An ending worthy of the best thrillers in the history of cinema. The Acropolis Rally presented the imponderable on the Power Stage, the last of the 15 scheduled tests, with Thierry Neuville and Hyundai Motorsport taking the path that could lead them to win the 2024 WRC world titles.
Thierry Neuville has won the 21st rally of his WRC career, his second of the season after his big win at Rallye Monte-Carlo earlier this year in January, and is flying towards what could well be his first career world title.
To make things even more dramatic, from a sporting point of view, came the sensational accident between Sébastien Ogier and Vincent Landais on the Acropolis Power Stage. While the two were concentrating on getting the best time and bringing home points to keep their title chances alive, Ogier entered a right-hand bend too far inside and was thrown out onto the outside, onto his left tyres.
At that point Ogier tried to recover from the accident, but it was not possible. The GR Yaris Rally1 number 17 ended up on its roof, with the windscreen shattered. Séb thus lost second place, the podium, the points of the Super Sunday and the Power Stage. Ogier is trying to finish the race anyway to keep the points brought home yesterday, essential to keep the fight for the world title open.
Neuville, for his part, was perfect. He managed to avoid any kind of problem while maintaining an excellent pace, especially yesterday and today, when it was needed. A great victory, of maturity for how he was able to manage it, perhaps the result of all the mistakes made over the years that served as a lesson.
For Hyundai, however, it was the perfect weekend. A sensational hat-trick made easier by Sébastien Ogier’s accident in the Power Stage, but this is also a result that catapults the Alzenau team towards the Constructors’ World Championship title with 3 rallies remaining in the season.
Aside from Ogier’s accident, Toyota’s weekend was dramatic from a sporting point of view. Takamoto Katsuta first and Elfyn Evans later were forced to retire in different ways and at different times, but the result was the same.
The first to say goodbye to the race was the Japanese. On Friday, when he seemed to have all the cards in order to play for at least a position on the podium, Katsuta took a right-hand bend too hard, ending up hitting the inside of it (a dirt bank), destroying the steering arm of his GR Yaris Rally1.
That same morning, Evans had to deal with a broken turbo (the same problem Ogier had yesterday) which saw him drop out of the Top 10. Then, on Saturday afternoon, the Welshman completed the job by ending up overturning on a downhill right-hand bend.
His GR Yaris Rally1 pivoted in a rut created by the cars that had entered the stage before him and ended up on its roof. The spectators helped him get back into the stage and finish it, but with a further 5 minutes delay from the best. As if that wasn’t enough, the Yaris’ radiator broke in the rollover, forcing Elfyn and Scott Martin to retire.
M-Sport did not fare any better. This time Adrien Fourmaux made one of the rare mistakes of his season by hitting a rock hidden on the side of the road. The impact broke his front right suspension, ending his race. Adrien, like Katsuta, was also one of the favourites for a place on the podium given the perfect start he had made to the race.
Gregoire Munster, on the other hand, blew a great opportunity to finish in the Top 5. Yesterday, while comfortably in fifth place overall, he made a mistake and went off the road. His race then ended there, dashing all hopes of the British team scoring points.
Sami Pajari confirms himself as one of the great protagonists of this year’s WRC2 and one of the drivers likely to move up in category as early as 2025. The Finn, at the wheel of the first GR Yaris Rally2, took his third win of the season thanks to a convincing performance. Fast, but at the same time cautious enough not to run into any problems of any kind despite such a complex race.
The thrill, however, came in the Power Stage. Pajari punctured a few kilometers after the start and found himself losing all the seconds he had accumulated in advantage over Robert Virves. The two sensationally achieved the same race time, but the victory still went to the young Finn for being faster in PS1.
In terms of times, the fastest of the weekend was Yohan Rossel, but the Frenchman suffered a damaging puncture halfway through the race, which opened the doors to success for Pajari. Sami was then good at managing his advantage over Robert Virves, who also suffered a puncture yesterday afternoon.
Rossel, for his part, was satisfied with the third place obtained after a sensational comeback. Of course, the Frenchman from Citroen Racing was also helped by the problems that slowed down – at times literally stopped – his rivals, but the comeback with competitive times remains and the lowest step of the podium, even if bitter, is the right reward for a driver who pushed from start to finish.
Pajari, Virves and Rossel not only shared the WRC2 podium, but thanks to the numerous retirements and problems encountered by drivers driving Rally1 Hybrid cars they even found themselves in the middle of the Top 10. Pajari completed the race in fifth place overall and, it goes without saying, Virves and Rossel finished sixth and seventh. Behind them were Kajetan Kajetanowicz and Fabrizio Zaldivar in a Skoda Fabia RS Rally2, while the Top 10 was closed by the second Toyota GR Yaris Rally2, that of Estonian Georg Linnamae.
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