Thierry Neuville still in the game: "We've halved the gap"

He could have lost a lot. He only lost one place. Thierry Neuville He approaches the lunch break with a touch of relief mixed with optimism, having spent much of the morning on worn tires — the only driver in this situation in the top five. The reason? A weather gamble that didn't pay off: "We were expecting a lot more rain yesterday afternoon, and even more this morning. It never came. So I was a bit too aggressive with my tire choices at the start." A rare admission of candor, but one that says everything about the complexity of strategic decisions in rallywhere the weather can ruin a race before it even really starts.

Despite this handicap, the Belgian managed to gain time on his rivals in the final stage, where he had finally fitted a new tire to cope with the slippery conditions. In the overall standings, his gap to the leader narrowed from four seconds to two in the space of a single stage. "We've cut the gap in half, more or less. The conditions were clearly in our favor on the last stage. We were desperately battling for grip. Despite everything, we had a good stage and I'm happy with this morning."

More comfortable, and some erasers for the afternoon.

What is most striking about Thierry Neuville is less the ranking than the feeling he has rediscovered behind the wheel. "I feel more comfortable in the car today than yesterday. I don't know if it's really due to the special stages or just the small adjustments we made.", he acknowledges. For a driver of his level, this feedback from feeling is often more revealing than tenths of a second in the lap time.

Unlike this morning, he starts the afternoon with an unbroken supply of new tires, while his rivals will have to carefully manage their tires in the forecast of rain. In a five-way battle that may well come down to the smallest details, Neuville could have turned the tables without anyone quite realizing it yet.

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