Neuville impresses during Gran Canaria test

Marc van Dalen says Thierry Neuville did everything that was asked of him during his pre-Rally Islas Canarias test on Monday.

Neuville, 21, begins his six-round Intercontinental Rally Challenge campaign on the Gran Canaria-based event and used Monday’s session to reacclimatise to his Kronos Racing-run Peugeot 207 Super 2000, which he last drove on the Ypres Rally in June 2009.

Kronos boss van Dalen said: “He was just learning so we tried to give him some time to get his confidence with the car. The set-up is very specific here, low with hard suspension but he learned this well and found a good set-up similar to Kris Meeke [his team-mate].”

Neuville, who will run under the Team Peugeot Belgium-Luxembourg banner, covered approximately 80 kilometres during Monday’s test. He will be co-driven throughout his IRC programme by Nicolas Klinger, who partnered Nicolas Vouilloz to the IRC crown in 2008.