Hyundai star Neuville began this penultimate leg tied for the lead with Toyota man and main championship rival Elfyn Evans, having heeded around 10sec to the Welshman on Friday when an impact with a rock resulted in a flat tyre.
Although the title-hunting pair remained closely matched on Saturday morning, it was Neuville’s tyre management which gave him the slight edge he needed. The Belgian carried four soft and two wet compound Pirellis on board his i20 N car while Evans took only three soft, one hard and two wet-weather tyres.
The rain showers never materialised, leaving Evans to run hard compound rubber on one corner of his GR Yaris all morning. Neuville took better care of his own softs and claimed wins on two of the loop’s asphalt speed tests and, crucially, was marginally quicker than Evans on all four of them.
“I think we had probably a better tyre choice over the loop and probably kept a better tyre profile than the others,” he said. “We had good tyre management and that's what paid off.”
Finland
Italy
Hungary