The world champion's season is yet to ignite, but he's another not to have perfect affinity with the Hankooks
Photography by Hyundai
Words by David Evans, DirtFish Head of Media
Twelve months ago, Thierry Neuville was 18 points clear at the top of the table. Now? He’s 50 points south of P1 and very much in need of a result to light a fire beneath his World Rally Championship title defense.
The Belgian needs no reminding of where he is right now and despite pinging the rear of his Hyundai off a wall in Sardinia, he’s sure the Italian island offered a turn in the tide.
“We just need to get the wheel turning, that’s it,” he told DirtFish. “I strongly believe we missed a bit of luck this weekend and, I mean, we don’t need to go back and rethink everything 10 times. We know what we can do.”
Whether he’s just won a world championship or he stands before you explaining a 19th place at round six, Neuville’s demeanour rarely changes. He’s professional in his attitude and comprehensive in his debrief. There’s no attempt to dodge the difficult question – he tackles them head on.
What are, for example, his thoughts on speculation that he’s lost his motivation now he’s the world number one?
Neuville will always answer a difficult question with good grace
“Oh,” he smiles, “the motivation is there. It’s just one year isn’t the [same as the] other. We have more world champions who had difficult seasons after [winning the title]. That’s the case for me. But, it’s a different game as well: we are three against five [Toyota drivers]. It makes it very hard for the team.
“Don’t forget that we are in a situation where many people don’t know what’s their future. It makes our start of the season a bit more difficult, clearly.”
DirtFish understands Hyundai is now committed for next season – there was definitely more of a spring in the collected Korean step at the weekend. Neuville noticed the same.
“People seem to be more assured and more confident for the future,” he observed. “So I felt more motivation within the team and more, better team spirit as well. We still have no official confirmation. We’re still waiting, but, like I said, the tendency seems to be positive, so that should give us a bit more momentum for the rest of the season.”
That’s the macro view, putting Neuville’s year under the microscope is illuminating.
“It’s been a struggle since the beginning of the year,” he said. “I feel a bit better with the tires now and, overall, the car is performing. It still needs a few tweaks here and there which are not easy to do because I feel, like with the tires, I struggle to get the perfect setup for it. It felt for me easier before, so I still need to work around that clearly and we’re working hard or I’m working hard to find out what it exactly needs for me to just be more comfortable in the car.
“I will not go faster [with the new set-up], but more comfortable in the car and have less surprises as well. That’s what we are working on. And for the rest, yeah, I mean, we can go fast. We saw it in the powerstage in Portugal. In Sardinia, we gave it everything and despite the cleaning, we were second. It’s not too bad.”
Hyundai technical director François-Xavier Demaison says Neuville’s issue is not dissimilar to that of his fellow world champion Kalle Rovanperä.
The Frenchman said: “Thierry, for all of his career, drove on tires…”
F-X Demaison (right) has his foot on what may be the key for Neuville
He pauses and selects his words carefully.
“He drove on WRC tires, tires which had been made with 30 years’ experience. To be clear, I don’t blame Hankook – they did a fantastic job and provide a tire which is really good in terms of punctures, but they don’t have the experience to get the same level of performance.
“And you can’t ask them when you have a very limited time to develop the tires. Look at the first rounds in the WRC, we go from Monte Carlo to Sweden, to Safari and then to a proper Tarmac rally; they had to do so many tires in a very short period. They did a great job.
“For drivers who have been here for a long time, it’s a completely different feeling. And they need some time to adapt to this.”
Words:David Evans
Tags: Thierry Neuville, WRC, WRC 2025
Publish Date June 16, 2025 DirtFish
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