Acropolis Rally organisers have shortened a stage due to deteriorating road conditions amid fears it would be “too extreme”, following a call led by Sebastien Ogier.
The battle for victory was finely poised with Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville leading Toyota’s Ogier by 3.7s as the crews headed into the midpoint service on Saturday.
Stage conditions across the morning’s four stages were largely not as rough as first feared, with all Rally1 crews surviving the loop without suffering any punctures.
Overnight leader Neuville started the day with a 9.7s lead as a tense fight for victory continued, with Ogier claiming two stage wins to Neuville’s one.
Once the crews returned to the service park, Ogier shared fears that Hankook’s revised hard tyres would not survive the rocky first five kilometres of the Ghymno stage, which hosted stage nine this morning and stage 12 this afternoon.
The nine-time world champion, not wanting a rally to be decided by a “lottery” in regards to avoiding punctures, asked his Toyota team to push for changes ahead of the afternoon loop, which have been approved.
Sebastien Ogier
Photo by: Toyota Racing
“The first pass was okay, but now I’ve seen pictures from the stage we repeat now. The first five kilometres [of the Ghymno stage] is really extreme, like much more than what we’ve done so far with massive steps, stones everywhere, very sharp,” said Ogier.
“I don’t see how our tyres can survive this condition, so it’s going to be a pure lottery. I’m honest with everybody. I have asked even my team to try to speak with the organiser, with whatever FIA saying that these five kilometres are not acceptable. It’s too risky that our tyres will not survive that, it’s super narrow. There is no place where you can stop to change the puncture.
“It is going to be stupid, and I don’t like it when rallies are decided like this. I hope someone will hear us.”
The FIA has since confirmed that the first 4.5km of Ghymno were removed from the afternoon loop.
“Following an inspection after the first pass of the Ghymno stage, a significant deterioration in road conditions has been identified along the opening section of SS12,” read a statement from the FIA.
“As a result, the clerk of the course has taken the decision to shorten SS12, the second pass of Ghymno, by approximately 4.5km from the start. The revised start location will be confirmed via bulletin.”
Thierry Neuville
Photo by: Hyundai
When asked about Ogier’s comments before the decision to cancel the section of the stage, rally leader Neuville said: “Honestly, I have not enough information yet but for sure it will be a rough section.
“If I think surely about the purely championship, for me it would be preferable to cancel it, but if I think only about the win, it is kind of a lottery. You lose or you win or nothing happens, who knows.
“It is maybe a bit too extreme. If you want to fight out a victory on pure driving we better cancel it.”
When asked if he would push for the cancellation, he added: “If somebody asks me, I will give my opinion but I will not push for it.”
Hyundai’s Adrien Fourmaux ended the loop in third [+56.0s], but could count himself super fortunate to be in the position after saving a wild slide in stage 10. The Frenchman admitted there had been a mistake while making his pacenotes as he entered a right-hander carrying too much speed.
The leaderboard outside of the podium places underwent a shake up as Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta and championship leader Elfyn Evans set about catching the M-Sport-Ford pair of Josh McErlean and Martins Sesks.
Joshua McErlean
Photo by: M-Sport
Katsuta started the day in sixth, 23.1s behind fourth-placed McErlean. A combination of strong speed from Katsuta and the opposite from Sesks led the former to jump ahead of the Latvian into fifth after the morning’s first stage.
Katsuta’s charge continued as he picked off McErlean in stage nine, before ending the loop in fourth overall.
Likewise, Evans, now starting sixth on the road and free of road sweeping duties that hampered progress on Friday, started to make inroads. The championship leader was able to produce a far stronger performance that helped the Welshman leapfrog Sesks to hold sixth at the midday service.
McErlean held onto fifth but the Irishman, who had the measure of his team-mate Sesks, was only 8.5s ahead of Evans. The fastest M-Sport driver over the morning was Jon Armstrong, who impressed despite starting second on the road after rejoining the rally following Friday’s retirement caused by a turbo issue.
Sesks completed the loop in seventh ahead of the third factory Hyundai driven by Dani Sordo, who demonstrated much stronger pace compared to Friday.
The top 10 was rounded out by Toyota’s Sami Pajari, who survived a spin in stage 10, and WRC2 class leader Andreas Mikkelsen. Oliver Solberg rejoined the rally after a broken gearbox prevented him from recovering from his off in stage seven on Friday.
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– The Autosport.com Team
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