19 Oct 12

Neuville accepts
blame for
Sardinia roll

Thierry Neuville says a lack of concentration led to his roll on stage three of Rally Italia Sardegna this morning.

Neuville, from Belgium, started day two in fourth overall in a Qatar World Rally Team Citroen DS3 WRC but hit trouble approximately four kilometres from the finish of the 29.68-kilometre Monte Lerno test, rolling his car onto its side and losing more than six minutes as he and co-driver Nicolas Gilsoul got it back onto its wheels.

“I was not concentrating enough, didn’t hear a pace note, and we went off,” said Neuville. “The car was on the side, but we managed to continue although I have hurt my right hand because it was not easy [getting the car on its wheels] with just two persons.”

Neuville’s car was sporting only light damage when he reached the stage finish. He slips to 12th overall, 6m45.4s behind leader Mikko Hirvonen.