Thierry Neuville expecting ‘difficult’ weekend in Rally Japan after securing first 2026 win
28th May 2026Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville has said he suspects Rally Japan will be a difficult weekend for the South Korean team, despite securing their first win of the season last time out.
Feature image credit: Jaanus Ree // Red Bull Content Pool
The 2024 world champions head into the Japanese event after securing their first win of the 2026 season in Rally Portugal. Neuville, alongside his co-driver, Martijn Wydaeghe, put in a strong performance on gravel, last time around in Portugal, and opened up their first win after Toyota’s Sebastien Ogier suffered a late, penultimate puncture.
Despite having momentum going into Japan, the Belgian crew still believe that the team need to find that performance on tarmac surfaces. He said:
“We know that we are currently still fighting to find performance on tarmac, and we’re expecting a difficult weekend in Japan. This is one of the most twisty rallies on the WRC calendar, and probably one of the slowest.
“The recce is very demanding as we need to make a lot of pace notes; many corners are similar, so you need to differentiate between them as well as the speeds you can go. My goal is to be competitive and fight for a good position.”
The last time the team competed on asphalt was at Rally Islas Canarias at the end of April, where Toyota’s Sebastien Ogier took the win ahead of Elfyn Evans and Sami Pajari, completing a Toyota 1-2-3.
In contrast, Adrien Fourmaux was the leading Hyundai driver as the South Korean trio finished fifth, sixth and seventh overall that weekend, with Neuville sitting in the middle in sixth ahead of Dani Sordo.
With Hyundai’s competitiveness on gravel conditions, the team will be looking forward to the second half of the season, which will consist entirely of gravel rallies, starting with the Acropolis Rally in Greece at the end of June.
Speaking of his win in Portugal, the 2024 world champion says their performance on gravel was ‘encouraging.’ He said:
“We are very happy to have taken our first victory of the year, which was a long time overdue. Importantly, we were competitive throughout the whole weekend, which is very encouraging for the future.”
Read more WRC here:
- Ogier lays down the gauntlet in Rally Japan shakedown
- Sebastien Ogier fastest first pass in WRC Rally Japan Shakedown
- Rally Japan 2026: Full WRC weekend weather forecast
- WRC 2026 Rally Japan: The full WRC stage guide and times
- WRC 2026 Rally Japan: full Rally1 entry list
- Rally Portugal given €15,000 suspended fine after tow truck incident
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Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.
I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
Kamron Kent
Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
