Thierry Neuville holds a commanding 31-second lead at the head of Acropolis Rally Greece as Hyundai team-mate Ott Tänak encountered a mechanical problem and was passed by Esapekka Lappi.
Neuville and Tänak began Saturday morning fourth and sixth place respectively, but have moved to establish a Hyundai 1-2 when the event got away from M-Sport Ford.
Sébastien Loeb and Pierre-Louis Loubet had been first and second, but Loeb retired from the lead after SS8 with an alternator fault and Loubet punctured on SS9, dropping to seventh.
❌ Loeb retires from the lead
💥 Rovanperä hits a tree
😩 Loubet loses maiden podium chanceIt's been a hectic start to Saturday on Acropolis Rally Greece! 🇬🇷 #WRC pic.twitter.com/VDb6tevsSL
— DirtFish (@DirtFishRally) September 10, 2022
Neuville took full advantage, dominating both SS9 and SS10 to move over half a minute clear of his team-mate who lost second place to Lappi on Tarzan.
“We have no differential and it’s massively wearing the tires,” Tänak revealed. “Aargh! Yeah…”
Lappi couldn’t live with Neuville, dropping 8.5s on SS10, but Tänak’s problem allowed him to sneak up a place, albeit by just 1.3s.
Asked how his day had gone by the stage-end reporter, Lappi diverted the attention away from his performance.
“Let’s talk about how your day has been, how has it been?” he said. “The weather is nice, so thumbs up!”
Pressed to say something, he added: “Keep it on the road I cannot do more, it’s very challenging at the moment for us.”
Keeping it on the road was a mantra that Lappi’s championship-leading team-mate hasn’t quite done on Saturday morning. Rovanperä’s GR Yaris Rally1 looked more akin to a Hilux pick-up, or even a dune buggy, following his skirmish into a tree on the previous stage.
Rovanperä and Jonne Halttunen worked hard to make repairs on the road section between SS9 and SS10 and, as a result, earned a 1m10s penalty for checking into the stage seven minutes late.
Once onto it, Rovanperä’s pace was sedate at best as the rear-left of his car was toeing out, making it a handful to drive.
He lost almost six minutes to the fastest time, but at least made it through.
“We just tried to fix the brakes and then we could do the stage,” said Rovanperä – who described his crash on SS9 as “nothing special”.
Gus Greensmith nicked a second from Elfyn Evans by setting an impressive second fastest time on Tarzan, but remains 3.4s behind Evans in sixth after Saturday morning’s loop.
“The car was cutting out throughout the stage, for sure we lost quite a lot of time in the second half of the stage,” Greensmith said.
That checked out, given he was as much as 3.4s up on Evans in the early splits. He added: I’m sure it’ll be fine once we get back to service.”
Evans struggled with the grip: “Very loose,” he said, “just waiting everywhere, spinning a lot so not easy.”
It’s been a quiet rally for the Toyota driver but he’s in a top five position following the drama for those around him throughout the morning.
Dani Sordo’s Hyundai is 14.6s up the road in fourth.
“I did a really bad stage,” said Sordo.
“The car was understeering a lot, there was no grip, zero, zero grip. They were conditions I didn’t like a lot. I was not really comfortable at all in the stage.”
Loubet remains seventh, 22.8s behind team-mate Greensmith after losing 2.4s to Greensmith on SS10.
“Yeah, no luck, what can I say?” said the erstwhile leader, referencing his puncture on SS9.
“I didn’t touch anything, on this one I was careful with the front-left. It will turn. We showed the pace, now we just need the luck and everything will be good.”
Craig Breen’s pursuit of Takamoto Katusta finally bore fruit on SS10 as he moved ahead of the still-struggling Toyota Next Generation junior.
Breen heads into service with an 8.1s advantage, now in eighth place but feeling sorry for his team-mates after Sébastien Loeb’s retirement from the lead with an alternator problem.
“Nobody can catch a break, it’s not just me,” said Breen, a marked contrast from his comments the day before. “I’m just disappointed for all the people that have put in so much work, it’s all unraveled for them.”
