After two punctures on Friday left Thierry Neuville deflated, the world champion picked up another on Saturday’s opening stage of Acropolis Rally Greece.
Neuville had led the event on Friday but his two tire problems – one which he could carry on with and one which necessitated a wheel change – cost him over two and a half minutes and left him down in eighth overall.
But the world champion faced yet another tire pressure loss to kickstart Saturday, however did well to minimize the time loss as he arrived to the end of the 15-mile stage with the tire fully intact, just low on air.
“12kms on a puncture, was a slow puncture,” Neuville said. “I tried to manage like I could but obviously the last 5-6km, there was no speed anymore.
“I was very careful in all the left corners, I just tried to attack on the right – it could have been much faster.”
Things are going better for Neuvlle’s Hyundai team-mates though, who continue to hold the top two positions on the rally.
Ott Tänak’s lead is now up to 13.0s after he won SS8 by 6.4s – Sébastien Ogier took 3.6s from Adrien Fourmaux, but Fourmaux is still second by 10.3s.
“Much better grip than yesterday with some line, that was enjoyable,” said Ogier who was second in Friday’s start order.
“It’s a clean drive – it’s still a very long way.”
Tänak added: “In this kind of stage it’s very difficult to know the rhythm. I tried my best to be clean but it’s a tough stage.”
Elsewhere, Grêgoire Munster lost a lot of time to Takamoto Katsuta behind him as he had a handbrake problem, while Katsuta himself moved further ahead of Kalle Rovanperä – now in front by 6.2s.
Josh McErlean clipped the rear-right against something solid on the very last corner of the stage, doing damage to that corner of his Puma Rally1.
