A rally to forget
Hyundai hat-trick and Sebastien Ogier in sixteenth place, with the eight-time French world champion among the best of the trio Toyota (all this if we exclude Sami Pajari, 4th but driving the Yaris WRC2). A disastrous weekend for the Japanese manufacturer in Greece, both for the final result of the Acropolis Rally which is also due to the evolution of the world rankings, with winner Thierry Neuville now enjoying a 38-point advantage over Ogier himself, 3rd behind Ott Tänak.
Rollover in Power Stage
Nothing went right at Toyota, starting with the same Ogier. Immediately hampered by technical problems during the first day, the Frenchman tried his best to recover ground on Neuville, only to then lose control of the car during the final Power Stage, wasting any chance of a podium or a top-5 finish: “We gave it our all throughout the weekend. – he explained – we did a lot of things right, we had a great feeling with the car and a great pace, and we fought as hard as we could until the last stage. Unfortunately we punctured about a kilometer from the end, I didn’t react to brake early enough for the next curve and There we are capsized. Luckily we managed to repair the car and bring it back for service, which at least brought some points to the team. It was a strange weekend. In many ways it was close to perfect, but in rallying it doesn’t matter if you don’t give it your all until the end. This is not a rally where you want to take risks, you need a bit of luck to do that, and that wasn’t on our side. It’s satisfying for me to still be able to compete like this. I like to push the limits, it was fun in the car. But I know, after all these years, that sometimes things don’t go your way. I will still be there for the next three events, continuing to give my all and keep fighting.”
Another rollover
An accident, without consequences, which did not even spare Elfyn Evans. Also struggling with technical problems from the start, the Welshman capsized in the afternoon of the second day, once again losing all hope of victory: “It didn’t go as well as we would have liked – he added – It’s clear that the speed is still missing, unfortunately. In some sections and in some moments we were still okay, but I didn’t feel fully comfortable to push without worries. I was probably too eager to finish cleanly after a couple of difficult days. It’s been a big disappointment latelythings didn’t go well and we need to get back on track. We have some work to do and we’ll try to start fresh in the next event.”
Katsuta stops immediately
A day to forget, finally, also for Takamoto Katsuta. Having actually started with an excellent pace, the Japanese had to raise the white flag already during the first day due to a broken steering arm: “It was a very tough rally – he concluded – also on the last day we had some difficulties. The stages were difficult and I tried to get some points especially in the Power Stage, but unfortunately we had a puncture. That probably cost us the chance to get more points. It was a disappointing weekend and I feel sorry for the team. At the beginning of the rally the car was fantastic, but with my little mistake our chances of getting a good result were over, so I have to do a better job in the future”.
#Crashes #punctures #technical #problems #disastrous #weekend #Toyota
