How beer saved Hyundai's first podium

Let's face it, it wouldn't be the first time an argument had got out of hand over a bottle of beer...

But surely this most astonishing of World Rally Championship stories wouldn't be spoiled at the last, would it? Thankfully not. Hyundai got its maiden podium finish in the WRC and Thierry Neuville got to mix champagne with the last drop of Corona his i20 WRC hadn't swallowed on the way home.

Last week's Rally Mexico was one of the most dramatic WRC rounds in a long time. The high-altitude stages rocked the teams and rolled the cars; none of the manufacturers escaped untouched by the championship's first trip to the dirt.

Broken suspension did for Citroen's challenge; Rally Sweden hero Andreas Mikkelsen upended his Polo; Robert Kubica upended his Fiesta twice in two days; M-Sport team leader Mikko Hirvonen suffered a second alternator failure in three events and Chris Atkinson's return to factory rallying stopped just seconds after it had started - electrical problems in SS1 were the precursor to a torrid opening day for the Aussie-flagged i20.

In the middle of that madness, Sebastien Ogier dropped the hammer to demonstrate the pure class that is our current world champion. His team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala clung to his coat tails, but that was as good as it would get for the Finn.

Undoubtedly hampered by running first on the road on day one, he had no answer to Ogier's turn of speed over the weekend.

With the podium's middle and top steps sorted, the only question remained over who would stand beneath the Volkswagen chaps.

And that was where the Rally Mexico story came alive.

Ogier was unstoppable in Mexico © LAT

It was a straight race between Neuville's Hyundai and the Ford Fiesta RS WRC of Elfyn Evans. Either way, a terrific story was in the offing, and anybody thinking the 35-mile Guanajuatito stage was the sting in this particular tale's tail couldn't have been more wrong.

By Saturday afternoon, Evans had accepted fourth. Third place beckoned for Hyundai.

And that was quite unbelievable.

On the eve of the event, I had sat down with team principal Michel Nandan. He bordered on the apologetic as he explained an engine strategy that would leave the i20 WRC further off the pace than it had been for the first two rounds.

Experience and kilometres were the only things that mattered to Nandan ahead of round three.

He wasn't wrong, the safest of safe modes left Neuville frustrated through Friday, but the Belgian's mood improved as he saw the door to back-to-back Mexican podiums opening up.

Out of the longest stage of the event just 12 miles remained across two tests. Timelines were being prepared to chart an astonishing rise from being world rallying noddies to standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the champions of the world in... 235 days. July 17 last year was when the i20 WRC first turned a wheel in testing. And now this.

And now this.

"Have you heard?" was the conspiratorial whisper. "Neuville: water leak on the road section after the last stage."

No.

No!

Time to declare a degree of self-interest here. Much of Autosport's Rally Mexico report had been written by this point and such dramatic change so late in the day was... inconvenient.

That was until I remembered who was in fourth and ready to inherit third. Yes!

Could this be Evans first podium? His M-Sport Fiesta was already back and waiting to go into service. I sought him out.

"I don't want to take the position this way," he says. "Thierry's driven a good rally and I wish him luck in getting back."

Hmm, fair point. Hyundai fully deserved this one; every member of the team has worked tirelessly since arriving in Frankfurt and the fact the i20 WRC has achieved in three rallies what the Coupe and Accent failed to manage in 72 starts is payback for the Korean comeback.

Neuville arrived, co-driver Nicolas Gilsoul still clutching the three-quarters empty litre-bottle of Corona.

Neuville switched the motor off, relief didn't come close and soon gave way to a big, wide grin. Until somebody reminded him the car still had to be started and driven the final few metres into service.

Beer saved Neuville's podium © XPB

It worked. The beer did the trick.

The only lingering concern surrounded the potential for protest.

There was a flurry of excitement about the beer being handed over representing outside assistance, which was illegal. Fortunately, a bottle of beer had been handed over from the organisers to every crew making it through the final stage - so it was Neuville's to do with what he wanted.

And if he wanted to pour it into the holed and therefore very thirsty radiator ahead of him, then that was up to him.

While we're on the point of the beer, I can't think of many organisers who would hand over a litre of lager to liven up the final liaison section!

Talking of lively road sections, I must sign off by sharing a story of significant commitment with you.

This one's definitely an exclusive, nowhere else in the world will you read about this one - largely because it involved me and my taxi driver on the way to the airport... Neuville's issues had cost me a little bit of time and I was cutting it relatively fine to make the airport.

Mexican cabbies aren't usually the most on-it in the world, so I trimmed a bit of time off my departure time to impress on my man the need for speed. Big mistake.

The cab of choice was some sort of Nissan that had at least been built the right side of the new millennium, but that hadn't stopped it going around the clock a couple of times.

And now, the needle on the same clock was pointing at 150km/h with 160 only being denied by the increasingly audible complaints from the engine.

Lane discipline was interesting. Interesting in that there wasn't any. And, when the three lanes were busy, we simply took the hard shoulder - which wasn't really a hard shoulder, more of a long layby.

Just as I was thinking of tapping him on the shoulder and informing him of my flight-time confusion, the incessant Spanish chatter on the radio gave way to Michael Jackson. And clearly Smooth Criminal is a proper driving tune in Mexico. He cranked up the volume and disappeared into a driving world of his own.

I tightened my belt and only opened my eyes to say a silent one to the picture of Jesus Christ, which sat on the dash, next to the speedo - which I was now far too afraid to look at.

Aeropuerto.

Alleluia.