Neuville: need for speed caused mistakes

Thierry Neuville has revealed his determination to prove his pace contributed to his early-season mistakes and says the key to success is to ensure he learns from those errors during the second half of the FIA World Rally Championship season.

Neuville, 24, will make his Neste Oil Rally Finland debut from 1-4 August in a Citroen Junior Team DS3 WRC on the back of his outing on auto24 Rally Estonia last weekend where he finished second overall (pictured).

Speaking to Nesteoilrallyfinland.fi, Neuville said: “When you are young and looking for acceptance from your team and other drivers, the first thing, of course, is to show how fast you are. When others say that your speed is good enough, you can start to think about consistency. At this moment I have the team’s complete support. They know that I can be very fast, but they also acknowledge that I don’t have much experience - especially on gravel.”

The Belgian is following in the footsteps of Sebastiens Loeb and Ogier by progressing from the Junior World Rally Championship to a Citroen ride in the main WRC. He plans to emulate their achievements but concedes that it won’t be an easy process.

“Loeb and Ogier progressed very quickly and if you want to be accepted, you have to be better than them,” said Neuville. “It’s not easy, that’s for sure. I can’t afford to make many mistakes, but when you’re young, you’re bound to make a few. I just have to understand the reason why I crashed out, or why I hit a rock and broke a tyre. If you can learn from your mistakes, you´ll become incredibly strong in the end.”