WRC – Mixed fortunes for Volkswagen at the Acropolis

Sébastien Ogier did not take long to come to the fore Rally of the Acropolis. The Championship leader set the best time at the end of the shakedown and the qualifying special and thus placed himself in the best position for the start this evening with two specials on the program (73km). “It was a good qualifier for us”, commented the pole sitter. “During the reconnaissance, we understood how important qualifying would be for the whole rally. There is a lot of gravel on the special stages. It is particularly important to have a clean line, especially since there are only 11 this time WRC at the beginning. I took a little more risk than usual and I gave everything to be able to choose my starting position. And it paid off! »

Jari-Matti Latvala, on the other hand, was behind in the qualifying special, achieving only the ninth fastest time out of the 11 WRC crews. The Finn fears losing time by starting from fourth position on the road. “Ninth place was clearly not the result we were looking for.”, indicated the Scandinavian. “Unfortunately this will force us to start this evening very far ahead and we will clearly clear the road for the other crews. The qualifying stage was very dusty and deep ruts had formed. I had steering problems that prevented me from staying on the ideal trajectory. It was the first time I drove the Polo R WRC on such a surface and we will have to review our settings before the start. »

Andreas Mikkelsen did better than his teammate as he set the sixth fastest time of the session. However, the Norwegian chose to start just ahead of Jari-Matti Latvala unlike the other crews who aimed for the last positions. “Qualifying went well for us. However, we had a lot of dust in the cabin, which made visibility poor. At one point we left the right trajectory. Other than that, we had a good run. The Acropolis Rally is our biggest challenge of the season, but we are ready. I'm especially looking forward to competing in the night stage this evening, which will be something very special. It will be important to find the right balance between conserving material and attacking. Our minimum objective is to reach the finish line located in Loutraki this Sunday. »

The Acropolis Rally will be followed in full and live on AUTOhebdo.fr. The program of the event can be found on this link.