The outgoing world champion revealed to DirtFish he had engine trouble on Sunday's leg, even before he went off
Photography by DirtFish
Words by Luke Barry
Outgoing World Rally champion Thierry Neuville doesn’t think he’d have finished Central European Rally anyway, even if he hadn’t crashed on SS15.
An optimistic pacenote on the recce sent Neuville into a bridge (that was protected by a hay bale) just two miles into Sunday’s leg, and immediately forced him out in what was a “proper shunt”.
However the Hyundai driver, who had been seventh, revealed to DirtFish that he likely wouldn’t have made the end of the rally regardless.
“Honestly speaking, I’m not sure we would have finished the rally today because my engine had some trouble today,” Neuville said. “So in terms of result it doesn’t change much, but we would have liked to have gained that experience today while driving.”
Neuville confirmed he will take a new engine for next month’s Rally Japan.
While both Neuville and co-driver Martijn Wydaeghe were taken to hospital for precautionary checks, they are both OK – even if they’ll be sore for a couple of days.
“The muscles are starting to be sore, so tomorrow will be not such a nice day for us, and the day after even worse I think,” Wydaeghe told DirtFish. “But the good point is that we have no injuries, we feel more or less OK. And that’s the most important [thing] after such a big off.”
Wydaeghe was quick to praise the response to their incident and the safety of modern rally cars and protective equipment.
“The on-scene [response] was really impressive to see,” he said. “They were very efficient. The medical doctor was there immediately actually, like two minutes after we had the accident.
“At that moment you are still full of adrenaline so you don’t feel anything, but very quickly after that you start to feel a little bit less good and yeah, they were there to observe us and to take us to the hospital for further checks.”
The corner Neuville crashed at was quickly repaired
While Wydaeghe admitted the crash was a “big, big, big surprise” as he wasn’t watching the road at the time, he confirmed he’s already put it behind him.
“We know that we are in a very safe car with a safe environment,” he explained. “I mean the organizers are doing everything that they can. If we see something on recce, which can be a potential danger, we make a report to the FIA delegate and Nicolas [Klinger] is doing a great job together with his colleagues to make a good environment and a safe environment for us. So I’m never worried about that for sure.
“Tomorrow I will feel very sore and [I’m] not sure how I will look if I’m moving. But if that’s the only problem we have, then it’s OK.”
Neuville echoed his co-drivers’ comments.
“They [the organizers] have done an incredible job,” Neuville said. “Also at the hospital, they have taken very good care of us and we’ve done the complete checks to make sure that we are fine for the upcoming weeks and the next event.
“And also the straw bale in front of the barriers and so on, the concrete blocks around during the whole weekend, it’s part of the job the FIA is doing together with the crews and also the co-drivers who are constantly doing reports after each event.
“Julien Ingrassia is pretty much involved in it to make sure that all kinds of dangerous obstacles are, yeah, somehow put in a better position or just saved by a straw bale in front, which obviously today can have made a big difference.
“It was a proper shunt [but] luckily the cars and the safety equipment saved us from any injuries.”
Words:Luke Barry
Tags: Central European Rally, Central European Rally 2025, Martijn Wydaeghe, Thierry Neuville, WRC, WRC 2025
Publish Date October 19, 2025 DirtFish
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