Thierry Neuville has retired from Rally Japan after suffering a third technical issue in as many days.
The reigning World Rally champion’s event has been beset by issues; on Thursday he had a transmission problem and the rear differential on his Hyundai i20 N Rally1 broke on Friday morning.
Saturday got off to an even worse start: on the road section from the service to stage eight, the day’s first stage, his i20 started leaking oil, with Neuville and co-driver Martijn Wydaeghe inspecting the car before setting off into SS8.
A radio message from Hyundai team manager Pablo Marcos indicated Neuville had suffered a driveshaft failure. There is no midday service in Saturday’s itinerary, so would have needed to carry the issue through the entire day or park up and retire.
AloJapan.com