Thierry Neuville has claimed the victory at the WRC’s Acropolis Rally to extend his championship lead to 34 points with 3 rounds remaining. Neuville’s titel rival Sébastien Ogier rolled during the final Power Stage.
The Belgian driver conquered the carnage-filled three-day fixture in Lamia to head up a Hyundai Motorsport 1-2-3 finish ahead of i20 N colleagues Dani Sordo and Ott Tänak, with Neuville’s main title rival Sébastien Ogier suffering a dramatic roll on the Wolf Power Stage while on course to finish second overall.
Ogier was able to push his Toyota GR Yaris back onto its wheels and finish the rally, crucially securing the 13 points scored on Saturday night, but plummeted down the overall rally standings after dropping more than 20 minutes.
The Frenchman had initially led early in the rally, but slipped behind when his car was crippled by a turbocharger failure on Friday afternoon. Tänak and Dani Sordo also felt the wrath of the Acropolis, both suffering tyre damage on Saturday that dashed their own victory hopes and catapulted Neuville into the lead.
Neuville not immune to problems during Friday
Even Neuville and co-driver Martijn Wydaeghe were not immune to the rally’s brutality. A misfiring engine plagued their Hyundai i20 N on the opening morning, but the pair managed to regroup and applied a sensible strategy, carefully balancing risk and reward to avoid further calamities on the treacherous tracks.
The result stretched Neuville’s lead in the drivers’ standings to 34 points over Tänak as Ogier fell to third, with 90 points still available from the remaining three rounds. In the manufacturers’ championship, Hyundai extended its advantage over Toyota to 35 points.
Neuville: ‘I didn’t have the information on Ogier’s crash at all.’
“I didn’t have the information on Ogier’s crash at all, and when I saw the car I still wasn’t sure it was him,” Neuville revealed. “I understood from that point on that I just had to bring home the car and get through.
“Since yesterday morning we understood that we had to get through and to follow our objectives. I am really proud of my team as well and Martijn – we got the car to the end and that’s what matters.”
Tänak takes 11 Sunday-points
With Ogier in trouble, Tänak collected 11 of a possible 12 points from Super Sunday. The Estonian also claimed his 50th WRC podium and now heads Ogier by four points in the drivers’ series.
Elfyn Evans’ title aspirations took a major hit when he rolled his Toyota late on Saturday, while M-Sport Ford duo Adrien Fourmaux and Grégoire Munster were also forced to rejoin under restart rules following their own incidents.
Remarkable WRC2 win for Pajari, exactly the same time as Virves
The Acropolis proved so relentless that WRC2 drivers filled the remaining top 10 spots. Sami Pajari not only clinched victory in the WRC2 category but also secured fourth place overall in his Rally2-spec Toyota. Pajari narrowly edged out Robert Virves, with both finishing level on time, but Pajari’s quicker SS1 time gave him the win on countback.
Yohan Rossel, Kajetan Kajetanowicz, Fabrizio Zaldivar, Josh McErlean and Roberto Daprà rounded out the top 10, benefiting from the misfortunes of the top-tier drivers.
The WRC now heads to South America for round 11 at Rally Chile Bio Bío, based in Concepción from 26 – 29 September.
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WRC Acropolis Rally Greece 2024 – Final results
| # | Drivers | Car | Time / Diff. to 1st |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Neuville / Wydaeghe | Hyundai i20 N Rally1 HY | 3:38:04.2 |
| 2. | Sordo / Carrera | Hyundai i20 N Rally1 HY | +1:36.8 |
| 3. | Tänak / Järveoja | Hyundai i20 N Rally1 HY | +2:57.3 |
| 4. | Pajari / Mälkönen | Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 | +7:01.1 |
| 5. | Virves / Lesk | Skoda Fabia RS Rally2 | +7:01.1 |
| 6. | Rossel / Barral | Citroën C3 Rally2 | +7:31.9 |
| 7. | Kajetanowicz / Szczepaniak | Skoda Fabia RS Rally2 | +9:54.0 |
| 8. | Zaldivar / Der Ohannesian | Skoda Fabia RS Rally2 | +11:27.9 |
| 9. | McErlean / Fulton | Skoda Fabia RS Rally2 | +12:27.2 |
| 10. | Daprà / Guglielmetti | Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo | +13:44.9 |
WRC 2024 Drivers’ Championship – Standings after Round 10/13 [Top 10]
| # | Driver | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Thierry Neuville | 192 |
| 2. | Ott Tänak | 158 (-34) |
| 3. | Sébastien Ogier | 154 (-38) |
| 4. | Elfyn Evans | 140 (-52) |
| 5. | Adrien Fourmaux | 130 (-62) |
| 6. | Kalle Rovanperä | 86 (-106) |
| 7. | Takamoto Katsuta | 80 (-112) |
| 8. | Dani Sordo | 44 (-148) |
| 9. | Sami Pajari | 34 (-158) |
| 10. | Esapekka Lappi | 33 (-159) |
WRC 2024 Manufacturers’ Championship – Standings after Round 10/13
| # | Manufacturer | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT | 445 |
| 2. | Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT | 408 (-37) |
| 3. | M-Sport Ford WRT | 228 (-217) |
Photo, text: Red Bull Content Pool