Neuville turns a corner with Finland podium

The Belgian has, self-admittedly, struggled for pace on high-speed gravel rallies in the past, but that wasn’t the case at Rally Estonia or last week’s Secto Rally Finland. Finishing P2 on both occasions, Neuville admitted the improvements were clear.

“It’s good to be back on the podium”, Neuville said. “I mean, the last couple of years [in Finland] have been a struggle for me, but generally for Hyundai as well. It has always been difficult.

“I know I can drive fast but I need to trust the car, even more here than on any other rally - especially when the road is like this weekend, hard and the tyre can’t bite. It was always a struggle for me but this weekend at least the car gave me confidence to push.

“We are happy with the performance but also the way we are improving. Definitely, Estonia and here were the most difficult events of the year for us and we have improved quite a lot.”

The i20 N driver sits third the championship with four rounds remaining, 36 points adrift of leader Kalle Rovanperä but only 11 points behind second-placed Elfyn Evans.

“There’s a small hope for the championship,” he continued, “but already getting more victories and podiums from this weekend until the end of the year would be a nice achievement.”