Hyundai Shell Mobis world rally team leader Thierry Neuville has adopted a remarkably philosophical stance despite enduring a highly challenging weekend at Rally Japan. The independent manufacturing power of Toyota has completely locked down the top four positions on home soil, showcasing absolute supremacy on their local sealed roads. The Alzenau-led squad was forced to watch Adrien Fourmaux salvage a lonely fifth as the premier Hyundai entry, while a battling Neuville remains anchored in sixth overall, trailing his teammate by a definitive 11.8 seconds.
Looking ahead to the final leg, the Belgian driver candidly admitted a total lack of confidence regarding any overnight setup breakthroughs. Throughout the entire 2026 world championship calendar, the Hyundai i20 N Rally1 has consistently proven second-best to the blinding asphalt pace of the Japanese manufacturer. Neuville detailed that the absolute core of his technical frustration revolves around an inability to establish a functional chassis balance. The car suffers from severe, terminal understeer precisely on corner exit, a handling anomaly that is heavily compounded by an inability to generate optimum mechanical tyre grip from the compound allocation.
Hard Compound Disadvantage Crushing Saturday Pace
Neuville's technical debrief revealed that the handling deficiencies of his package became vastly more pronounced when the crews rotated onto the hard-compound tyre for Saturday's demanding loops. This represented a stark contrast to Friday's opening leg, where under highly complex conditions on the soft-compound rubber, he managed to trade competitive split times with a balanced chassis feeling. The sudden transition to higher track temperatures and stiffer tire sidewalls effectively shattered his mechanical traction profile, leaving him a passenger in terms of raw pace.
Despite staring down a massive deficit of well over two minutes to overall rally leader Elfyn Evans, Neuville stubbornly refused to let the mathematical defeat ruin his weekend. Given that Japan serves as the final dedicated asphalt fixture of the season—a surface that has traditionally remained one of his absolute professional favorites—he elected to focus entirely on pure driving enjoyment. He explained that wrestling the machine to the absolute limit of what the current baseline setup allows provides a massive shot of adrenaline inside the cockpit. Accepting the performance ceiling is his only pragmatic option as his engineering crew prepares for Sunday's final six special stages.
Baca Juga
Elfyn Evans memilih abai terhadap drama kecelakaan Oliver Solberg dan tetap fokus mempertahankan keunggulannya dari ancaman Sebastien Ogier di Rally Japan.
Thierry Neuville memilih pasrah dan menikmati sisa putaran Rally Japan meski mobil Hyundai i20 N miliknya kalah telak dari dominasi skuad Toyota.
Sami Pajari memilih bersikap mawas diri dan menolak selebrasi dini meski posisinya sangat nyaman di zona podium tiga besar Rally Japan.
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