Neuville’s lead shrinks as Ogier sets up WRC Acropolis Rally Greece showdown

Thierry Neuville takes a narrow 4.1s lead over Sebastien Ogier into the final day of WRC Acropolis Rally Greece after another drama-filled leg on Saturday.

Hyundai’s Neuville (above) started the penultimate day 9.7s clear of his Toyota rival and spent much of the leg trading seconds with the nine-time and reigning FIA World Rally Champion across six rough gravel stages on the Peloponnese peninsula.

At one point, Neuville’s advantage grew back out to 10.8s, but Ogier’s fastest time on the day’s final stage, a second run through the 9.33-mile Menalo Mt. test, brought the gap down again and set up a finely poised Sunday finale.

Neuville ended the day with front-left damage to his i20 N Rally1 after hitting a dirt berm near the end of that final stage, but the 2024 WRC champ downplayed any concern when asked whether the car would make it back to overnight service.

“It’s not a problem,” said a terse Neuville when asked at the end of the stage about the bodywork damage and – perhaps more concerning – a small coolant leak from possible damage to the radiator plumbing.

The Belgian, who’s looking at the run of all-gravel rallies that close the season to kickstart a long-shot title challenge, had looked strong earlier in the afternoon, responding to Ogier’s pressure with a superb time on the shortened second pass of the Ghymno stage.

Ogier had been the faster of the dueling duo through much of the morning, cutting Neuville’s lead to just 3.7s before midday service. He then chose a bold tire strategy for the afternoon, carrying only one spare in his GR Yaris Rally1 to save weight, and closed the day with another stage win despite admitting that he wasn’t prepared to take big risks.

“I still didn’t go full risk because of the [chance of] punctures,” said Ogier. “I had a clean drive, but couldn’t really push so hard because of the people in front having the punctures.”

Just 4.1s behind, with four Sunday stages to go, can Toyota’s reigning WRC champ Sebastien Ogier reel in Thierry Neuville’s Hyundai?

Saturday offered a different challenge from Friday’s rock-strewn opening leg. There was less exposed bedrock in places, but sandy roads, muddy sections beneath the trees and rough second-pass conditions ensured the Acropolis remained every bit as demanding.

Behind the leading pair, the podium battle changed repeatedly. Adrien Fourmaux began the day third for Hyundai and showed strong pace again, winning the morning’s second stage, 13.24-mile Kolines, and staying clear of the fights behind. But the Frenchman lost time changing a wheel on the shortened Ghymno stage that followed the service halt and dropped behind Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta.

Katsuta, who had spent the day balancing pace with caution, moved into third overall and will start Sunday 2m17.0s behind Neuville.

WRC points leader Elfyn Evans had been steadily moving up the order after a Friday of running first on the road and playing frustrated road sweeper for the cars behind. With a better start position on Saturday, the Welshman’s GR Yaris was up to fifth after the penultimate stage, but a stop to change a puncture on the Menalo Mt. 2 closer curtailed his momentum.

"It came very unexpectedly,” said Evans. “The deflation was very sudden and I was very close to a crash as I couldn’t stop at the next corner.”

That dropped him to seventh – back to where he’d finished Friday – and gave Katsuta added impetus in his chase of Evans in the WRC standings

“Really sorry for Elfyn,” said Katsuta, who was 20 points behind his Toyota teammate heading into Greece. “I was very careful in some places with the bedrock. It’s really difficult and easy to get a puncture. Normally you know when you get it, but in here you just don’t know.”

After learning of Evans’ delay, Fourmaux responded on Menalo Mt. 2, pushing hard and snatching fourth place back from M-Sport Ford’s Josh McErlean by just 1.0s.

“The idea was to try and push the maximum to catch Josh to get a position for tomorrow,” said Fourmaux, who sits an out-of-touch 43.6s behind Katsuta, but will be hoping a cleaner road position will boost his chances of grabbing maximum Super Sunday and Power Stage points. “I knew about Elfyn, so I had to take my chance. I was very careful where they had a puncture as there was a big rock in the road.”

McErlean still completed an impressive day in fifth overall in his Puma Rally1. The Irishman avoided major problems while others hit trouble and remains on course for the best result of his WRC career.

“It’s been good, but it’s good to get back to service,” he said, alluding to a possible damper issue in the final stage.

M-Sport Ford’s Josh McErlean ran fourth for much of the day, but will start Sunday fifth after a final-stage push from Adrien Fourmaux.

Sami Pajari moved up to sixth for Toyota, ahead of Evans, who’d shipped 1m50.2s with his mid-stage wheel change.

Hyundai part-timer Dani Sordo completed the Rally1 cars in the overall top 10, the Spaniard holding eighth place after he, too, punctured in the final stage. Unlike Evans, he elected to continue to the stage finish, figuring he’d lose less time than stopping to change a wheel. That proved correct when he lost only a minute, finishing the day 34.7s behind the points leader.

In WRC2, the second tier of international rallying, Andreas Mikkelsen will take a 13.9s class lead into the closing day. The Skoda Fabia RS-driving Norwegian heads Toksport teammate Robert Virves, with Jan Solans making it an all-Skoda overnight podium after hauling in fellow Spaniard Alejandro Cachon’s GR Yaris Rally2 in the day’s final two stages.

Mikkelsen began Saturday with an 8.2s advantage over Virves and quickly strengthened his position on Ghymno, where he was 7.5s faster than the Estonian. Virves responded as the day went on, taking time back on the shortened second pass of Ghymno, where organizers removed the roughest opening section following a stage inspection, and remained close enough to keep the fight alive.

Mikkelsen answered on the final Menalo Mt. 2 stage, however, setting a time 2.5s quicker than Virves to rebuild the gap with just four stages remaining.

Andreas Mikkelsen is closing in on the WRC2 class win after a fast, composed Saturday for the Skoda driver. Red Bull Content Pool

Sunday’s final leg brings two passes of Aghii Theodori and Loutraki for a combined total of 52.2 competitive miles, with the second run through Loutraki as the rally-ending, bonus points-paying Wolf Power Stage.

WRC Acropolis Rally Greece, positions after Saturday/Leg Two, SS13
1 Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) 2h40m18.7s
2 Sebastien Ogier/Vincent Landais (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +4.1s
3 Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnston (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +2m17.0s
4 Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +3m00.6s
5 Josh McErlean/Eoin Treacy (Ford Puma Rally1) +3m01.6s
6 Sami Pajari/Marko Salminen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +4m38.3s
7 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +4m43.1s
8 Dani Sordo/Candido Carrera (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +5m17.8s
9 Andreas Mikkelsen/Jorn Listerud (Skoda Fabia RS – WRC2 leader) +5m54.6s
10 Robert Virves/Jakko Viilo (Skoda Fabia RS – WRC2) +6m08.5s

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