WRC | Acropolis Rally, SS3: Ogier takes the lead. Katsuta retires

With Toyota in extreme difficulty, Sébastien Ogier returns to the role of “fixer”, the one who at least partially resolves the situation thanks to his talents and allows the Japanese manufacturer to finish in the lead in the morning lap of the first stage of the Acropolis Rally.

The eight-time WRC world champion won Special Stage 3, the famous 23.37-kilometre Tarzan 1, with a great performance, inflicting heavy gaps on all those who this morning were able to take advantage of a car that was in perfect working order from the first to the last kilometre of the lap.

Séb stopped the clock at 17’06″3, beating Adrien Fourmaux by 4″9. The Frenchman, thanks to this result, rose to second place in the general classification, but his performance deserves further respect because for the whole morning he had to do without the use of the hybrid part, evidently damaged and not working.

For Fourmaux, therefore, this partial result takes on a notable value, on a par with that of Ogier, who is Thierry Neuville’s closest pursuer in the Drivers’ World Championship.

We were talking about Ogier as a solver, because for his teammates the first three tests of this Acropolis have been dramatic from a sporting point of view. Elfyn Evans continues to lose minute after minute due to an engine problem, while Takamoto Katsuta broke the steering arm at kilometer 6.9 of the last special of the morning. This forced him to retire almost immediately, unable and unable to fix the broken component and, probably, the suspension on board the test.

Things are going better at Hyundai, with the Korean team rubbing its hands together as it looks at the situation of its rivals in terms of the Constructors’ Championship. Ott Tanak’s third place and Dani Sordo’s fourth place give pure oxygen to the team led by Cyril Abiteboul, but Thierry Neuville’s fifth place is also starting to get interesting.

The Belgian had to fight with a half-service engine all morning, but he is still behind Sordo and therefore has the possibility of changing position by the end of the day to take more points at the end of tomorrow and have a better starting position for the second stage and put a stop to Ogier’s attacks.

Having said that Fourmaux was excellent, the Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid of Gregoire Munster closed the Rally1 standings inside the Top 10. The Dutchman, seventh overall and also behind the first Rally2, had to do without the use of the handbrake, damaged in the first special stage. Also for this reason he was unable to obtain interesting times.

In WRC2, Yohan Rossel in the first Citroen C3 Rally2 leads the proceedings with a 24.3sec margin over Sami Pajari’s Toyota GR Yaris Rally2. Gus Greensmith is trying to hold on to third place in the first Skoda Fabia RS Rally2, 9.7sec behind Pajari.

The morning lap at the 2024 Acropolis Rally ends here. Today the drivers will be able to take advantage of the mid-day Service to repair the cars and prepare them for the afternoon lap that will start with the Special Stage 4, the 22.47-kilometer Ano Pavliani 2. The first car will enter the stage at 13:29 Italian time.

WRC 2024 – Acropolis Rally – Standings after PS3