The 2023 Acropolis Rally is in full swing. Thierry Neuville decided to use 4 Soft tires (of the 12 available as this weekend was the Option) in the Special Stage 5 Livadia of 21.03 to put a bigger gap between himself and his opponents and he succeeded perfectly.
The Belgian of Hyundai Motorsport stopped the clock in 12’57″6, beating by 5 seconds the only rival who managed to cushion this attack, Sébastien Ogier. The Frenchman, who is the Belgian’s rival in the general classification of the event , now has a delay of 7″4 when there is still a special stage at the end of the day, but it will be the longest stage of the first stage.
Neuville was almost perfect during his test, so much so that the fourth classified in the stage – teammate Esapekka Lappi who made the same choice of tires as he did – finished 10″2 behind. Now, however, it will be interesting to understand if 2 of the 4 Softs used in PS5 will be able to withstand the more than 28 kilometers of PS6 and allow Thierry to end the day as leader.
This question mark also arises because of the tire choice made by the Toyota crews. A more conservative choice, but which in the longer stage could reverse the situation and put the Belgian in difficulty.
However, the test was very favorable to the Hyundais. Beyond the best time of Neuville and the fourth of Lappi, it is worth noting the fifth set by Dani Sordo, 2 tenths faster than the Toyota GR Yaris of Takamoto Katsuta.
Out of the Top 5 the leader of the World Championship, Kalle Rovanpera, detached by almost 15 seconds from Neuville but still third in the general standings. Behind him Esapekka Lappi threatened, moving to 5″7 from the third step of the podium.
Another race to forget for Elfyn Evans, eighth and 16″7 behind. The Welshman is far from the form shown at the Rally of Finland and already this weekend, if things continue like this, he could lose second position in the Meanwhile, he slipped from fourth to sixth position in the provisional general classification of the event.
For the record, Ott Tanak won the special. The Estonian of M-Sport was forced to stay almost half an hour longer in the Tire Fitting Zone to fix a fluid leak from the engine of his Ford Puma and for this he was penalized 3’40”. Now his position starting point – among the Rally2 cars – is the best and he was able to exploit it to win the special – a small consolation, considering that he was out of the game for success this weekend too.
Adrien Fourmaux was forced to give up the lead in WRC2 due to a puncture that stopped him in PS5. To take advantage of the incident is Nikolay Gryazin, new leader ahead of the French M-Sport. One of the most unfortunate days of his career for Andreas Mikkelsen, slowed down by another tire off the rim, the third of the day, which jeopardized his chances of fighting for success and the podium.
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