Royal road for Neuville and Hyundai on the Acropolis Rally

Three specials. There are “only” three stages left for Thierry Neuville achieves a first victory this season. A success which has been slipping through his hands since the beginning of the year, and which escaped him, stupidly, at Rally of Ypres. This time, on the “Rally of the Gods”, the deities seem to have spared the Belgian. Overcame the pitfalls of the Acropolis Rally and took advantage of the misfortunes of his opponents at M-Sport et Toyota, the pilot Hyundai has a royal road to finally acquiring a victory in 2022.

Behind, the threat rumbles. Ott Tänak, the best placed in the championship and double reigning winner in WRC, is far from already beaten. The Estonian put pressure on the last special of the day, setting the best time and recovering 6 seconds from the Belgian. At the end of the day, the gap was 27 seconds between the two teammates. A remake of the Ypres Rally, where tensions broke out between the two drivers? Neuville will be able to manage his lead, while Tänak will have to push to win.

Lappi and Greensmith betrayed by their mechanics… and the heat

Under the bright Mediterranean sun shining over the Lamia region, temperatures rose very high in the frames, to the point of creating some overheating problems. The Hyundai drivers all skipped the traditional interview at the finish of the special stages to avoid damaging their cars.

A simple detail? Just ask Gus Greensmith and Esapekka Lappi, betrayed by their mechanics. The Briton was forced to stop very early in the first special of the afternoon, due to a still unknown breakdown. Another disaster for M-Sport, which was first and second on Friday evening. Besides, Sébastien Loeb, who retired this morning, will not see the start on Sunday morning on the Acropolis Rally either.

For the Finn, it was the fuel pump that failed at the start of SS12. Lappi, then second at the start of the special, failed to reach the start of SS13 and had to retire. A big blow for Toyota, which did not place any of its cars in the top 3 at the end of the day. Only hope: Elfyn Evans, 4th, who is only 7 seconds behind Dani Sordo's 3rd place.

ℹ️ After suffering a technical issue in SS12, @EsapekkaLappi has ultimately retired on the road section on the way to SS13. Once the car is back in service we will prepare it to restart tomorrow.#ToyotaGAZOORacing #WRC #AcropolisRally 🇬🇷

- TOYOTA GAZOO Racing WRT (@TGR_WRC) September 10, 2022

A top 5 for Loubet on the Acropolis Rally?

Much further behind, we find the Frenchman Pierre-Louis Loubet, who was able to move up to 5th place thanks to the misadventures of Lappi and Greensmith. First classified M-Sport driver, the Corsican secured his position, isolated between Evans and Breen, which is relegated to more than a minute. If the disappointment is still present following the puncture of the morning, Loubet will be able to console himself with a nice lot of points tomorrow, if he arrives safely at the end of this merciless Acropolis Rally.

The general classification after SS13: 

ALSO READ > Loeb will not be at the start on Sunday in Greece