Wednesday | 31 Dec 2014

2014 Highlights: Neuville's beer!

Being a great WRC competitor requires much more than being able to drive quickly through a timed stage. And this year nobody proved that more than Thierry Neuville, who secures top spot in our highlights countdown thanks to a cool head, some quick thinking and a bottle of Mexican lager.

Neuville’s story began after the final stage of Rally Guanajuato Mexico, when he was driving back to the Hyundai service area having secured the squad’s first WRC podium.

But four kilometres into the 33km journey a radiator leak drained his car’s cooling system, sending the engine temperature rocketing and threatening an instant retirement. Neuville and co-driver Nicolas Gilsoul pulled over to patch the hole but were then faced with the problem of how to refill the system.

Luckily a maxi-sized bottle of beer, presented at the finish by event sponsor Corona, came to the rescue. Instead of spraying the beer at the podium ceremony, Gilsoul had put it in the car to take back to the team. The system was filled with lager and they set off, stopping a few more times on route to top-up.

Neuville said: “I really tried to stay calm and say to myself we were okay, but when we had more than 25km to go I thought okay, maybe this could be the end. But after we stopped again the temperature came down and then I thought it would be okay.”

A huge crowd cheered Neuville and Gilsoul when they arrived at service on time - and we applaud them too for this year’s best example of what makes the WRC so special!

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