Neuville triumphs in Greece to extend WRC lead
- Belgian survives carnage-filled Acropolis Rally as Ogier rolls in final stage.
Thierry Neuville moved a step closer to claiming his first FIA World Rally Championship title after winning a gruelling 2024 edition of EKO Acropolis Rally Greece.
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 15 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.
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.
“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.”
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.
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, Fau 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.
Rally Classification:
1. T Neuville / M Wydaeghe BEL Hyundai i20 N 3h 38m 4.2s
2. D Sordo / C Carrera ESP Hyundai i20 N +1m 46.8s
3. O Tänak / M Järveoja EST Hyundai i20 N +2m 57.3s
4. S Pajari / E Mälkönen FIN Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 +7m 1.1s
5. R Virves / A Lesk EST Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 +7m 1.1s
Drivers’ championship standings (after round 10 of 13):
1. T Neuville 192
2. O Tänak 158
3. S Ogier 154
Source | Photo: Media WRC