Thierry Neuville: “I am not against hybrid”

On the roads of northern Italy, Hyundai invited his three pilots, Ott Tänak, Thierry Neuville and Dani Sordo tried the new i20 Rally1 hybrid which will be used for the next season of the WRC. A change of model which is part of the desire to plunge this discipline into the hybrid era. Skeptical about the idea of ​​driving this car from a safety point of view in particular, the Belgian driver completed a longer stint compared to his two teammates. He is also aware that carrying out so many tests can only be beneficial for his next season.

“Having so many tests is a good thing. It's necessary. As with every change in regulations, the beginnings are complicated then when the final changes arrive and everything starts to work together it gets better and better. I remember that before our first Monte-Carlo, five years ago, nothing was working! There were differential problems. I told myself we were going to finish last and in the end we had the best car in the field! ".

A good day at the office! #TestDay # Rally1 #HMSGOfficial #WRC #TN11 pic.twitter.com/0ttniSxOu0

— Thierry Neuville (@thierryneuville) October 28, 2021

Presented as a fervent opponent of the arrival of hybrid cars, Thierry Neuville took advantage of this day open to the media to clarify his position. 

“My comments may have sometimes been misunderstood by the media, but I am not against hybrids. It's just that it's not easy to move from the current WRCs to the next ones. I regret that we are taking away gadgets, as we can call them, but also technical things which were rather interesting in this premier category. I liked the central differential, the aerodynamics, an aggressive look… We are going to return to very basic cars and the fact of increasing the number of tests will not change my mind. In any case, we are still at the discovery stage with the Hyundai ».