The Hyundai driver was leading the rally by 10.8 seconds from Toyota’s Elfyn Evans when he went off the road 5.2km into a brand new test for this year’s rally.
Neuville misjudged a long right hander which resulted in his i20N drifting wide and into a piece of concrete which broke the left rear damper and upright which forced the Belgian to retire from Saturday’s action.
“I was trying to keep fighting with Elfyn and defend our lead and into a third gear right hand corner I was maybe a bit late on the braking going into the cut and when I entered the cut I lost the rear,” said Neuville.
“We hit some concrete on the outside and the rally was over.
“I didn’t feel very well in the car to be honest because it was a new stage and new pacenotes and tricky conditions, so I actually was not that fast, and on the split times we lost 1.5s after only three kilometres, but I expected to continue my rhythm.”
Source: Autosport