The Hyundai driver endured an eventful Friday morning in Kenya which began with a strange brush with the wildlife in the opening Loldia (19.17km) test.
However, it wasn’t Kenya’s usual wild animals that disrupted Neuville. At the start of the stage, a bee managed to find its way inside his Hyundai i20N and into his eye-line while navigating through the jungle.
Despite the distraction, the Belgian only dropped 8.7s to stage winner Toyota’s Sebastien Ogier.
“Yeah, it was strange. It looked like a bee but it was two times bigger,” Neuville told Autosport.
“After two corners I was braking and it came into the car and then into my crash helmet and I was distracted.
“I didn’t know if it was dangerous or not but after a while it went into the back of the car after four or five kilometres and we finished the stage.”
Neuville lost further time to a front right puncture on stage three but ended the loop, 21.2s behind rally leader Ogier at midday service.
Source: Autosport