The 2024 world champion attempted to drive but heavy snow called the test to be delayed to later in the week
Photography by FlatOutVideo
Words by Luke Barry
Thierry Neuville’s pre-event test for the Monte Carlo Rally has been postponed due to heavy snowfall.
The 2024 world champion drove Hyundai’s i20 N Rally2 car on Wednesday in a bid to better his, and the team’s, understanding of Hankook’s control tire, but Thursday was due to be his first proper test ahead of the season opener.
However winter conditions in the south of France made Neuville’s test road a white-out, and unsuitable for what he hoped to test.
Speaking on his Instagram story, Neuville said: “We have winter conditions – one might think that’s good because these are the conditions we hope to have for the rally, but the past proves it’s a long time since we’ve had these conditions so it’s not the conditions optimal for us today or that we were looking for either.”
Snow ploughs were used to try and clear the big layers of snow from the road, but it proved ineffective and the decision was therefore made to abandon the day’s running.
Neuville confirmed the FIA has accepted a request for the test day to be postponed rather than cancelled, meaning Neuville doesn’t lose one of his allocated test days for the season.
“Unfortunately not the day we were hoping for,” he added, “but we’ll test again by the end of the week and I hope to do the necessary work we planned to do to with more stable conditions to be able to really compare the evolutions that we wanted to try.”
Adrien Fourmaux tested the Rally1 car on Wednesday. Hayden Paddon is due to drive tomorrow (Friday). Hyundai is holding a media day on Saturday, so Neuville’s test is likely to be held on Sunday.
Sébastien Ogier is testing today for Toyota. Elfyn Evans opened the team’s running on Tuesday with new recruit Oliver Solberg driving yesterday (Wednesday).
Words:Luke Barry
Tags: Hyundai, Monte Carlo Rally, Monte Carlo Rally 2026, Thierry Neuville, WRC, WRC 2026
Publish Date January 8, 2026 DirtFish 
https://dirtfish-editorial.s3-accelerate.amazonaws.com/2026/01/j5FrbKdB-neuvilleMonPET1-780x520.jpg January 8, 2026
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