Neuville gets new co-driver for IRC bid

Thierry Neuville has acknowledged the efforts of his former co-driver Nicolas Klinger after confirming that he would be linking up with fellow Belgian Nicolas Gilsoul for the balance of his Intercontinental Rally Challenge campaign with Team Peugeot Belgium-Luxembourg this year.

Neuville and Klinger, who co-drove Nicolas Vouilloz to the IRC title in 2008, teamed-up for the 2010 season and scored a best result of third place on the Geko Ypres Rally in June.

However, Neuville has decided to change navigators and has recruited Gilsoul, a 29-year-old fellow Belgian: “I would like to thank Nicolas Klinger. He is an excellent co-driver and his taking and reading of pacenotes were always perfect. Through his experience and connections I made a lot of progress in understanding rallies with him but I no longer need a big brother with me – he is 35 and I am 22. He lives in southern France, me in Belgium, and we cannot meet each week but with Nicolas [Gilsoul] we can.”

Neuville and Gilsoul’s programme of rallies will be revealed tomorrow. They will drive a Peugeot 207 Super 2000 run by the Belgian Kronos Racing team.