Sebastien Ogier snatched the Acropolis Rally Greece lead from Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville by 1.3 seconds to set up a thrilling final loop showdown for victory.
Two-time Acropolis Greece winner Neuville started the final day with a 4.1s advantage over the reigning world champion and Toyota rival Ogier, but that advantage didn’t last long as this intense fight continued.
Ogier delivered an impressive drive in the rough gravel and sandy conditions in stage 14 (Aghii Theodori – 25.39km) to take 5.4s out of Neuville to snatch the rally lead. The nine-time world champion admitted he was surprised by his pace.
“That’s a surprise, because I struggled a lot, I had a big fight with the sand,” said Ogier.
Neuville also struggled with the balance of his I20 N in the sandy conditions as he surrendered the lead to Ogier by a margin of 1.3s.
“I tried honestly. I tried hard. I just can’t keep the rear in the line, especially when it is sandy. It felt like the car was much softer than yesterday and was bottoming out. It is not over,” said Neuville.
The pair could not be split across the incredibly rough and punishing 16.61km Loutraki stage, which acted as a dress rehearsal for the final Power Stage. Incredibly, the pair set identical times to ensure the margin remained the same heading into the final two stages.
Thierry Neuville, Martijn Wydaeghe, Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1
Photo by: Hyundai
“It’s close, it can be like this until the end. Of course we tried to go fast, but I was not fully on it in the really rough, rocky sections,” said Ogier.
Neuville added: “It was a good stage for us, but still fighting the rear. Every time we get to the sandy surface the rear is sliding and I can’t control it. At the same time, we need to keep going and keep the rhythm.”
Toyota’s Takamota Katsuta held onto third position [+2m34.1s] despite seeing his advantage over Hyundai’s Adrien Fourmaux slashed to 23.3s after stage 14. Katsuta thought he had picked up a puncture and backed off during the test.
Fourmuax posted the fastest time in stage 14 but his hopes of reeling in Katsuta evaporated when he picked a third puncture of the weekend. This time his front left went, costing him almost two minutes, dropping him to fifth overall 1m01.2s behind M-Sport-Ford’s Josh McErlean.
Toyota’s Sami Pajari was only 0.9s behind Fourmaux in sixth while championship leader Elfyn Evans held onto seventh despite suffering a slow puncture in stage 14.
The top 10 was completed by Dani Sordo, Martins Sesks and Robert Virves, who claimed the WRC2 lead after Andreas MIkkelsen hit a rock and picked up a puncture.
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– The Autosport.com Team
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