Belgian fans spurred on Neuville
Home fans provided motivation behind Neuville’s Germany win
Home town win for Neuville
Thierry Neuville warmed-up for Rallye de France - Alsace (2 - 5 October) by winning his home town rally in Belgium on Saturday.
Hyundai’s lead driver won the non-championship East Belgian Rally in Sankt-Vith. The one-day event provided the team with an ideal opportunity to fine-tune the set-up of its i20 WRC for round 11 of the FIA World Rally Championship in Strasbourg.
Neuville led from start to finish over 13 dry asphalt special stages in the Ardennes region to win by 3min 24.7sec after 156km of action.
After recent mixed-condition testing in the Vosges mountains, the rally provided a final opportunity for work before recce starts for the French fixture on Tuesday (30 September).
Particular focus was on assessing the i20’s brakes, suspension, transmission and engine maps, and Neuville relished the opportunity to prepare in front of his home fans.
“We came here to continue the development of the car in front of my home crowd which provided us with a warm welcome,” he said. “We tested a number of solutions ahead of Rallye de France and a win on our local event is a real boost to the team.
“The house where I grew up is down the road, so I know the stages here. It helped me to get quickly into a fast pace, and to focus on fine tuning the set-up,” Neuville added.
Rallye de France is the final all-asphalt round of the WRC season. Neuville scored his and Hyundai’s maiden victory on the previous sealed surface event in Germany last month.
