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WRC star Neuville to use Opel Corsa from his rallying debut again

World Rally Championship frontrunner Thierry Neuville will use the Opel Corsa with which he began his rallying career 11 years ago for an event in Belgium next week

Factory Hyundai driver Neuville and his brother Yannick rebuilt the Opel - the model that was branded as the Vauxhall Nova in the UK - in their family garage.

Neuville will enter it in Belgian historic event Legend Boucles de Bastogne on February 2-4.

He won the rally in a Porsche 911 last year but Neuville and regular co-driver Nicolas Gilsoul have asked not to be included in the official classification this time due to the modified nature of the Opel.

"We decided to put a more powerful engine in to have some more fun," Neuville told Autosport.

"It's a Corsa B kit-car engine, which is very rare, but we managed to source one. It's got about 210hp, so it should be interesting.

"We made a few minor improvements. Let's just say the car will be a bit of a hybrid.

"I don't want to drive the car as a 'demo' as I really want to compete and be able to register my times, but my name will not appear in the overall rankings.

"Our aim is first and foremost to be present in this great Belgian rally event and put on a show.

"I really love this rally. The course, the atmosphere and the general public in Bastogne are fantastic.

"We really enjoyed ourselves last year and I truly wanted to be back in 2018, but in a different way: purely for fun, for the fans and for Nicolas and myself."

Neuville was 19 when he used the Corsa to make his rallying debut on the Cretes Rally in Luxembourg and finished on the podium.

He also took a class win with it on a hillclimb.

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