost a formality, with Neuville telling MN he was keen to remain with the his employer of the last five years.
Team manager Alain Penasse said: “We want to secure Thierry for the future, there’s no real secret in that. It’s just finding a deal to get married.”
Neuville’s full-time team-mate for this year Andreas Mikkelsen is one of only two factory drivers under contract for next season [Toyota’s Ott Tanak is the other]. Penasse confirmed the Norwegian has a deal to remain in an i20 Coupe WRC in 2019, but when pressed on the nature of the deal, Penasse declined to comment further.
Asked if Mikkelsen was contracted to start every round next season, Penasse couldn’t confirm that and said: “That’s detail. He has a contract.”
Mikkelsen arrived at Hyundai for the last three rounds of last year’s world championship and showed immediate speed, leading in Spain and Australia despite a lack of experience with the i20.
Since then he has struggled to match that speed. He’s led twice this year, in Sardinia before a gearbox problem and Argentina before a puncture.
The frustration is beginning to tell with Mikkelsen – especially after Finland where he crashed and failed to make any impression on the leaderboard.
“I heard from the [Hyundai] drivers last year that it was a nightmare for them to be on the pace [in Finland], so now I experienced it,” he said. “We have a lot of work to do on this type of road, especially in the low-grip places. The car does not produce any grip – you only have to look at the tyres on the Hyundais, they’re like new and that just proves that we don’t have the same grip. When it’s smooth flowing roads we’re not on the pace.
“[In Finland] we tried everything we can, all directions on the test. I only did two days of testing, but we tried suspension and differentials, but nothing seems to work. Maybe it’s aerodynamic on the fast roads as well: having the grip over the crests would have something to say – but it’s more than the aero [that’s the problem], for sure.”
Mikkelsen said he wasn’t concerned about his run of results, saying: “You always have to deliver, but my team, they know what we have done. They know what has been technical and what has been our fault.
“We have been leading on the last three gravel rallies before technical issues, it’s just a matter of time before we are back at the top for the whole rally. But the people not following so closely, it doesn’t look so nice. Turkey will be strong. It’s a place where the grip is high. It’s twisty and GB, where the roads get rutted, it’ll be good – as long as we have something to hang on to, we’re OK.”