Neuville is “not yet safe” in the WRC title fight

Ott Tanak says Thierry Neuville is “not safe yet” after taking a bite of his Hyundai teammate’s lead in the World Rally Championship during Rally Chile.

The 2019 world champion defeated Neuville by five points last weekend to reduce the deficit in the title race to 29 points. A maximum of 60 points can be scored in the two remaining rounds of the season in Central Europe and Japan.

In what proved to be a difficult rally for Hyundai, Tanak managed to improve his i20 N through several adjustments during the event to lead Friday’s rally without scoring a stage win.

The Estonian ultimately finished third, behind Toyota duo Kalle Rovanpera and Elfyn Evans, as Toyota narrowed Hyundai’s lead on the constructors’ title from 35 points to 17 points.

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Although Neuville remains the favorite to win the first WRC drivers’ title, Tanak says the battle is not over yet.

“It’s obviously a very big gap, but let’s say Thierry is not safe yet,” Tanak said when asked about his championship hopes.

“We were perhaps a bit lucky that Seb (Ogier) got into trouble on Friday and we couldn’t do anything else against the Toyotas. We gave the maximum and scored everything we could.

“They (Toyota) have bounced back, but let’s see if we go to the tarmac now and for that we should have a good road position. The battle is certainly not over yet and we have to work hard for it.”

Ott Tänak, Martin Järveoja, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

After initially struggling in seventh place after the opening road on Friday, Neuville stated he was happy with his recovery to fourth, limiting the damage to his points advantage.

But the Belgian will be hoping to wrap up the championship sooner rather than later so he can end his internal battle with Tanak and focus on helping Hyundai fend off Toyota in the battle for the manufacturers’ title.

“It is clear that some drivers made mistakes early in the race and from that moment on our plan and strategy had to be adjusted again and we focused mainly on Ott,” said Neuville.

“We have done what we needed to do, but we have to make sure we get things (the Drivers’ title) done quickly, as there is still a Constructors’ Championship to fight for, and we have to make sure we can fight for Japan like we do should. that title.

“It is important not to have an internal fight and to be ready to beat Toyota.

“We lost 18 points (against Toyota) and there is definitely a fight going on between me and Ott and no one will take the biggest risks, but we lost some important points against Toyota.

“They (Toyota) will bring a lot of cars and will do so in Central Europe and we need to have a good approach and strategy as a team to ensure we don’t lose the constructors’ championship.”

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