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Neuville: "These things can happen"

Thierry Neuville has refused to apportion blame for the embarrassing error that forced him out of Vodafone Rally de Portugal and hopes instead that the incident will make his team stronger.

Neuville had claimed two stage wins and was part of the top-five battle when his Hyundai i20 WRC ran out of fuel halfway through SS11 last Saturday morning. Soon afterwards, his Hyundai team accepted the blame for under-filling Neuville's car at the morning refuel. 

But after completing the rally in 29th place under Rally 2 regulations Neuville said he wouldn't dwell on the mistake and was already focused on the future.

"Luck certainly hasn't been on our side this season and in this case there was a small calculation error by a team member," he told wrc.com.

"It's a big shame because I expected quite a lot on Saturday but okay, no chance. That's just how it is sometimes. During the rally we are all working and fighting hard, working under pressure and things can happen.

"Anybody can make a mistake. I'm looking beyond this now. Looking forward to the next event where it will be better."

After the rally Neuville tweeted a picture of his engineering team, along with a message reading "We are a team. We stick, lose & win together whatever it takes. We will be stronger together as well."

Team principal Michel Nandan said steps were being taken to prevent a repeat of the mistake.

"It was human error but we have already identified what went wrong in the process, and this will help us prevent it happening in the future. We are a team; it's the combination of every individual's work that makes the difference.
"Mistakes happen. It's important to learn from them, and we vow to do that in all areas," he said.

Zdroj: wrc.com