Neuville leads as WRC Acropolis Rally Greece hands out a Friday beating

Thierry Neuville led WRC Acropolis Rally Greece after a punishing opening leg on Friday that only underlined the event’s fearsome reputation.

The Hyundai i20 N Rally1 driver (above) completed the first full day 9.7s clear of Sebastien Ogier’s Toyota GR Yaris Rally1, with Neuville’s teammate, Adrien Fourmaux, third after an eventful run in which he both led the rally and lost time to a puncture.

Totaling 80.3 competitive miles, the longest day of one of the roughest events on the FIA World Rally Championship calendar brought heavy road cleaning for the leading cars, sharp rocks and constant risk across its six all-gravel stages north of Loutraki. Few of the crews escaped the day without drama, but Neuville’s measured approach proved enough to keep him in front overnight.

“It is always nice to lead, but it doesn’t mean anything to us at the moment as the rally is very long,” said Neuville. “Tomorrow will be very tough for the car and the tires.”

Neuville moved into the lead on the third and final morning stage, 15.02-mile Stiri 1, after Fourmaux limped to the finish with a front-right puncture. The Belgian reported a lack of balance after losing his front splitter, but still managed the afternoon well.

“It was quite close at the end,” said Neuville after the first pass of Stiri. “It’s incredibly rough out there. I was struggling quite a lot in here with the fast sections; we’re missing the front splitter, so the aerodynamic balance is off.”

Ogier’s Toyota was never far from the lead. The Frenchman won Stiri 1 and remained Neuville’s closest challenger throughout the afternoon, but the nine-time and reigning WRC champ insisted his focus was on avoiding trouble rather than forcing the pace.

“It’s been a good day for us, I can be happy with that,” said Ogier after the final stage. “At the moment I just focus on myself and stay out of trouble.”

Toyota’s Sebastien Ogier kept to his own pace on Friday’s opening leg. It was good enough to leave him within 10s of leader Thierry Neuville.

Fourmaux provided much of the day’s early speed. He won the 14.27-mile Bauxites opener by 0.1s from Neuville, then delivered a stunning time over the 13.84 miles of Parnassos Mt. to move into the rally lead. But the Acropolis bit back on the following stage, when a puncture dropped him to fourth.

Fourmaux recovered strongly in the afternoon, winning the final, 11.07-mile Thiva stage to climb back to third overall, 42.4s behind leader Neuville.

Behind the leading trio, M-Sport Ford experienced both the highs and lows of the Acropolis in quick succession. Its Rally1 rookie Jon Armstrong starred on the morning loop, climbing as high as third overall in his Puma Rally1 before claiming his maiden WRC stage win on Elikon Mt. The Northern Irishman beat Ogier by 0.6s on the 11.06-mile test, only for his day to unravel on the next stage, Stiri 2, when he suffered a right-front puncture and then a loss of power. He eventually retired from the day’s action after losing more than four minutes in the stage.

Armstrong’s teammate, Josh McErlean, made it through the chaos to hold fourth overnight, 1m10.1s off the lead, with Martins Sesks, on only his third WRC start of the season, completing a strong day for M-Sport in fifth.

“It is a nice position to be in,” said McErlean. “It’s been a solid day and we tried to stay out of trouble as much as possible. The biggest thing was to try and get some sort of road position for tomorrow and I think that has been achieved.”

M-Sport Ford saw highs and lows on Friday’s opening leg. Josh McErlean ends it in fourth overall in his Puma Rally1.

Sesks was 6.8s behind McErlean at day’s end, with Takamoto Katsuta sixth for Toyota after a difficult day of risk management on the rocky Greek roads.

WRC points leader Elfyn Evans endured a tough Friday opening the road and ended the leg seventh, 2m08.4s off the lead. The Welshman struggled for traction throughout the day as loose gravel and large rocks made first on the road especially punishing.

“We knew it was going to be tough, and it was even more tough than expected,” said Evans of his involuntary road-sweeping role. “I tried to push a bit more [on the final stage]. It was a more forgiving surface in here, but it doesn’t feel like we are going anywhere.”

Hyundai part-timer Dani Sordo was eighth after losing almost two minutes to a wheel change on Parnassos Mt., while Sami Pajari completed the top 10 after a difficult day that included a puncture and a brief loss of power in his GR Yaris.

Oliver Solberg’s Friday ended on the final stage when he ran wide and beached his GR Yaris Rally1 at the four-mile mark.

In WRC2, the second tier of international rallying, Andreas Mikkelsen leads Robert Virves by 8.2s after a dramatic afternoon where, just like the battle for the overall lead, dust, rocks and tire preservation shaped the fight as much as outright pace.

The Norwegian and co-driver Jorn Listerud ended the leg ninth overall in their Skoda Fabia RS, with Virves’ in another Toksport-run Skoda in 11th overall. Alejandro Cachon completed the top three in the class, 31.4s from the lead in his Toyota GR Yaris Rally2.

The scrap at the front remained close throughout Friday. Mikkelsen was delayed by dust from Roberto Dapra’s Skoda on the second pass of Stiri and initially dropped behind Virves, but officials later issued the Norwegian a revised time, returning him to the head of the WRC2 standings before the final Thiva test.

Cachon was third after an eventful day that included rear bodywork damage earlier in the loop and a smashed windscreen on the co-driver’s side on the final stage from a rock that appeared to be thrown by a spectator.

Andreas Mikkelsen stayed out of trouble and took his Skoda Fabia RS to an 8.2s lead in the WRC2 class. Red Bull Content Pool

Saturday takes crews into the scenic Peloponnese peninsula for another demanding leg featuring 67.54 competitive miles and six more stages, including Kolines, Kefalari and two passes through the Ghymno and Menalo Mt. tests.

WRC Acropolis Rally Greece, positions after Friday/Leg One, SS7
1 Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) 1h26m48.2s
2 Sebastien Ogier/Vincent Landais (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +9.7s
3 Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +42.4s
4 Josh McErlean/Eoin Treacy (Ford Puma Rally1) +1m10.1s
5 Martins Sesks/Renars Francis (Ford Puma Rally1) +1m16.9s
6 Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnston (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +1m33.2s
7 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +2m08.4s
8 Dani Sordo/Candido Carrera (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +2m49.5s
9 Andreas Mikkelsen/Jorn Listerud (Skoda Fabia RS – WRC2 leader) +3m10.6s
10 Sami Pajari/Marko Salminen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +3m13.1s

• Catch WRC action from all rounds of the 2026 FIA World Rally Championship on RACER Network and the RACER+ App. Tune in on Monday, June 29 at 9.00pm ET for full highlights from Acropolis Rally Greece.  
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