Neuville "incredibly disappointed" with late error

Hyundai number one driver Thierry Neuville was left "terribly disappointed" after he squandered a fourth place finish on Rally Argentina.

Neuville had lost over four minutes on Friday morning with a puncture, but following that he set a number of top-four times and went into the final day running in fifth.

That soon became fourth when engine issues claimed Jari-Matti Latvala, but in the final test, El Condor 2, he hit a rock early on and lost the rear-left wheel and was unable to continue. Andreas Mikkelsen had hit the same rock and gone out moments earlier.

"This is a disappointing end to the rally for all of us in the team. I made a mistake in the Power Stage, by attacking too much from the beginning of the stage. I should have focussed on securing our position, which was the most important thing for both championships," Neuville conceded.

"I lost the rear of the car in a corner that should be flat out. We must now learn from this weekend and move onto to returning to form in Portugal."

Hyundai team boss Michal Nandan was not particularly happy, although Dani Sordo's fifth in the sister car was some consolation.

"We knew it would be a tough event, and tough it has been! We had various issues throughout the three days with mechanical problems or incidents, so the team has had to work hard, for which they should be commended," Nandan added.

"Our objective on Sunday was to secure the positions and bring home Manufacturers' points. The result is of course not what we wanted but I always look for the positives and Dani did a great final stage to score two Power Stage points and claimed fifth overall.

"Thierry, of course, is incredibly disappointed to have retired but he was clearly pushing hard. We will analyse everything from this weekend and will use this experience to continue building rally by rally."

Meanwhile, Hayden Paddon was classified 16th in the third car, re-joining on the final day after his crash on Saturday that hospitalised six fans.