Sebastien Ogier claimed a stunning second win of the World Rally Championship season after a double puncture ended a victory bid from Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville following an intense Acropolis Rally battle.
Nine-time world champion Ogier and co-driver Vincent Landais trailed Hyundai’s Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe by 4.1 seconds heading into Sunday’s final four stages. The pair were never split by more than 11.0s as a head-to-head duel played out across rough gravel stages on Friday and Saturday.
Ogier managed to pull ahead of Neuville after Sunday’s opening stage by 1.3s, before the pair set identical times in Stage 15 to set up a grandstand finish heading into the final two stages.
After managing to avoid the tyre issues suffered by their Rally1 rivals across a particularly rough itinerary, the 2024 world champion picked up a double rear puncture on the penultimate stage that cost the Belgian 53.5s, which ultimately ended his victory hopes.
Ogier blitzed the stage in which Neuville hit trouble to win the test, extending his lead over Neuville to 54.8s ahead of the Power Stage. Ogier then produced an amazing drive to win the final Loutraki stage to clinch the win by 58.3s from Neuville. It proved to be a perfect victory after claiming the Super Sunday win and Power Stage victory.
“The Greek gods finally supported me! It was a long weekend, there was never a time to relax. I drove as gently as I could and tried to avoid every stone,” said Ogier.
Neuville added: “I am between disappointment and somehow a little bit of joy right now, because the car is performing well and we feel comfortable in it. Mixed feelings. Fair play to Ogier, he did an incredible race as well. We don’t know what would have happened without the puncture. But that’s rallying, in Portugal we profited from his puncture and now he does from ours.”
Thierry Neuville had to settle for second in Greece
Photo by: Hyundai
Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta completed the podium in third in what was an impressive result after he started from second on the road. The Japanese driver was disadvantaged by the road cleaning effect on Friday, but managed to hold onto sixth come the end of the leg, despite a right rear-tyre delamination in stage four.
Katsuta managed to climb ahead of the M-Sport-Ford duo of Josh McErlean and Martins Sesks on pure pace to sit fourth on Saturday morning.
Hyundai’s Adrien Fourmaux held third going into Saturday afternoon after enjoying a brief spell in the lead on Friday before suffering a front-right puncture in stage four that dropped him behind Neuville and Ogier. Fourmaux was among many to suffer punctures as Hankook’s revised hard tyres struggled in the incredibly rough conditions and the Frenchman suffered a second puncture in stage 12 which handed third to Katsuta.
Fourmaux finished the rally in sixth after suffering two more punctures on Sunday.
M-Sport-Ford’s McErlean managed to claim his career-best WRC result in fourth after surviving a late off-road excursion in the penultimate stage. The Irishman held onto the position by 6.7s from Toyota’s Sami Pajari, who lost almost two minutes to a wheel change in stage five.
Elfyn Evans headed into the round leading the championship, which meant he faced the worst of the road conditions on Friday. The Welshman ended the opening leg more than two minutes adrift in seventh, but was able to climb to fifth before a puncture struck in stage 13. A slow puncture on Sunday further delayed his progress as he finished in seventh.
Elfyn Evans, Scott Martin, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
Photo by: Toyota Racing
Evans held onto the championship lead, but his 20-point advantage has been cut to seven over Katsuta.
M-Sport-Ford’s Sesks claimed eighth after Hyundai opted to retire Dani Sordo’s car for strategic reasons before the final stage. Sesks was delayed by technical issues that incurred a 3m10s penalty for being late out of Saturday service.
M-Sport’s Jon Armstrong delivered one of the drives of the weekend to run as high as third on Friday before taking a maiden fastest time in stage five. A turbo issue however ended his podium hopes on Friday afternoon.
Oliver Solberg struggled for pace after suffering an early puncture before crashing in stage seven. The Monte Carlo winner left the weekend with a solitary Super Sunday point.
The top 10 was rounded out by WRC2 winner Robert Virves and his Toksport Skoda team-mate Andreas Mikkelsen.
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– The Autosport.com Team
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