Acropolis Rally 2024, Friday’s Report

The first full day of this iconic rally saw lots of action over the six stages with a service after the morning loop.

Of course, Thierry and Martijn would open the road throughout the day with his closest championship challengers, Seb and Vincent behind and getting a cleaner road.

SS1 Ano Pavliani 1 – 22.47 km was first up and Seb set the pace from Ott and Adrien and just eight tenths of a second covered the top three. Thierry was ten seconds behind and holding sixth. Meanwhile Elfyn had a puncture and lost over two minutes, putting his championship hopes into a really bad position.

Next up was SS2 Dafni 1 – 21.67 km and Takamoto was right there setting the pace from Ott and Seb third. The Japanese star gained two places moving into second whilst Ott also gained one position and moved into the lead. Seb dropped to third 1.4 seconds now behind the new rally leader. Thierry remained in sixth, losing more time and now 24.5 seconds from his teammate. It was worse though for Elfyn who suffered a technical problem losing him pace with a lack of power.

The last morning stage, SS3 Tarzan 1 – 23.37 km saw Seb go fastest from Adrien and Dani. We had a new top three with Seb moving into the lead from Adrien and Ott. Takamoto was out sadly after losing a wheel in the stage whilst his Welsh teammate was struggling with the loss of power still and hoping to make it back to service.

After service SS4 Ano Pavliani 2 – 22.47 km was next up. Seb was fastest from Ott and Dani. There was drama sadly for Adrien who stopped on the stage with broken suspension. Meanwhile Elfyn was up to speed and set the sixth best time moving up the leader board as well. Thierry was fourth overall, but 48.9 seconds from the lead.

Onto the penultimate stage of the day then, SS5 Dafni 2 – 21.67 km and Ott was fastest from Dani and Gregoire. Ott moved into the lead, now five seconds ahead of Seb. Gregoire gained a place as well, moving into fifth overall.

The final stage then, SS6 Tarzan 2 – 23.37 km and there was drama for Seb as he suffered a similar problem with a loss of power and the turbo had failed on his GR Yaris. He fell to fourth place, now almost two and a half minutes from Ott who now led a Hyundai one, two, three. There was also drama for Gregoire as he suffered a puncture as well, falling to seventh overall.

Let’s take a look at the top positions and hear from the drivers.

Classification after Day One

1	O. Tänak	M. Järveoja	Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid	1:40:16.9
2	D. Sordo	C. Carrera	Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid	+21.8
3	T. Neuville	M. Wydaeghe	Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid	+45.2
4	S. Ogier	V. Landais	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid	+2:26.4
5	R. Virves	A. Lesk	Škoda Fabia RS	+3:10.9
6	S. Pajari	E. Mälkönen	Toyota GR Yaris Rally2	+3:12.4
7	G. Munster	L. Louka	Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid	+4:08.4
8	K. Kajetanovic	M. Szczepaniak	Škoda Fabia RS	+4:09.0
9	F. Zaldivar	M. Der Ohannesian	Škoda Fabia RS	+4:19.7
10	N. Gryazin	K. Aleksandrov	Citroën C3	+4:22.5

Hyundai Motorsport

Ott Tänak

“No question, today has been a very demanding day and we are very grateful to come through without any dramas or issues. All in all, it has been a positive day for us, but we know very well there is still a long way to go, and how hard it is to do the same job for the rest of the weekend. Until Ogier had his issue, we were trying to find the right balance in the car to fight him, and on the stage, he hit trouble we managed to improve the car. It was a lot better for the last two stages, but this rally is not only about performance; you also need the reliability to bring the car home. We are happy we managed to do it today, but we still need to keep our heads down.”

Dani Sordo

“Overall, a positive day for us. We had a hybrid issue on the last three stages, so we weren’t taking any risks to make sure we didn’t break anything on the car, but despite this our times were good. When we knew Ogier had problems we still drove as normal to make sure we made no mistakes, but it was not simple; it was really hot in the car, and it was a very demanding day. Tomorrow will be another long one, with a lot of road section as well as lengthy stages, which will make it even trickier. We’ve completed day one and we enjoyed it, and now we focus on doing the same again tomorrow.”

Thierry Neuville

“It was a challenging day out there, fighting in tough conditions and very hot weather; I was struggling sometimes to concentrate at the end of stages. It wasn’t a trouble-free run for us, but we were consistent and just trying to follow the approach we set ourselves before the rally. We focused on our speed and not getting frustrated if the cleaning effect lost us time, and we avoided being too harsh on the car in rough sections. We had some technical issues this morning, but the team solved it quickly and we didn’t lose too much ground. In the position we are in, there is no need to take too much risk: we knew it would be a long day and it is still a long rally, which is why we need to keep the same approach.”

 

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Sébastien Ogier

“I was pleased with my morning. I think we did all we could from second on the road: the surface was pretty loose so being in the lead was a bit of a surprise, but I think we optimised the strategy with the tyre choice, having more softs than the others. The rhythm with the driving was pretty good too. This afternoon it was still all going well, and the feeling was pretty good. Then we had a loss of power near the end of the penultimate stage. There was not much we could do and we just tried to finish the loop minimising the time loss. It was a tough day for the team but there’s still a long day tomorrow and Sunday so we’re not giving up.”

Elfyn Evans

“It was a disastrous start for us this morning. We picked up a puncture in the first stage: there was a compression in the road which we knew about, and we tried to slow down for it but clearly not enough. Then, towards the end we had a loss of power, and we weren’t sure what the reason was, but the team was able to fix the issue at lunchtime. It’s obviously very difficult now with the time that we’ve lost, but tomorrow is another opportunity to try some things with the car to have a good feeling, and the main thing will be to just get through another long day.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“It had been a pretty good start to the morning. The car felt amazing and without a big push I was able to set the fastest time in SS2. Of course, there was some road cleaning effect which helped, but overall, I was happy. So, I just continued to drive in the same way in SS3. Unfortunately, in a twisty and forested section I misunderstood the information in the pace-note. So, what I had in mind going into the corner wasn’t correct, I went wide and got damage on the right-rear. It’s a really hard moment but I just try to move forward and keep working hard.”

 

Saturday

Day two will see the crews face 116km’s over five stages. There is no service either throughout the day, just a tyre fitting zone. In addition, four of the stages will only be run once including the extra-long and longest stage of the weekend SS7 Rengini – 28.67 km as well as the shortest stage which most rallying fans wonder what is doing there at only 1.97km’s.

Let’s wait and see what happens tomorrow!