Tanak beats Ogier to end Hyundai victory drought

Ott Tanak boosted his World Rally Championship title hopes after producing a stunning drive in extreme conditions to win Acropolis Rally Greece – ending Hyundai’s victory drought.

Tanak beat Toyota’s Sebastien Ogier by 32.8s following an intense head-to-head that concluded with Tanak suffering a gearbox issue on the final stage. Hyundai sealed a double podium with Adrien Fourmaux finishing third, 3m09.8s adrift. 

The victory ended Toyota’s runs of six consecutive wins having made a 100% winning start to the 2025 season.

Crews faced stifling heat as cockpit temperatures rose towards 70C. The punishing heat was combined with incredibly rough gravel roads, resulting in a series of punctures suffered by the WRC’s Hankook tyres. 

Tanak was one of a limited few that managed to complete the 17 stages without suffering significant tyre damage or any mechanical issues. 

The 2019 world champion initially shared the rally lead with Ogier after Thursday’s super special stage in the Greek capital Athens, before dropping 6.1s behind Ogier at Friday’s midday remote service.

Tanak overhauled Ogier to move into the lead by stage six as the latter felt the road cleaning effects, having started second on the road, on a day that featured five single pass stages. 

Tanak was also fighting balance issues with his i20 N but still maintained the rally lead, ending Friday with a three-second advantage over Fourmaux, who made the most of his speed and beneficial road position to leapfrog the impressive Ogier.

Fourmaux claimed three stage wins across Friday, but his hopes of securing maiden WRC win were dented on Saturday morning when he clipped a bank with his right rear in stage 10. The incident damaged his suspension costing the Frenchman more than a minute and dropped to third. 

Saturday provided a Tanak versus Ogier head-to-head battle for the third round in succession. It was Tanak that came out on top after reeling off five stage wins from Saturday’s six stages to move into a 43.6s lead over Ogier.

Tanak continued to charge through a much longer Sunday, featuring 99 competitive stage kilometres, before having to nurse a gearbox issue on the Power Stage to seal the victory. Ogier, however, denied Tanak the maximum 10 Super Sunday points after a stunning effort on the Power Stage.    

After knocking a tyre off the rim on Saturday afternoon, Fourmaux netted his second podium of the year in third, following his Monte Carlo success, ending a run of misfortune.

Adrien Fourmaux, Alexandre Coria, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

Championship leader Elfyn Evans faced the worst of the conditions opening the road on Friday, but crucially managed to avoid any punctures or mechanical issues to end Friday in fourth 1m21.5s from the lead. 

The Welshman held onto the position to the finish to salvage 17 vital points to maintain his championship lead albeit reduced to nine points over Ogier, with Tanak only 12 points behind. 

Reigning world champion Thierry Neuville led the rally after stage three before back-to-back punctures in stages four and five effectively ended any hopes of a podium. The Belgian managed to finish fifth [+6m09.5s] despite picking up a third puncture on Saturday, followed by a broken damper and an engine issue on Sunday.

Oliver Solberg was among the minority to complete the arduous 17 stages without suffering any tyre issues to score a perfect WRC2 victory. Solberg was able to finish sixth overall benefitting from a series of issues suffered by Rally1 drivers. 

M-Sport’s Gregoire Munster was on course to finish sixth before a fuel related issue forced M-Sport to retire his Puma on Saturday night. Toyota’s Sami Pajari and M-Sport’s Martins Sesks retired due to fuel related problems. The FIA is investigating the situation that all Rally1 teams monitored during the weekend.

Double world champion Kalle Rovanpera struggled to find speed from his GR Yaris throughout the weekend. The Finn retired from seventh spot on Saturday when he ran off the road. but a driveshaft failure triggered a retirement. Rovanpera, who also suffered two punctures, returned on Sunday where he salvaged four points from the Power Stage.

Takamoto Katsuta also picked up two punctures but a mistake, while occupying fifth, on Saturday afternoon cost him valuable points. M-Sport’s Josh McErlean finished the rally outside of the points paying positions after losing time to a puncture and damaged driveshaft.