Relive the first day of the Acropolis Rally with live commentary

Extreme heat, narrow and treacherous paths with loose stones... Seventh meeting of 2025 in WRC, the third consecutive on earth, the Rally The Acropolis Championship, held this weekend, promises to be one of the most demanding of the season for drivers and cars. For the moment, Toyota leaves only crumbs to his opponents with six victories in the first six rounds, including the last two for Sébastien Ogier. Present in Greece, will the Frenchman continue? Or will the Hyundai, who won a hat-trick here last year, will they finally achieve success in 2025? A great battle is in store over the first day, which you can follow in full on AUTOhebdo.fr!

06:28 – SS2: Aghii Theodori 1 – 26,76 km: 🇲🇫 Sébastien Ogier
07:31 – SS3: Loutraki – 12,90 km: 🇲🇫 Adrien fourmaux
09:28 – SS4: Aghii Theodori 2 – 26,76 km: 🇲🇫 Sébastien Ogier
13:29 – SS5: Thiva – 19,58 km: 🇲🇫 Adrien fourmaux
15:50 – SS6: Stiri – 24,18 km: 🇲🇫 Adrien fourmaux
18:31 – SS7: Elatia – 11,58 km: ​🇧🇪 Thierry Neuville

> Follow the evolution of the ranking live via the official WRC Live Timing

WRC – Acropolis Rally
Relive the first day live with commentary

19h38 -   Thank you all for following this first day of the Rally from the Acropolis with live commentary. Join us this Saturday from 7:00 a.m. for the second day!

19h30 - In the overall category, Solberg takes the lead with a 53" lead over the Pole and a 4" lead over the Briton. Still in fifth place, the Frenchman is now more than 56 minutes behind the Toyota driver (4'2 exactly).

19:25 p.m. – In WRC2, Oliver Solberg concluded his Friday perfectly with his fifth fastest time (out of six stages). The Swede finished ahead of Greensmith (+3 seconds) and Kajetanowicz (+4 seconds). Yohan Rossel, who struggled all day because he also had to lead the way, took fourth place in SS3, 6 seconds behind the Swede.

19h17 - The rankings at the end of this SS7 and this first day of the Acropolis Rally: 

19h12 - The seventh special stage of this Acropolis Rally, the last of this Friday, ends with this scratch achieved by the Belgian Thierry Neuville! Overall, Ott Tänak leads the dance ahead of the French Adrien Fourmaux and Sébastien Ogier

19h08 - ???? "We deserved better today, but it's a lottery. We'll see what happens tomorrow." admits Neuville, winner of this ES7, at the finish

19h05 - Munster and McErlean, pilots M-Sport, are in more difficulty in this ES7 and concede around 20 seconds on the best

19h02 - ???? "It was a good afternoon. I'm very happy with our pace and the team. We should be in the lead, because of the time we lost in the dust on the first special.", assures Fourmaux, hot

18:58 p.m. – 🇲🇫 Adrien Fourmaux will finish second in this special, less than 2″ behind his teammate!

18h56 - ???? "Clean day for us. Happy with that.", Tänak simply states

18h53 - Fourmaux is in time with his teammates

18:52 p.m. – Neuville takes the lead in 8:15.03, 3 seconds better than the Estonian!

18h50 - 🇲🇫 Adrien Fourmaux is gone, will he achieve a third consecutive scratch?

18h49 - 🇪🇪 Ott Tänak also achieved the best provisional time in 8:19.2

18h48 - The sweep is very important in this ES7, each driver seems to improve the time of the previous one

18h47 - ???? "I gave it my all. The gap is much smaller than it should be. On this stage, I couldn't use the tires I wanted because one of them was damaged. Tomorrow, I have nothing to lose." Ogier simply admits at the finish

18:46 p.m. – Rovanperä takes the lead in turn! 8:22.2 for the Finn

18:45 p.m. – 🇲🇫 Provisional best time for Ogier in 8:26.0 

18h45 - ​🇧🇪 Thierry Neuville, his teammate, is also in the race

18h43 - 🇪🇪 Tänak has taken off!

18:41 p.m. – Please note that M-Sport driver Martins Sesks will not be starting this last special stage of the day due to a fuel supply problem.

18:40 – Evans finishes in 8:33.2

18h37 - Rovanperä, who lost 2 minutes due to a puncture on SS6, is now in the race

18:34 p.m. – 🇲🇫 Ogier, now provisionally third overall, has left

18h31 - 🟢 Here we go for this seventh special! The Welshman has just set off

18h27 - Struggling all day, Elfyn Evans will open the road one last time this Friday

18h21 - 🔴 SS7, the shortest of this first day (11,58 km), will start in 10 minutes

17:00 p.m. – ⚠️ We’ll meet around 18:30 p.m. to follow the last special of the day together!

16:55 p.m. – Overall, in WRC2, the Swede is comfortably in the lead with a 49″ lead over the Pole Kajetan Kajetanowicz and a 8″ lead over the Briton. Still fifth, the Frenchman is now 53'1 behind the Toyota driver.

16:50 p.m. – In WRC2, Oliver Solberg was beaten, for the first time today, by Estonian Robert Virves (Skoda Fabia), by 0 seconds. Third place went to Bolivian Marco Bulacia (Toyota Yaris, +8 seconds). Yohan Rossel, 1th, lost 8 seconds.

16h46 - The rankings at the end of this SS6 of the Acropolis Rally: 

16h40 - End of this sixth special! Adrien Fourmaux, impressive, takes his third scratch of the day ahead of Ott Tänak! The latter takes the lead of the general classification ahead of his teammate

16h35 - ???? "I'm quite happy. We had a good pace from the start of the special and we took advantage of the sweep. But then we struggled a bit in the hairpins. It's definitely hotter than in Sardinia.", smiles the M-Sport driver

16h31 - ???? "It's a great day for us. We're happy with our scores and our pace," ensures Fourmaux is hot

16h29 - Third place in this SS5 will go to Luxembourger Grégoire Munster (M-Sport)!

16:24 p.m. – 🇲🇫 Huge Adrien Fourmaux!! The Frenchman takes the lead in this special by 3″4 ahead of his teammate in 15:03.9!

16:23 p.m. – Second provisional time for Katsuta at the finish, 8 seconds behind the Hyundai driver!

16:22 – 💬 "This stage is cleaning up a lot. There might be another driver going faster after us.", says Tänak

16h20 - Fourmaux is on par with the Estonian! It's going to be a close call at the finish!

16h19 - 🇧🇪 Neuville is provisionally third, at the same time as Ogier

16:17 p.m. – 🇲🇫 💬 "In this type of special, we have no grip. But it's still a good day for us.", admits Ogier with a smile.

16:15 p.m. – Tänak smashes Ogier’s time!! 13 seconds better than the Frenchman in 15:07.0!!

16h12 - The Estonian is making big leaps!! 

16h11 - 🇲🇫 Adrien Fourmaux set off during this time

16h11 - Tänak is well on his way to winning this SS6 and taking the lead in the general classification!

16:09 p.m. – 🇲🇫 15:20.0 p.m. for Ogier who takes the provisional lead! 

16:08 p.m. – 🔴 Puncture for Rovanperä!

16:06 – Evans finishes in 15:27.5

16h05 - Tänak seems to be in attack mode and is ahead of Ogier at the intermediates at the moment

16h03 - 🇧🇪 Neuville is gone, the Belgian is now out of the running for the general classification due to two consecutive punctures

16h00 - 🇪🇪 Ott Tänak is off! Will he close in on the Frenchman in the general classification or take the lead?

15h59 - This special stage is one of the new stages on the rally's program. It features long straights and quite a few hairpin bends.

15h57 - Rovanperä has just left in turn

15h53 - 🇲🇫 Sébastien Ogier is in the race

15h50 - 🟢 Here we go for this sixth special! Elfyn Evans has set off

15h45 - For the moment, it seems we are heading towards a three-way battle between Ogier, Tänak and Fourmaux in this Greek event.

15h40 - We're back, the sixth special will start in ten minutes!

14h35 - ⚠️ We'll meet again in just over an hour to follow the 6 km long SS24,18

14:31 p.m. – Overall, in WRC2, the Swede is logically widening the gap on his pursuers. Thus, he is ahead of the Pole Kajetanowicz by 42 seconds and therefore the Briton by 7 seconds. Rossel, for his part, is in 48th place, now 2'5 behind his closest pursuer in the championship.

14:28 p.m. – In WRC2, Oliver Solberg made it four out of four on this first day in Greece by winning this fifth special stage ahead of Gus Greensmith (+4 seconds). Yohan Rossel finished 1th and was six seconds behind the Toyota driver.

14h24 - The rankings at the end of this SS5 of the Acropolis Rally: 

14h19 - That's it for this fifth special! Adrien Fourmaux takes the scratch, his second of the day, while Ott Tänak closes in on Sébastien Ogier in the overall standings!

14h12 - McErlean is the best-placed M-Sport driver in this stage with a 7th place, 11″ behind the Hyundai driver.

14h08 - Munster concedes 17″ to Fourmaux at the finish

14:07 p.m. – 🇲🇫 💬 For his French teammate at Hyundai, things obviously went much better: "It was much sandier than I expected. It was less brittle, but there were some stones on the road and I tried to avoid them. The really difficult stage will be next."

14h04 - 💬 Thierry Neuville seems resigned to the finish of this SS5: "It's a disaster. I'll ride to the end and we'll see."

14:01 p.m. – 🇲🇫 Oh Fourmaux! Only 0 seconds ahead of the Estonian at the finish! He takes the lead!

13h59 - ???? “It’s a slightly faster stage and the car is easier to drive.”, confirms Tänak, hot off the press

13h58 - 🇧🇪 At the finish, Neuville concedes more than 2 minutes to his teammate

13h57 - Grégoire Munster (M-Sport) will try to hold on this afternoon. He is provisionally 8th overall, and will move up one place due to Neuville's puncture.

13h55 - Adrien Fourmaux seems ahead of Tänak and Ogier!

13h54 - ???? "It's super slippery, there's no grip. The following cars will have better conditions," Ogier advanced at the finish

13h52 - 🇪🇪 Fastest time for the Estonian at the finish! 3 seconds better than the Frenchman! 

13h50 - 🇲🇫 Meanwhile, Fourmaux has left, while Rovanperä concedes 2″8 on Ogier

13h49 - 🚨 The Belgian decides to stop and change his wheel!

13:48 p.m. – 🔴 Front right puncture for Neuville! The reigning world champion continues to suffer a bad luck!

13:46 p.m. – 🇲🇫 7″4 better for the eight-time world champion at the finish, who finished in 13:27.8! 

13h45 - Tänak and Neuville are within Ogier's time

13:43 – 13:35.2 for Evans at the finish

13h42 - 🇧🇪 Neuville is in the race. The Belgian, who punctured on SS4, is more than 34″ behind Ogier in the provisional general classification.

13h39 - 🇪🇪 It's off to Tänak, currently second provisionally in the standings

13h38 - The Finn seems to be on the attack at the start of the special

13h35 - The third Toyota, from Rovanperä, is off

13h32 - 🇲🇫 Sébastien Ogier is in the race

13h29 - 🟢 Here we go for this fifth special! Elfyn Evans has set off

13h24 - As a reminder, all day this Friday, Elfyn Evans, leader of the championship, opens the road ahead of the eight-time world champion and Kalle Rovanperä

13h19 -  Before focusing on the fifth special stage, let's take a look back at what happened in the first loop. Sébastien Ogier leads the way ahead of Ott Tänak:

Acropolis Rally – Sébastien Ogier already creates first gaps

13h15 - 🔴 We are back to follow the three afternoon special stages, starting with the 5 km SS19,58

10:45 a.m. – ⚠️ The second loop of the day will begin with SS5 at 13:29 p.m. So we'll meet up from 13:20 p.m. to follow the afternoon specials live!

10:40 a.m. – Obviously, things are getting even more complicated for the Frenchman in the provisional general standings, as he is now more than 1'45 behind his main rival...

10h37 - 🇲🇫 Still in WRC2, Yohan Rossel apparently had a problem because he lost 1'07 to the Swede in this SS4! "I don't know. I didn't touch anything, I just tried to finish the stage and I broke a suspension arm," he specified upon arrival.

10:35 a.m. – In WRC2, Oliver Solberg was once again the fastest in this fourth special stage and continues his demonstration with the three scratch times achieved during the first loop this Friday morning! 

10h30 - The rankings at the end of this SS4 of the Acropolis Rally: 

10h25 - The fourth special stage concludes! Sébastien Ogier, impressive in these extremely rough conditions, takes the win and retakes the lead in the overall standings! The first gaps have already been created!

10h23 - Sesks concedes more than 35 seconds to the Frenchman, the M-Sport drivers are already over a minute ahead in the general classification.

10h20 - Same time as Neuville at the finish for the Irishman (+39″5 compared to Ogier)

10:17 a.m. – 🔴 Front left tire puncture for McErlean! 

10h15 - ???? "Really, really brittle. I was careful, I wanted to spare the car," explains Fourmaux

10h14 - Note that local Jourdan Serderidis is competing in his national event in Rally1 at the wheel of a Ford Puma M-Sport

10h13 - The three M-Sport drivers are expected at the finish line

10h10 - 🇲🇫 Fourmaux finished in 18:46.7, 15″2 behind the Toyota driver!

10h09 - ???? "It's hard to know what happened. Obviously, there were a lot of stones... The rally is still long, there will be many more punctures this weekend. We made the right decision to continue. This is not the end of the rally." Neuville concedes after his puncture

10h07 - 🇲🇫 Adrien Fourmaux, who had the chance to take the lead in the rally, is far behind his compatriot's time!

10h06 - ???? "It was a clean run. Big risk of a puncture here. I'm not at one with the car at all, it's difficult to ride smoothly in these conditions.", admits Tänak for his part

10h05 - 🇧🇪 The outgoing winner of this Acropolis Rally concedes more than 39″ to Ogier!

10h04 - The Belgian loses the tread on his tire! But he drives without taking any risks

10:03 a.m. – Logically, Neuville loses a lot of time because of his puncture!

10h02 - ???? "It was as rough as expected! I tried to ride cleanly, without attacking, and in every rough section you can go faster, but the risk is too great," assures Ogier at the finish

10h01 - 🇪🇪 Tänak concedes 4 seconds to the Gapençais at the finish! The latter made a huge end to the special once again

10:00 a.m. – 🔴 Slow puncture for Neuville! 

9h59 - Rovanperä loses more than 20 seconds to Ogier! The gaps are impressive

9h58 - Grégoire Munster is the first M-Sport driver in the race in this SS4

9h57 - Tänak and Neuville are almost at the same time as the Frenchman

9:56 AM – 🇲🇫 Another huge time from Ogier! He improves on the Welshman's time of 17:4 by 18 seconds!

9:53 – Evans finishes in 18:48.8 

9h51 - Neuville ahead of Ogier's times so far

9h49 - Katsuta, far down the standings due to a puncture during SS2, left

9h46 - 🇧🇪 Neuville and 🇲🇫 Fourmaux, the first two in the provisional general classification of this event, are in the race

9h44 - Ogier is well ahead of his teammate at the first intermediates

9h42 - 🇪🇪 Tänak is the first Hyundai driver to start

9h39 - Rovanperä, third in the drivers' standings behind his two teammates, is in the race

9h36 - 🇲🇫 Sebastien Ogier, who had dominated the rest of the field during the first pass this morning, set off

9h33 - 🟢 Here we go for this fourth special! Elfyn Evans is gone

9h29 - 🚨​ The first departure time is delayed by five minutes, to 9:33 a.m.

9h26 - We're back! The fourth special stage of the Greek event will begin in less than two minutes.

8h33 - ⚠️​ We meet again now at 9:25 p.m. to follow SS4 live!

8:30 a.m. – Overall, the WRC2 championship leader is now 6th, 38 seconds behind the Swede! As a reminder, he had a puncture in SS2 and lost more than 2 seconds to his main rival…

8:25 a.m. – 🔴 In Rally2, Yohan Rossel, who had a rather difficult start to the rally since he opened the road this Friday morning, finished only eighth in SS3, 7 seconds behind Oliver Solberg! Note that he had received a 1-minute penalty for being early at the time control this morning. But this has been withdrawn 

8h18 - The rankings at the end of this SS3 of the Acropolis Rally: 

8h14 - The third special stage ends with Adrien Fourmaux in attack mode! The Frenchman has won everyone's favor and moves up to second place overall behind Neuville.

8h12 - A more than decent special for Grégoire Munster, who did better than Ogier, with 11″4 conceded on the Frenchman

8h10 - McErlean and Sesks finish, losing about 20 seconds to the fastest riders. However, no punctures to report.

8h07 - ???? "I had a clean stage. I was careful in the narrow section, but when I could, I attacked and had fun," declares Fourmaux, winner of this SS3

8h03 - ???? "Okay, I had a good stage. But the rally is very long. I want to keep this pace, and we hope it will be okay.", admits Neuville on arrival

7:59 a.m. – 🇲🇫 Fourmaux puts everyone in agreement in this SS3!! The Hyundai driver improves Neuville's time by 4 seconds to 9:9 and will set the scratch! 

7h56 - Third provisional time at the finish of this special for Katsuta, ahead of Ogier

7h55 - Adrien Fourmaux also seems to be on the attack

7:53 a.m. – 🇧🇪 Neuville’s fastest time! 2 seconds faster than his teammate and… more than 1 seconds ahead of Ogier! He’s going to take the lead of the rally! 

7h52 - Katsuta also seems to be off to a good start in this SS3

7h51 - 🇲🇫 Fourmaux and Katsuta are in the race in turn

7:50 a.m. – 🇪🇪 5 seconds better for the Estonian at the finish (9:15.7)! He takes the lead in the special!

7h49 - Tänak and Neuville are on the attack! The two Hyundai drivers are ahead of the Frenchman

7h48 - ???? "It's very slippery, the special is very technical. For now, we're doing everything we can," assures Ogier at the finish

7h47 - Rovanperä behind his teammate by 1″7 at the finish

7h46 - 🇧🇪​ Neuville took off

7h45 - Tänak is clearly on the attack and is ahead of the Frenchman's times

7:44 a.m. – 🇲🇫 Ogier takes the provisional lead of this special in 9:20.8!

7:42 – Evans finishes in 9:27.1 

7h40 - 🇪🇪 Ott Tänak, who lost more than 6 seconds on SS2, will have to attack if he wants to limit the damage.

7h37 - Kalle Rovanperä also left

7h34 - 🇲🇫 Seb Ogier is also in the race

7:31 a.m. – 🟢 This third special stage is already underway! Elfyn Evans has set off 

7:29 a.m. – In Rally2, Yohan Rossel also suffered a puncture! The Frenchman, leading the category championship, is already more than 30 seconds behind Oliver Solberg and 10 behind Gus Greensmith, his main rivals in the standings.

7h28 - ​ Rankings at the end of this SS2 in Greece: 

7h23 - That's it for this second special! Sébastien Ogier has now secured the scratch, his second after Thursday evening's Super Special, just ahead of Sami Pajari! The Frenchman takes the lead in the general classification ahead of Neuville

7h18 - The young Latvian is driving right over the rim! He's taking a lot of risks and has made a mistake! He was close to the ravine...

7:15 a.m. – Martins Sesks also has a puncture, on the front left! This is already the third pilot trapped this Friday morning.

7h12 - ???? "I didn't feel great. I'm surprised to be faster than Ott. I was struggling with the car's corner entry. It wasn't a great stage to start with." Neuville declares hot off the press

7h09 - Sami Pajari, ahead of Ogier at all intermediate points, will finish second in this special at only 0″7!!

7h07 - Irishman Josh McErlean (M-Sport) also had a puncture in SS2

7:06 a.m. – 🇲🇫 Adrien Fourmaux drops more than 10″ to his compatriot! 

7h04 - ???? "I was at the limit of my grip. The road is improving a lot. There's still a bit of dust hanging in the air.", assures Ogier at the finish

7h02 - Note already a first puncture in this rally, suffered by the Japanese Toyota driver, Takamoto Katsuta

6h59 - 🇧🇪 Neuville concedes only 1 second to Ogier! 

6h58 - The three M-Sport drivers, Munster, McErlean and Sesks, took off

6:56 a.m. – 🇪🇪 The Estonian finishes 6″7 behind the Gapençais!!

6h55 - Tänak and Neuville are slightly ahead of Ogier at the penultimate stage

6h54 - Rovanperä, at the finish, lost more than 8″5 to his teammate!

6h53 - Huge time from the eight-time world champion! No one seems to be doing better in the intermediates at the moment

6:50 a.m. – ​🇲🇫 17 seconds better for Ogier! 19:00.1! 

6h46 - The Welshman finished in 19:17.5

6h43 - Behind Elfyn Evans, Ogier, Rovanperä, Tänak, Neuville and Fourmaux notably set off

6h40 – 🟢 The second special stage started on time with Elfyn Evans! The images have only just reached us 

6h35 - While we wait for the first drivers to take off, here's a quick reminder of the conditions in Greece. Extreme heat (over 40°C) is forecast for Friday, enough to make both men and machines suffer. Loose rocks will make the roads even more treacherous.

6h30 - The start of this second special stage does not yet appear to have been given. As a reminder, on Thursday evening, the program was already delayed.

6h25 - This Thursday evening, Ott Tänak and Sébastien Ogier tied for the fastest time in the 1,5 km Super Special stage held in the heart of Athens.

Acropolis Rally – SS1: Ott Tänak and Sébastien Ogier tied for the lead

6h20 - If you want to know the full program of the 2025 Rally of Sardinia, click here:

Schedules, TV channels… The complete program of the Acropolis Rally

6h16 - Leading the championship, and as the regulations stipulate, Elfyn Evans will open the road this Friday in front of his two Toyota teammates

6:13 a.m. – 🔍​ A quick reminder of the points in the Drivers' Championship before this Acropolis Rally:

1) Elfyn Evans (Toyota) – 133 points (12+2+1)
2) Sébastien Ogier (Toyota) – 114 points (25+3+0)
3) Kalle Rovanperä (Toyota) – 113 points (15+5+5)
4) Ott Tanak (Hyundai) – 108 points (17+4+3)
5) Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) – 83 points (0+1+4)
6) Takamoto Katsuta (Toyota) – 63 points (10+0+2)
7) Adrien fourmaux (Hyundai) – 44 points (0+0)
8) Sami Pajari (Toyota) – 31 points (6+0)
9) Gregory Munster (M-Sport Ford) – 18 points (0)
10) Josh McErlean (M-Sport Ford) – 12 points (0)
11) Martins Sesks (M-Sport Ford) – 8 points (0)

6h10 -   Hello everyone ! Welcome to our live commentary this morning, where we'll follow the Acropolis Rally together, starting with the first day's six-stage run. The starting gun for the first stage will be fired at 6:28 a.m.

ALSO READ > Schedules, TV channels… The complete program of the Acropolis Rally