Neuville heads historic Hyundai podium lock-out in Greece
Runner-up Ott Tanak confirmed that instructions had been communicated to him before the start of the penultimate test that he should stay put and not force the eventual winner into making a mistake.
That allowed Neuville – who inherited the lead early on Saturday following the retirement of Sebastien Loeb and a slow start by M-Sport Ford’s Pierre-Louis Loubet – to pick his way through the end-of-rally Power Stage and secure a morale-boosting win of the 2022 season by 15 seconds.
"It has been a tough season so far and to get the victory after a very difficult weekend in Belgium is a relief," admitted Neuville. "The most important thing is we have a 1-2-3 for the team - after all these years we finally got it and it's a historical moment for the brand and the team. Everybody has worked hard for this and it's a nice reward."
Team orders could have dealt a blow to the mathematical chance Tanak has of catching Kalle Rovanpera in the World Rally Championship title race, but the Estonian collected all five available points on the Power Stage with a quickest time to keep him in the mix.
Third-placed Dani Sordo already knew his job going into Sunday having spoken of the need to protect the two I20 N Rally1 cars ahead of him at the end of Saturday. He did exactly that, with the task made a whole lot easier by the retirement of Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Elfyn Evans.
He stopped on the road section this morning with an engine-related problem as he travelled to the first stage and following a 10-minute delay during which some running repairs were performed, managed to get going again. It proved in vain, however, as his GR Yaris Rally1 car came grinding to a halt moments later – this time for good.
The Welshman’s exit capped off one of the most forgettable weekends for the Japanese squad this season. Evan’s demise followed the retirement of Esapekka Lappi late on Saturday with a fuel sensor problem, and a heavy shunt that rearranged the rear suspension on Rovanpera’s car that sent him plummeting down the timesheets.
Loubet’s Puma Rally1 was the first Blue Oval home in fourth as the young Frenchman equalled his best-ever World Rally Championship result. He showed glimpses of real promise on Friday to lead the way courtesy of consecutive fastest stage times only for a puncture early on Saturday to rule him out of the fight.
He was followed home by team-mate Craig Breen in fifth. After a puncture and wheel change robbed him of two minutes on Friday, any hopes of a decent result looked to have evaporated for the Irishman – but with Rally1 car numbers slowly dwindling over the course of the weekend, his perseverance was rewarded. The gap to him and Toyota Junior driver Takamoto Katsuta was two minutes 12 seconds, helped by a third best time on the Power Stage.
Rovanpera, Gus Greensmith and Lappi did not leave round 10 empty handed, however, as they collected four points, two points and one point respectively on the Power Stage. With three rallies remaining, Rovanpera leads the way on 207 points, followed by Tanak on 154 and Neuville on 131.
