Erstwhile Acropolis Rally Greece leader Sébastien Ogier has retired after failing to reach Saturday evening service on time.
Ogier had led the 10th round of this year’s World Rally Championship by 12.4 seconds over Toyota team-mate Kalle Rovanperä, but it all went awry for the eight-time champion on the day’s final test Eleftherochori.
Rear suspension damage and two punctures left Ogier and co-driver Vincent Landais ailing through the stage, and they leaked close to four minutes as they battled to make it the end.
The two Frenchmen then worked frantically on their GR Yaris Rally1 to try and bring it back to service in Lamia, but unfortunately ran out of time.
They had slipped from first to fourth, but now slide down to ninth place.
That promotes Ott Tänak to fourth, with Esapekka Lappi fifth and Takamoto Katsuta sixth.
Rovanperä leads the rally by over two minutes from Hyundai’s Dani Sordo, with his title rival Elfyn Evans third and exactly five seconds behind Sordo.
