Quote Originally Posted by dimviii View Post
Tanak believed Neuville could have beaten him to the win.

"On Friday, we were normally one or two tenths faster per stage than he was but on Saturday, it was actually the opposite - Thierry was actually a bit faster than I was," said Tanak.

"It was looking difficult, so I must say that if it had continued the same way, I would have accepted second place."
https://www.autosport.com/wrc/news/1...ed-opportunity
I think it was said in context, that he didn't want to take risks to drive faster than "clean run" and from championship point of view he could have accepted second place.
Maybe it's some mindgame, you never know. But for example from Neuville I can not imagine to hear something like that