Thierry Neuville clinched victory in the toughest Acropolis Rally in recent years to boost his World Rally Championship title hopes after rival Sebastien Ogier rolled on the final stage.
WRC points leaders Neuville and co-driver Martijn Wydaeghe claimed a second win of the season by 1m36.8s from team-mate Dani Sordo, with Ott Tanak third [+2m57.3s] to complete a surprise Hyundai 1-2-3. Neuville’s main title rival Ogier appeared on course to finish second before rolling his Toyota GR Yaris in the drama-filled final stage.
Eight of the nine Rally1 crews hit serious trouble across the three days of competition as the event left a significant mark on the title race.
Neuville’s run to victory, starting first on the road, wasn’t without problems after his i20 N was reduced to three cylinders for Friday’s opening three stages, before ending Friday 45.2s adrift in third position.
Title rival and part-time driver Ogier lit up the timing screens and was clearly the fastest driver on Friday. The eight-time world champion led Tanak by 11.7s before a turbo failure emerged at the end of stage five. The Frenchman dropped more than two and half minutes, effectively curtailing his victory bid.
This handed Tanak the lead, that he had briefly held after stage two, heading into Saturday, but the 2019 world champion became the next driver to hit trouble on the rough travel roads. Tanak was forced to stop and change a wheel twice after suffering punctures on stage seven that cost him more than four minutes, dropping him to fourth overall - picking up 10 Saturday points.
Team-mate Sordo inherited the rally lead before he hit a rock causing puncture in stage nine. His right-rear tyre delaminated ripping a hole in the bodywork on the rear quarter of his i20 N.
Neuville picked up the baton to become the rally’s fourth different leader. The Belgian managed to avoid issues through a Saturday, without a service, to head in to the final three stages with a 53.7s lead over Sordo, who took 15 points, as Neuville claimed the provisional 18 points in the process. Ogier pushed on to close the gap to 1m20.9s to secure 13 points.
Ogier once again proved his speed on the tricky tests topping the Sunday standings comfortably before his rally unravelled in spectacular fashion when he misjudged left-hander and rolled.
Incredibly, Ogier was able to bring the car to the finish after a lengthy delay to salvage his 13 Saturday points that he only picks up for finishing the rally.
The accident came after the 18.29km Power Stage was interrupted due to a spectator medical issue that required an ambulance.
Not wanting to risk losing his Saturday points with an issue on Sunday’s damp and muddy stages, Neuville managed to not overstep the mark to clinch the win and 24 points.
The points haul means Neuville’s lead over Ogier in the title race has extended to 34 points over Tanak, who moved to second in the standings.
Tanak came through to finish third overall despite a slow left-front puncture but managed to add three extra points following Ogier’s exit. He added 11 Sunday points to his total after finishing first in the Sunday rankings and second on the Power Stage.
Such was the attrition of the event, Sami Pajari winner of the WRC2 class finished fourth overall. The victory came in dramatic circumstances as a left-front puncture on the final stage left the Finn and his rival Robert Virves on identical overall times. Pajari took the win virtue of his more superior performance compared to Virves on the first stage. Virves was only competing in Greece following a successful crowd funding campaign.
Toyota title contender Elfyn Evans saw his championship hopes suffer a significant blow on the opening stage when he hit a rock and punctured a tyre. A turbo failure, similar to Ogier’s, on Friday dropped the Welshman almost 10 minutes adrift. Evans clipped a rut in stage 11 which resulted in a slow roll which ended his day prematurely.
Evans rejoined the rally on Sunday to salvage eight points after finishing third on both the Power Stage and in the Sunday rankings.
His Toyota team-mate Takamoto Katsuta ran as high as second after winning stage two before an impact on stage three resulted in the Japanese driver retiring on Friday. Katsuta rejoined on Saturday but spun and picked up a puncture on the final stage.
It proved to be a difficult weekend for M-Sport-Ford that began in promising fashion as Adrien Fourmaux reached Friday midday service trailing then leader Ogier by 5.9s. However, the Frenchman hit a small rock on stage four breaking his Puma’s steering and he was unable to successfully make repairs.
Fourmaux left Greece with 11 points after winning the Power Stage and finished second in the Sunday standings.
Stablemate Gregoire Munster produced arguably his best showing of the season to sit fifth, before he ran into a ditch on stage nine and damaged his Puma’s roll cage.
