Acropolis – SS9: Disaster for the French, Neuville new leader!

An almost unspeakable special... After the marathon course on SS8, several drivers suffered various problems with their horses, starting with the two Frenchmen. Sebastian Loeb was not even able to start SS9, due to a problem with his alternator. The nine-time world champion WRC tried to repair his Ford Puma with his co-driver, Isabelle Galmiche, in vain. The duo was forced to abandon.

ℹ️ Unfortunately, Seb and Isabelle ran out of time while conducting repairs, and so will be retiring on Saturday.

— M-Sport (@MSportLtd) September 10, 2022

During the special, it was the other Tricolore, Pierre-Louis Loubet, who suffered a stroke of bad luck with a puncture on the front left at the start of the special. Delaminated tire, damaged bodywork: the Corsican lost more than a minute at the end of SS9 and fell to 7th place in the general classification...

Another victim of SS9: Kalle Rovanperä, who made a mistake and hit a tree with the back of his Yaris. Broken left rear suspension, the championship leader lost more than 6 minutes on this single special and may not restart... Craig Breen also stopped after crossing the finish line, but no additional information was given.

Profitant des malheurs des M-Sport, ce sont les deux Hyundai, Thierry Neuville et Ott Tänak, who took command of the Rally of the Acropolis. The Belgian became the new leader with a nice lead of 18″6 over his Estonian teammate. Esapekka Lappi completes the top 3 with 22″5 behind Neuville.

The classification of SS9: 

The general classification after SS9: 

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