The Hyundai driver emerged as the best of the rest behind a dominant rally winner Kalle Rovanpera last weekend, finishing 52.7s behind the inspired Toyota driver who recorded 13 consecutive stage wins.
While the gap to the winner was significant, Neuville delivered arguably his best showing on fast, smooth gravel stages since finishing second at Rally Finland in 2013.
The surface has proved to be a weakness for the Belgian in recent seasons and particularly last year when behind the wheel of the i20 N Rally1 Neuville finished a distant fourth, almost four minutes behind winner Rovanpera, in Estonia.
The Hyundai was particularly difficult to tame on these roads as then team-mate Ott Tanak, a four-time Rally Estonia winner, could only finish 1m55.7s adrift in third.
However, Neuville’s says his Hyundai team has made significant strides in evolving its car in the last 12 months, benefiting from the squad’s Finland test base and the input of new team-mate Esapekka Lappi.
“Actually [second] feels like a victory because Kalle was out of the competition this weekend," said Neuville.
“It feels good. The best thing is I felt comfortable in the car and I was able to drive with my usual rhythm at such a fast event. This gives me a lot of motivation for Finland [next week].
“The car has evolved. We were far off last year and Ott was even struggling to be close to the podium. We have a good car and we have been doing lots of testing on Finnish roads, which are similar, and I'm getting more used to it.
Source: Autosport