Thierry Neuville led more than half of the stages at the Acropolis Rally, the 8th round of the WRC, won four special stages, and made a clear self-criticism at the end of the Loutraki weekend, where he finished second: by changing the differential settings from the setup he had been using for the last year and a half, he rediscovered a comfort on the car that he hadn't felt since the championship season.
He healed the wounds of the last 18 months in Greece.
Neuville had come close to winning the championship in Croatia at the start of the season and even won in Portugal; however, he avoided fully evaluating his own performance, attributing both results to Toyota's problems. The Acropolis, however, gave him a different feeling. Speaking to DirtFish, the Belgian driver said, “This weekend I really realized that I haven't been 100% comfortable in the car for a very long time. This weekend was almost perfect. This difference is very important to be able to compete with Sébastien Ogier and Toyota in general.” He also clarified when he last felt this way: “It was a very long time ago. Somewhere, I'd say in 2024.”
Neuville, who missed out on victory after suffering a double tire puncture in the penalty stage, still finished the race with a smile. He explained the technical changes to the car: “We did some work on the differential this weekend. I’ve gone back to something more locked and perhaps more consistent than what I’ve been using for the last year and a half. It worked here; we’ll see how it works in other rallies.”
Hopeful for Estonia and Finland.
The next two legs of the calendar, Estonia and Finland, left Neuville with positive memories from last season. In 2025, he led early in Tartu and finished third on the podium; in Jyväskylä, both he and Adrien Fourmaux set a strong pace against Toyota before suffering a tire puncture, with only home driver Kalle Rovanperä managing to overtake Hyundai. ’We were extremely fast in Estonia and Finland last year,“ said Neuville, adding, ”There’s nothing we can do but hope to have a similar pace.“.
The driver, commenting on his second-place finish at the Acropolis, emphasized that the team had found what they were looking for: “To have the pace to fight for the win all weekend once again after Portugal is obviously a very positive thing. We knew that Toyota was very strong, that Sébastien was very strong, and we also knew that whoever had the first problem would probably lose the win. And that’s what happened this weekend.”