(By Eric Rood) – Rally Mexico has proved an up-and-down event for Belgian rally driver Thierry Neuville in his brief World Rally Championship career. He earned his first-ever WRC podium in Mexico with a privateer team in 2013 and returned in 2014 as a factory driver for Hyundai’s brand new i20—a relative of the Accent sold in the U.S.—really program. That year, an oversized bottle of Corona presented before the final stage of the rally saved his bacon; Neuville’s Hyundai had overheated and boiled off its coolant and the novelty-sized beer filled the radiator enough to limp home with a second-consecutive podium.
Last year, Neuville crashed out from the rally lead and this year, his first day of the rally ended with a minor contact that broke suspension. Under WRC rules, he was allowed to start again on Day 2 and that unfortunately didn’t end well, either. While navigating a characteristically dusty mountain road, Neuville overdrove a corner and clobbered a banked ditch that sent he and codriver Nicolas Gilsoul across the dusty mountain road violently into exposed rock. The hit ruined the Hyundai and sent Neuville to hospital, where he checked out OK. That said, watching that hit lets you know both driver and codriver will be sore for a few days.
