Sebastien Ogier, Kalle Rovanpera and Elfyn Evans give their answers to Thierry Neuville who complained about the start position and the part-time drivers today.
The Belgian driver remains the championship leader since the end of Rallye Monte Carlo taking advantage over Ott Tanak's mistakes and Evans's lack of performance. However, this year's WRC calendar includes eight consecutive gravel rallies which means that Neuville had to clean the roads in four WRC rounds in a row. In addition to that, Latvia became the 37th country, which joined the World Rally Championship, and the organizers presented an itinerary in which there are eight stages running only once. Neuville had to sweep five stages a day ago while he started second on the road today, but still the stages were not enough clean to match the pace of his rivals and to gain some positions for Saturday classification. In fact, the penultimate day of Rally Latvia included four stages with one single pass which had as a result Neuville only overtook Gregoire Munster for the eighth place and was not able to have the same pace as the frontrunners even from the newcomer Martins Sesks. Finally, it must be mentioned that these regulations have been applied by FIA for many years and Sebastien Ogier and Kalle Rovanpera had the chance to become multiple WRC Champions despite the fact that they had to start first on the road on Fridays.
"It's the same for years", Kalle Rovanpera said.
"It's not now more difficult than it has been in previous years.
"Now Thierry knows what it is when he's opening the road.
"That's why everybody is crying.
"I'm crying when I do it, Seb did it for years before.
"That's just how it is, you need to take it.
"Otherwise, if you don't want to do it, don't lead the championship".
On the other hand, Sebastien Ogier said: "Unfortunately, it's like it is.
"I was suffering from this situation for many years.
"It's funny that a couple of years ago Thierry was often saying that I should stop crying about it, but now he's crying more than anybody about it.
"It's not fun and it's not great.
"I think the shame is that we are missing opportunities too often in the WRC to have fights between the best because too often there are big differences between start positions, and then you just handicap the best too much.
"I have lost this fight for many years".
Finally, Elfyn Evans stated: "If this is the way this is the way, it's for sure frustrating and in some ways confusing with the championship contenders down the back end of the top 10, let's say, but that's how it is for now".
Source: Motorsport.com
Photo Credits: Toyota
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