WRC – Ogier already on the carpet, Novikov in the lead at the Acropolis!

Le Rally of the Acropolis offers a unique scenario from the first special. Kineta’s journey? Pissa, the longest of the event with 47km on the clock, promised cold sweats for the crews who had to face dust and particularly harsh roads for the cars. While Sébastien Ogier had taken pole this morning, the Championship leader suffered in quick succession from a puncture and a technical problem (fuel pressure problem) putting an end to his hopes of a good result. The Frenchman was forced to stop and will not start again until tomorrow in Rally2.

But the French pilot was not the only one to suffer in this first sector. Mads Ostberg, who has had bad luck since the start of the year, damaged a wheel in the first kilometers after contact with a curb. The Qatar WRT driver was able to reach the finish after changing his wheel, but the Norwegian lost more than three minutes in the adventure. Mikko Hirvonen lost even more time suffering serious steering problems in his DS3 WRC. The Finn is at the finish but is almost six minutes behind the leader of the Acropolis Rally.

And what a leader since Evgeny Novikov surprised everyone by completing the 47km in 32'58"6, thus winning the scratch in Kineta-Pissa. “We’re trying to attack.”, he commented. Except that the Russian already has more than 20 seconds on his closest opponent Dani Sordo. “With what happened to the other cars, I didn’t want to take any chances.”, explained the Spaniard. The provisional podium is completed by Jari-Matti Latvala who follows the DS3 WRC at 16 seconds. “It was a bit slippery and very difficult. I had a problem with the handbrake. My car oversteers a lot”, added the Volkswagen driver.

The Finn is nevertheless chased by Thierry Neuville which follows at just two seconds. If the Belgian was unhappy with his car, he still achieved a very good time since he was 16 seconds ahead of Andreas Mikkelsen's Polo R WRC and 19 seconds ahead of Nasser Al-Attiyah's Ford Fiesta RS WRC. Martin Prokop is seventh ahead of Khalid Al-Qassimi. Robert Kubica leads in WRC2 with 20 seconds ahead of the Fiesta RRC of Yuriy Protasov who completes the top ten just ahead of Mads Ostberg.

The 26km Kineta special will be contested from 20:26 p.m. French time and can be followed live on AUTOhebdo.fr. Discover the first photos of the Acropolis Rally by going to our gallery.