Does Neuville have a point with his Rally1 rant?

OPINION: Thierry Neuville's diatribe against the upcoming Rally1-spec machines that will usher in the World Rally Championship's new hybrid era was remarkable in an era where drivers are usually reticent to air their views in public. But are the Belgian's concerns about speed, safety and cost entirely valid?

Updated Sep 17, 2021, 4:04 PM

The World Rally Championship is set for a new hybrid future next year, but not everybody is a fan of the new Rally1 regulations. Hyundai driver Thierry Neuville made that point abundantly clear prior to last weekend’s Acropolis Rally.

One of the WRC's more senior figures, his 14 wins putting him level with double champion Walter Rohrl in the history books, Neuville has been outspoken in his concerns about the WRC’s new direction before. But last week, he took that to another level highlighting several points worthy of discussion.

comments

Author Tom Howard

Tom Howard is a News Editor working across both Autosport.com and Motorsport.com websites. Starting out as a sports reporter in local newspapers, Tom focussed on motorsport covering several national championships in the UK, including the BTCC.

After a period working as a freelance journalist, Tom moved to Australia in 2013 landing a job at leading Australian motorsport news outlet speedcafe.com, covering international motorsport events including F1, WRC and Supercars. Progressing to Editor in 2017, Tom was named Motorsport Australia Journalist of the Year for his work. He is also a two-time winner of Supercars Journalist of The Year (2017,2019) and a Supercars Championship Media Award winner in 2019.

Tom moved back to his native UK in 2020, firstly working in BTCC, before joining Autosport and motorsport.com in 2021.