Monte-Carlo: Wydaeghe convinced Thierry Neuville

One race, one podium. Thierry Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe are off to a rather good start to their collaboration, set up at the last moment before the Rally Monte Carlo. However, the Belgian driver insisted that the task was a “huge challenge” when he took the start of the first round. WRC of the season.

But Martijn Wydaeghe responded.  “Martijn will be in the car for the next rally and if he continues to meet all my expectations, I am convinced that he will do a lot more in the car this year,” commented Thierry Neuville. He impressed me by always having the situation under control.

I didn't feel any restraint, even before the first stage. I was perhaps the most nervous of us, so I want to congratulate and thank him! »

The pilot Hyundai Motorsport has certainly never been able to compete with the winner Sébastien Ogier, but won three scratches on the rally. The result is enough for the Belgian to be happy. “We had no expectations at the start since we had had no preparation. »

Their lack of automatisms was still felt during the event. “It was difficult to find a rhythm with so many unknowns. We also had a bit of trouble with his voice, which was completely different from my previous co-driver.

I had difficulty hearing it the first day, but we worked to improve that and the result was actually quite good, according to Neuville.

We need to increase our pace slightly, but above all we wanted to work on confidence and that's what we did this weekend. Of course, he has been a co-driver before, but never in a WRC which is very fast compared to other cars.

We also had to work with the ushers and all the modifications linked to the Monte-Carlo between black ice, snow, very slippery parts on asphalt, rain and even stagnant water...”

Having started off on a good basis, Thierry Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe now have a month to get back on track before the next round of the WRC scheduled for February 26 to 28 in Finland.

Discover the full report and analysis of the Monte-Carlo Rally, produced by our special correspondents in the Principality, in AUTO issue 2296hebdo, available now in digital version, and on newsstands tomorrow.