Hyundai still no match for Toyota on fast gravel rounds - Abiteboul

Despite Neuville - who finished runner-up at Rally Estonia two weeks earlier - saying the result felt like a triumph to him having not visited the podium at the Jyvaskyla-based event in a decade, Abiteboul said he was not getting carried away as, once again, Toyota was the dominant force at the ‘Gravel Grand Prix’.

Kalle Rovanpera and Elfyn Evans jostled for lead position until Friday’s antepenultimate stage when the former crashed and rolled his GR Yaris Rally1 into retirement. That promoted Evans into the lead and Neuville up to second, with those places remaining unchanged over the remainder of the fixture.

Part of the reason was Neuville, as he put it, being powerless to prevent the Welshman from cantering to a seventh World Rally Championship career win and his second on Finnish soil. That was another observation Abiteboul picked up on at the conclusion of the loose surface fixture.

“While today’s result is a strong one and positive for the Championship, we can see we are still missing out and we need to make more steps like we have done recently if we want to become a constant contender against Toyota,” said the Frenchman, who was appointed to the role of Team Principal at the beginning of the year.

“We know these fast rallies don’t necessarily show our car at its best, but it is the work going on behind the scenes in the factory that has helped us to improve the car, show consistency and reliability, so I would like to say a huge thanks to everyone.”

On only his second Rally1 start, Teemu Suninen narrowly missed out on a podium finish as the third points-scoring Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 campaigned by Takamoto Katsuta beat him to the final step on the podium by 4.3 seconds.

In comparison, Esapekka Lappi retired from the event on Friday during stage five – ‘Halttula 1’ – when his i20 N Rally1 ran wide and smacked a tree. It later emerged the impact measured 17G.

“Teemu had a number of very strong moments over the weekend. There is a bit of frustration that he is not on the podium, but having that in only your second rally is a sign of our shared ambition,” added Abiteboul.