Neuville pleased with snow progress

Thierry Neuville believes the lessons he learned on his snow debut in Sweden will stand him in good stead for the rest of his maiden FIA World Rally Championship powered by Nokia campaign.

Citroen’s new protege finished 13th in Sweden as he built up confidence in the conditions, and set some quick times on shorter stages along the way.

"Of course there’s still a lot of big improvements to do," Neuville acknowledged.

"But we gained a little bit of confidence, we know the car better now so this could help as well for the next rallies, even on gravel."

Neuville was running early in the start order for most of the weekend, so was pleased with his times considering his lack of snow experience and his difficult road position.

"I’m very happy with the weekend. We improved a lot. Especially on Saturday, we were quite fast," he said.

The 22-year-old Belgian will contest between nine and 11 rounds of this year’s WRC.