Hyundai Motorsport has completed the first full-day of the Rallye Monte-Carlo with the team’s front-runner Thierry Neuville holding third overall after today’s two loops containing six stages in total.
A total of 122.58km of stages we ran today at Curbans-Venterol (SS3/SS6 20.02km), Saint Clément-Freissinières (SS4/SS7 20.68km) and Avançon-Notre-Dame-du-Laus (SS5/SS8 20.59km).
Neuville was the overnight leader heading to the first morning loop of the rally, after the stages were today he holds on to the third place with only 6.4 seconds separeting him and Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Sébastien Ogier.
He took his second stage win of the rally at the final stage of the day that were ran at the famous Avançon-Notre-Dame-du-Laus.
“It has been a bit of a frustrating day for us. We had a difficult morning, fighting to pick up the pace and to have a good clean run. We faced some challenging conditions, and I couldn’t find the right feeling to push hard. Neuville said.
“It got better towards the end of the day and we were improving constantly with Dani (Sordo) as my road note crew. In the end it worked quite well, and I was confident.
“Step by step we found our way forward and we also worked on the set-up of the car to make it feel more comfortable. We need to continue in this way.
“I am happy Ott and Martin are okay; it was a huge crash at high speed but most importantly they are doing well.” Neuville added.
“It is useless to say on a day like this that the performance of our car is not at the level we may wish it to be. Andrea Adamo, Team Principal said.
“We have improved, yes, but there is still a gap that needs to be filled. Thierry has done an amazing job to bridge this gap, and we have to thank him and Nicolas for their efforts“
