Great future predicted for Neuville

Kronos Racing boss Marc Van Dalen has predicted a great future for Peugeot Benelux driver Thierry Neuville.

The young Belgian succeeded Freddy Loix when his fellow Belgian driver retired, until he returned for selected one-off events in the IRC, with ‘Fast Freddy’ winning three out of the four events he contested, coming third on the other. Neuville only competed on six events, but did score third on only his third event, the GEKO Ypres Rally.

“Thierry is very good and is improving all of the time. There’s still a lot for him to learn, but he is 22 years old and clearly a star for the future. At the start of Rally of Scotland he was around 1.7s per kilometre slower than the drivers at the front, but then he soon got that down to less than one second per kilometre slower, which is very impressive. He did not know Scotland but he learned the event and the surface very quickly and it was not an easy rally to learn. Okay, he made a mistake at the end, but this can happen.” said Van Dalen.

Neuville has no 2011 calendar confirmed, but it is thought that he will contest the entire IRC series next year with Peugeot Benelux.