After a lengthy five-week break, the World Rally Championship is finally back this week!
And we go from one classic to another, from the flat out crests and jumps of Rally Finland to the rough and rocky tracks of Acropolis Rally Greece.
This year’s Acropolis is round 10 of a 13-round season, and is where the title run-in begins for both the main WRC field and the class of WRC2. But it’s far more than that in Junior WRC, as it counts as the double-points finale!
So there’s plenty on the line this week. Here’s everything you need to know:
Entry breakdown
Total: 71 crews
10 Rally1 crews
36 Rally2 crews (28 WRC2)
14 Rally3 crews (13 WRC3 / 8 JWRC)
Rally1
For the first time since Safari Rally Kenya, 10 Rally1 cars will take the start of a WRC event this week.
That’s because both Toyota and M-Sport Ford are fielding one more car than they did on the visits to Estonia and Finland.
Toyota welcomes Sébastien Ogier back into the team for this one, while M-Sport Ford runs a third private car for local driver Jourdan Serderidis.
Hyundai will run its fleet of three i20 N Rally1s as usual, with Dani Sordo regaining control of the car driven by Teemu Suninen over the summer.
WRC2
Seven of the top nine drivers in the championship, including everyone in the top five, are in action on the Acropolis, making this a hugely important event for the title fight.
Andreas Mikkelsen is top seed after he took the points lead in Finland, but he’s chased closely by Yohan Rossel (scoring points for the first time since Sardinia), Finland winner Sami Pajari, category pacesetter Oliver Solberg and two-time class winner Gus Greensmith.
Reigning champion Emil Lindholm was the Rally2 winner last year but is absent in 2023, while Kajetan Kajetanowicz and Adrien Fourmaux are expected to feature in this week’s fight for victory.
Outwith the heavy-hitting international stars, seven Greek drivers will compete in the category, including Lambros Athanassoulas who’s previously finished second overall on the Acropolis when it was a European Rally Championship round.
Junior WRC / WRC3
In the Rally3 category, Junior WRC is the big draw given the Acropolis is the fifth and final round of the season.
For a full rundown of the title permutations, check DirtFish’s in-depth preview later this week but the three main contenders are William Creighton, Laurent Pellier and Diego Domínguez Jr.
Tom Rensonnet, Roberto Blach, Eamonn Kelly, Hamza Anwar and freshly-turned 18-year-old Nataniel Bruun Sosa will also be in action.
Thirteen drivers have entered in WRC3 including most of the Junior competitors, but the entry list is headed by Greeks with Epaminondas Karanikolas topping the list.
Efthimios Halkias brings the only Renault Clio Rally3 to the Ford Fiesta party.
Itinerary
Fifteen tests, staged over four days, make up this year’s Acropolis.
The event starts on Thursday night with the EKO Super Special Stage – an all-new stage this year which replaces the Olympic Stadium stage from last year which effectively ended Andreas Mikkelsen’s WRC2 title chances.
Friday offers just five stages, with Loutraki run twice. Pissia follows Loutraki in the morning before a remote tire fitting zone (no service!) and then the afternoon’s three-stage loop which again begins with Loutraki.
Livadia (the only stage of the weekend to be identical to last year) and Elatia conclude the day.
Saturday is the longest day of the event with a more traditional six-stage format split into two loops of three stages which are repeated in the afternoon.
Pavliani returns after a one-year absence in 2022, before the longest stage of the rally, Karoutes, and Eleftherochori, which ran as last year’s powerstage.
This year’s powerstage will be Grammeni which features for the first time since 2005. This will be run twice on Sunday, after the well-known opening stage, Tarzan.
