Eight-time WRC champ Ogier, who started the rally second in championship points, held an 11.7s lead over Tanak when M-Sport Ford\u2019s Adrien Fourmaux retired from second overall due to a broken steering arm on the day\u2019s fourth stage. But disaster struck Ogier late in the day when a turbocharger issue on his GR Yaris Rally1 cost the Frenchman, whose limited 2024 schedule has rapidly transformed into a full-on title attack, around two-and-a-half minutes and relegated him to fourth.<\/p>\n
Ogier\u2019s misfortune compounded a disastrous day for the Toyota Gazoo Racing factory squad. Teammate Elfyn Evans dropped nearly nine minutes earlier in the day with a similar turbo issue, while Takamoto Katsuta retired on the morning\u2019s final stage with rear suspension damage after mishearing a pacenote from co-driver Aaron Johnston.<\/p>\n
Explaining the situation, Toyota technical director Tom Fowler said: \u201cIt looks like Seb has lost the boost pressure from the turbocharger. We had Elfyn’s car this morning with the same symptoms.<\/p>\n \u201cIt’s a huge disappointment because, clearly, it’s another rally after Finland where we have really strong performance in the car. In Finland we didn’t capitalize on that, and it looks like here, again, we’re not going to capitalize on the potential performance that both the car and the drivers have.\u201d<\/p>\n In contrast, Hyundai celebrated as Tanak led his i20 N Rally1-driving teammates Dani Sordo and Thierry Neuville by 21.8 and 23.4s respectively at the overnight halt. As it stands, the Korean marque is poised to significantly extend its advantage in the WRC manufacturers\u2019 championship.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve got to be thankful for a trouble-free day. It\u2019s been tough with the heat and the rough conditions,\u201d said Tanak, who currently sits third in the WRC drivers’ standings. \u201cIt\u2019s been a great day for Hyundai, but we all know there\u2019s more to come.\u201d<\/p>\n Sordo, making his first appearance since Rally Italy Sardinia in June, faced challenges of his own, managing a faulty hybrid unit throughout much of the afternoon. Current WRC points leader Neuville also encountered issues, nursing an engine problem in the morning that left his car running on reduced power, but crucially headed title rival Ogier by 1m41.2s overnight.<\/p>\n Elsewhere among the headlining Rally 1 crews, M-Sport Ford\u2019s Gregoire Munster was forced to stop for a wheel change on the day\u2019s sixth and final stage. He now sits seventh overall, but had impressed with his pace and consistency prior to the late mishap.<\/p>\n In WRC2, the second tier of international rallying, Estonia\u2019s Robert Virves vaulted from fourth to first on the day\u2019s final stage, snatching the lead after heartbreak struck Yohan Rossel.<\/p>\n Citroen C3 driver Rossel dominated the day\u2019s early stages, posting fastest class times on the first five tests and building a commanding 46.5s lead over his closest WRC2 rival. However, his fortunes took a dramatic turn on the closing 14.52-mile Tarzan test when he was forced to stop seven miles in to change a wheel. He lost more than two minutes and tumbled to sixth in the standings.<\/p>\n \u201cThe only positive is we\u2019ll have a better road position tomorrow,\u201d said Rossel. \u201cIt\u2019s tough because we gave everything, but it\u2019s the same for some of the others, and there\u2019s still a long way to go.\u201d<\/p>\n Skoda Fabia RS driver Virves had been lying fourth before the final stage, but a sensational time \u2013 11.1s faster than anyone else \u2013 propelled him into the overnight lead, just 1.5s ahead of Sami Pajari in a Toyota GR Yaris Rally2.<\/p>\n Saturday\u2019s second leg promises more challenges as the rough stuff continues. Six special stages add up to 72.22 competitive miles on the unforgiving roads south of Lamia.<\/p>\n WRC Rally Acropolis Greece, positions after Leg One, SS6 Check out WRC.com<\/span>, the official home of the FIA World Rally Championship. And for the ultimate WRC experience, sign up for a Rally.TV<\/span>\u00a0subscription to watch all stages of every rally live and on demand, whenever and wherever.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Hyundai\u2019s Ott Tanak passed Sebastien Ogier\u2019s ailing Toyota to lead Acropolis Rally Greece at the end of Friday\u2019s opening leg, capping an incident-filled day that could significantly impact this year\u2019s FIA World Rally Championship title race. Greece’s notoriously rugged gravel roads lived up to their punishing reputation, with four of the championship\u2019s top five drivers …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":76142,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-76141","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-racing","has-thumb","has-featured"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.timesamerica.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76141"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.timesamerica.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.timesamerica.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.timesamerica.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.timesamerica.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76141"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wp.timesamerica.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76141\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.timesamerica.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/76142"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.timesamerica.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.timesamerica.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.timesamerica.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp.timesamerica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/tanak-avoids-friday-dramas-to-lead-a-rough-tough-wrc-acropolis-rally.jpg\")
<\/span> Sebastien Ogier\u2019s Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 had been leading on the rough Greek stages, until a turbo issue dropped him down the order.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp.timesamerica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/tanak-avoids-friday-dramas-to-lead-a-rough-tough-wrc-acropolis-rally-1.jpg\")
<\/span> M-Sport Ford\u2019s Gregoire Munster held a solid top-five spot until picking up a puncture on the day\u2019s final stage. Jaanus Ree\/Red Bull Content Pool\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp.timesamerica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/tanak-avoids-friday-dramas-to-lead-a-rough-tough-wrc-acropolis-rally-2.jpg\")
<\/span> Skoda Fabia RS driver Robert Virves climbed from fourth in WRC2 to leading the class after a scorching time on Friday\u2019s final stage. Jaanus Ree\/Red Bull Content Pool\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n<\/b>1 Ott Tanak\/Martin Jarveoja (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) 1h40m16.9s
\n2 Dani Sordo\/Candido Carrera (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +21.8s
\n3 Thierry Neuville\/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +45.2s
\n4 Sebastien Ogier\/Vincent Landais (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +2m26.4s
\n5 Robert Virves\/Aleks Lesk (Skoda Fabia RS \u2013 WRC2 leader) +3m10.9s
\n6 Sami Pajari\/Enni Malkonen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 \u2013 WRC2) +3m12.4s
\n7 Gregoire Munster\/Louis Louka (Ford Puma Rally1) +4m08.4s
\n8 Kajetan Kajetanowicz\/Maciej Szczepaniak (Skoda Fabia RS \u2013 WRC2) +4m09.0s
\n9 Fabrizio Zaldivar\/Marcelo der Ohannesian (Skoda Fabia RS \u2013 WRC2) +4m19.7s
\n10 Nikolay Gryazin\/Konstantin Aleksandrov (Citroen C3 \u2013 WRC2) +4m22.5s<\/p>\n