Hyundai Motorsport, a historic achievement in one of the most complicated years ever. At the Acropolis Rally, the tenth round of the WRC 2022, the Alzenau team took home the first hat-trick in its history, in a weekend dominated by performance and reliability, the two aspects for which it has struggled for almost the whole year towards Toyota Racing – however launched towards the titles – and, at times, also towards M-Sport.
A vehement response, which came out of arrogance. Moncet will have to thank Thierry Neuville’s desire for revenge, sumptuous this weekend and impregnable for everyone. Do not dwell on the team order, that of freezing the positions, arrived with two tests to go. The Belgian has shown since Thursday that he has an edge.
The difference was made by an already excellent set-up right from the start of the event, but also by a perfect driving of the 34-year-old from Sankt Vith and by the notes of Martijn Wydaeghe. The bitterness was still present in them for having lost a home rally, in Ypres, dominated and thrown for a painful mix of recklessness and bad luck.
Here the victory was built test after test, resisting the Friday, the day when they entered the special in a position that was anything but favorable, until arriving at a dominated Saturday, enough to allow them to manage from the afternoon. The key moment of the race is certainly the retirement of Sébastien Loeb and Isabelle Galmiche, who arrived after the first stage on Saturday.
At that moment the 9-time world champion had accumulated a 19 “advantage over the Belgian. But Neuville then showed that he had chosen a tire strategy that paid dividends in the next 2 stages, those in which he annihilated everyone and, probably, also for Loeb would have been difficult to replicate given the excellent choice and tire management made by Neuville.
It is certain that the two would have given a breathtaking duel, but it did not happen. Neuville returns to win almost a year after its last success (Rally de Catalonia 2021) and returns to triumph on dirt after almost 3 years. The last success on gravel was obtained at the Rally of Argentina in 2019.
Behind Neuville, Hyundai Ott Tanak completed the hat-trick, second and held back by the team order coming directly from the top floors of the Korean manufacturer but also by inconsistent performances like those shown this weekend by his teammate.
Of course, the debate related to the title fight could open: Does Hyundai still think it can worry Rovanpera? The answer, at this point, is clear. And it is no. Instead, the hat-trick puts Hyundai back on track in the Constructors’ World Championship. Also from this point of view it will be difficult to refit Toyota, but the options are more open to possible surprises.
To complete the Hyundai party there is the usual, reliable Dani Sordo. His was not a brilliant race, but the fact that he did not make any mistakes led him to move up to third position, first taking advantage of a bitter retirement of an excellent Esapekka Lappi (fuel pump problems on Saturday), but also of Elfyn Evans, KO this morning shortly after exiting the Service Park.
Hyundai has thus found performance and reliability – not without some fear of the batteries overheating on Saturday afternoon due to the high temperatures that choked the central part of Greece – in the final part of the season. Late, but still a good sign for 2023.
M-Sport celebrates the best career result of Pierre-Louis Loubet, fourth, but the smile is bitter. The Frenchman fought for the win on Friday, but a delaminated tire first and an engine problem later forced him to settle for the first position off the podium. Closing the Top 5 Craig Breen, himself unlucky for a puncture on Friday.
For Toyota Racing, however, the Acropolis weekend was a real debacle. Kalle Rovanpera crashed into a tree, destroying his already difficult race due to the starting position in Friday’s special stages. Lappi and Evans, as mentioned, were forced to retire due to breakdowns on their respective cars. Only Takamoto Katsuta managed to finish, but only sixth after an anonymous race.
Acropolis Rally 2022: Lindholm dominates in WRC2
TokSport lost Andreas Mikkelsen, leader of the WRC2 classification in the Super Special Stage, but at the end of the event he found himself an amazing victory and true dominators of Emil Lindholm and Reeta Hamalainen. The two Finns, who share the cockpit of the Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo, took a resounding success, never in question, finally adjusting Nikolay Gryazin.
The Russian had to thank Teemu Suninen’s retirement yesterday due to a breakdown on his Hyundai i20 N Rally2, thus closing the race in second place in his class. Third final place for the Norwegian Eyvind Brynildsen, who managed to take the third step of the podium due to the sensational mistake of Yohan Rossel arrived right in the Power Stage.
The French Citroen Racing driver faced a left-handed downhill bend too soon, losing contact with the ground with the left wheels. At that point, his C3 lay down on its side, that of the co-driver, putting an end to their hopes for the podium.
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