Qatar World Rally Team’s Thierry Neuville produced in a near-perfect performance on the second day of ADAC Rallye Deutschland today to put himself well and truly in the hunt for victory. Securing no fewer than four stage wins, the Belgian was outstanding on what is his pure-asphalt debut with the Ford Fiesta RS WRC.
Following an early exit for championship leader Sébastien Ogier, Neuville and co-driver Nicolas Gilsoul were one of the crews to beat. Despite using the opening loop to perfect their new pacenote system which has become the norm of late, no one could demote the pairing from the top of the stage time sheets. Securing three back-to-back stage wins, the duo went into midday service just 2.4 seconds shy of the rally lead.
Chasing down rally leader Jari-Matti Latvala, Neuville continued where he had left off with another fastest time through SS6. Although the Belgian had to settle for the runner-up spot on the final two tests, the 25-year-old has put himself in the perfect position to hunt down a maiden victory 7.3 seconds adrift of the top-spot.
Getting back into the rhythm of asphalt driving, gravel-expert Mads Østberg kept his head to sit a creditable fifth overall.
Making some set-up changes during midday service, the Qatar M-Sport World Rally Team driver altered the handling of his Fiesta RS WRC to harness his driving style through the vineyards. Despite losing touch with the front-runners, there remains all to play for as tomorrow welcomes one of the most challenging tests of the year – a daunting 41.08 kilometre run through ‘Arena Panzerplatte.’
In the second Qatar World Rally Team Fiesta RS WRC, Nasser Al-Attiyah is on course for his best ever result on Tarmac. Partnered by co-driver Giovanni Bernacchini, the pairing put in an impressive performance to significantly improve upon last year’s performance.
Increasing his pace over the afternoon loop, the Qatari looked at one behind the wheel of his Fiesta and is determined to capture another strong result.
Qatar M-Sport World Rally Team’s Evgeny Novikov and Ilka Minor started cautiously following some significant time loss having slid off the road during yesterday’s opening speed test.
Using their time wisely to check their pacenotes over the morning loop, their observations were clearly paying dividends. Pacenotes perfected, the pairing upped their speed dramatically over the afternoon loop – clawing back an impressive 55 places in the process.
Elsewhere, in WRC 2, Elfyn Evans was back behind the wheel of the Ford Fiesta R5 and demonstrating the car’s performance on asphalt. Never out of the top-three in overall stage times, Evans and co-driver Daniel Barritt are also in the hunt for victory just 12.4 seconds adrift of Formula 1 race-winner Robert Kubica.
Thierry Neuville (2nd) said:
“I think I drove well. We still had a bit of understeer, but our pacenotes were better this afternoon. Now our objective is to hang onto second place. Tomorrow looks like being a difficult day, and it will be essential to avoid the pitfalls. In that respect, running second-on-the-road could actually help us as we will have somebody else’s lines to follow. The tyres will be a key factor, too.
“We’re definitely going to push though, and when the conditions are slippery – as we expect they might be – the Fiesta always shows great speed. Although I’ve never driven the car in the wet before on Tarmac, I’m sure I’ll be able to adapt pretty quickly. In France last year, I proved that I’m very fast in those conditions. There’s still a long way to go in this rally and a lot of unknowns.”
Mads Østberg (5th) said:
“The changes we made in service helped on the first stage [this afternoon, SS6]. It was a lot better and I had much more confidence, although there were still some sections where I struggled.
“We changed the set-up a bit more for the second stage [SS7], but unfortunately we went the wrong way and the confidence was gone again. Then for the last one [SS8] we went back, and the confidence returned. We’re definitely onto something!
“Obviously I need to sync my driving to the car before I can do a better job – we’re friends again, but we’re not best friends just yet. We need to continue as we have today and hopefully my driving will change to suit the set-up. We will keep trying to improve and regain some confidence – we just need to focus on ourselves.”
Nasser Al-Attiyah (7th) said:
“I’m quite happy to finish the day with no major problems, and the car is working very well. We broke a [wheel] rim against a kerb on the last stage [SS8] which caused a lot of vibrations. I lost a little bit of concentration [because of that] and went into one of the following corners a little bit too deep which caused the engine to cut out briefly.
“But the most important thing is that we are still here and in a good position. Tomorrow my goal will be to catch Martin [Prokop] ahead.”
Evgeny Novikov (16th) said:
“We checked the pacenotes over the morning loop and the times have really improved over the afternoon which is a big positive. We have made up more than 50 places today so I can’t be too disappointed with that.
“Of course with the incident yesterday, there is no reason to push and take any unnecessary risks. We’ll just continue as we are and see if we can gain any more places tomorrow. There is a long way to go and with Panzerplatte still to come, anything can happen.”
Elfyn Evans (2nd in WRC 2) said:
“I don’t really know why we were losing time on the last splits this afternoon. It didn’t seem to be any reason in particular so it’s something we’ll need to look at in more detail. Yes, we had some issues with the brakes overheating this morning, but we combated that for the afternoon. We just need to try and understand why we are losing those seconds towards the end.
“Other than that, the feeling has been good and the car is working really well. I don’t know if Robert [Kubica] has got any more in the tank, but we will just continue as we are. We’re continuing to improve without taking any silly risks and that’s the way we’ll keep it tomorrow.”
Team Principal, Malcolm Wilson OBE, said:
“I’m very happy with today. With four fastest times out of six, Thierry [Neuville] drove fantastically and is now in the perfect position going into tomorrow. We wanted to be second on-the-road as it means we can monitor what’s happening with Jari-Matti [Latvala] – and with the weather forecast that we have, it promises to be an interesting afternoon.
“Thierry has picked up here from where he left off in Finland, and if you look at his level of experience and the stage he is at in his career, he definitely has more to give. His potential is huge.
“Elfyn [Evans] too has been excellent and to be so close to [Robert] Kubica on this surface is extremely encouraging and once more proves the [Ford] Fiesta R5’s potential. We saw in Finland how competitive the car is on gravel, and now Elfyn is demonstrating its pace on asphalt.”