The third and penultimate day of Acropolis Rally turned out to be an authentic domain of the Hyundai, always winning in all seven special stages held between the morning and the afternoon of Saturday. It was above all to best represent the Korean house Thierry Neuvillenew leader of the general classification and candidate number 1 to conquer the Greek rally, even more so after the other twists that occurred to the detriment of his direct rivals.
Already in the first scheduled stage, the signature on the best time was placed by Ott Tänak, immediately followed by Sébastien Loeb and by Neuville himself. The Frenchman, who had finished in the lead at the end of Friday, nevertheless accused an alternator failure after crossing the finish line, which forced him to leave the scene prematurely. The real turning point, however, occurred in the next test, once again characterized by another KO: in this case, to have lost contact with the noble zone of the ranking was Pierre-Louis Loubetbetrayed by a puncture, but worse it went to Kalle Rovanperä. The Finn, already author of a so far colorless rally, went off the road after losing control of his Toyota, luckily crashing into a tree without any consequences.
#AcropolisRally SS13⏱️17: 18.4!
“Pretty shit day to be honest. Could have been a bit better if I wouldn’t have made the mistake. We would have been on points, but it’s done and I can’t change that”
📸Jaanus Ree / Red Bull# KR69 #ToyotaGAZOORacing pic.twitter.com/4A1SZWm7AA
– Kalle Rovanperä (@KalleRovanpera) September 10, 2022
In all this, Neuville won the test and also jumped to the top of the standings, reinforcing his advantage from Esapekka Lappi even in the next two stages, despite a moment of tension at the end of the SS11 due to the overheating of the battery. At that point, in the last two races scheduled, the victories went to the other two Hyundai’s Dani Sordo and Tänakwho, taking advantage of a technical problem occurred to Lappi, is now in 2nd place 28 seconds behind Neuville, with Sordo thus completing the hat-trick on the virtual podium all Hyundai.
WRC | Rally Greece: ranking after SS13 – Top 10
POS. | PILOT | CAR | TIME / GAP |
1 | T. NEUVILLE | Hyundai | 3: 06: 34.4 |
2 | O. TÄNAK | Hyundai | +27.9 |
3 | D. DEAF | Hyundai | +52.9 |
4 | E. EVANS | Toyota | +1: 00.0 |
5 | P. LOUBET | Ford | +2: 40.1 |
6 | C. BREEN | Ford | +3: 47.2 |
7 | T. KATSUTA | Toyota | +4: 41.2 |
8 | E. LINDHOLM | Skoda (WRC2) | +5: 58.4 |
9 | N. GRYAZIN | Skoda (WRC2) | +6: 43.0 |
10 | Y. ROSSEL | Citroën (WRC2) | +7: 27.8 |
#WRC #Rally #Greece #SS13 #total #domination #Hyundai #Neuville #FormulaPassion.it