Hyundai Motorsport’s Thierry Neuville has credited new engineer Gerard Zyzik with the set up changes that helped carry him to second place in the 2016 Tour de Corse – Rallye de France.
There was less that six seconds between the Belgian and Volkswagen’s Andreas Mikkelsen at the halfway point on the second day and despite Neuville holding the advantage, he was unhappy with the handling of his Hyundai i20 WRC through the mountain sections which featured wider roads.
During the mid-day service the team made changes suggested by Zyzik which saw the Hyundai driver pull out a 21.5 second advantage by the end of the day.
“This weekend my engineer was very sound. He helped me to make some new bigger changes which he convinced me to do. He pushed hard to do the changes and finally all the changes we did were positive, so that was important,” Neuville told wrc.com.
“We changed the differential and we made many set-up changes on the dampers. It was good to get my confidence as well after the huge changes he was sure about. He convinced me, so when I was sure the changes were correct it was good for the confidence between us and good for the teamwork,” he added.
With three rounds of the 2016 FIA World Rally Championship remaining, it is expected that Zyzik will remain alongside Neuville for the rest of the year.
The Belgian driver has seen his recent return to form rewarded with a new contract for 2017/2018 with Hyundai Motorsport.
