Thierry Neuville has scored his first World Rally Championship win in over seven months on Acropolis Rally Greece, while Sébastien Ogier rolled out of the rally on the powerstage.
Ogier was playing catchup since a turbo failure on Friday afternoon had cost him two minutes, banking third place in the Saturday classification and leading the Sunday order after two of the tree stages.
But pushing too hard on the powerstage, he clipped the inside of a right-hander corner too hard, which sent the Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 wide and onto its side, hitting a bank on the exit of the corner and flipping the car over.
That left Neuville to cruise to the finish, happy to sacrifice Sunday points knowing safely reaching the finish would be a huge boost to his title aspirations – though he only realised Ogier had rolled midway through the powerstage.
“I didn’t have the information at all,” said Neuville. “When I saw the car, I still was still not sure it was him and two kilometres later, I asked Martijn if it was Ogier and he said yes. I understood from that point on I just had to bring the car home.”
Ogier pushed to score maximum points on Sunday but rolled on the powerstage
Ogier was able to get the car back on its wheels, albeit carrying heavy damage, and limped his stricken Yaris to the finish of the powerstage to at least collect the 13 points he’d provisionally scored from the first two days of action.
Dani Sordo finished second overall, restored to the position he’d ended Saturday in when Ogier rolled. He was only the sixth-fastest driver on Sunday and didn’t score any powerstage points – but he was untroubled by his slow Sunday speed, focused instead on banking the points he’d scored earlier in the rally.
His first thought, though, was of former Citroën teammate Ogier: “I’m so sorry for him,” he said. “We came here to make a job, we did it. Yesterday we would like to fight more but we know our job.”
Sordo also referenced Neuville’s mental fortitude in brushing off an Ogier jibe on Friday, where the eight-time world champion suggested he needed to learn how to sweep the roads and “cried too much” about road sweeping.
“I’m super happy for Thierry because he’s doing well, honestly, better in his head. I’m so sorry for Séb, he is a warrior and we love his spirit also.”
Ott Tänak was promoted to the final podium position by Ogier’s roll and also scored big points on Sunday; he was fastest across the final day and was second on the powerstage, with a slow puncture on the front left helping Fourmaux pip him to fastest time.
This year’s Acropolis was a dry and rough affair for the first two days, with the expected attrition kicking in and allowing a patient Neuville to gradually move up the order.
Toyota’s rally started with disaster: Elfyn Evans had been the first contender to fall by the wayside, suffering both a puncture and a turbo failure on the rally’s opening stage and costing him seven minutes. Takamoto Katsuta was next to fall, mishearing a pace note and ripping the right-rear wheel of his GR Yaris Rally1 off on stage three.
That left Ogier alone to fly the flag up front for Toyota, initially leading the way from the chasing Hyundai trio and Adrien Fourmaux.
Fourmaux’s hopes of a result ended when he hit a rock on stage four and retired – but then Ogier suffered an identical turbo failure to Evans on Friday afternoon, costing him two minutes and dropping him down to fourth.
That had left Hyundai in a 1-2-3 formation, with Neuville propping up the rear. But two stoppages for tire dramas on stage seven for Ott Tänak and then a rear-right delamination for Dani Sordo elevated Neuville to the lead by midday on Saturday, a position he then held to the finish.
After Ogier’s roll, Evans was left to lead the line for Toyota’s points haul on Sunday, finishing third on the powerstage and in the Sunday classification. Meanwhile Katsuta could only rescue four points, finishing fifth on Sunday and also fifth in the powerstage, where he was slowed by a puncture.
Grégoire Munster did not finish the rally, having crashed out on Saturday afternoon and not restarted on Sunday.
A thrilling conclusion to the WRC2 lead fight went Sami Pajari’s way on a tiebreak, as a final stage puncture meant he finished dead level with Robert Virves – a battle which was also for fourth place overall after Ogier’s late rollover.
Both drivers finished on a total rally time of 3h45m05.3s, with Pajari declared the winner due to being the faster driver on the opening stage.
Pajari made WRC history in a highly unexpected manner
“It’s a big relief but a super tight fight with him,” said Pajari. “He also deserved the victory but it’s also really important for our championship hopes. It’s a super tricky rally and just nice to finish this way.”
“You obviously think it could easily have been in the opposite way,” said Virves. “But I think Sami deserves it, absolutely. He has been doing a good rally overall, following what he’s doing in WRC2, how he has been growing up as a driver, it’s fully fair he wins this time.”
Virves indicated he’d lost time himself with a gearshift issue that had caused him to drive more conservatively than ideal: “We had some small issue with gear change on the last stage,” he said. “Basically very time I pushed the gear lever down, it stopped further and further, so I had to slow down on the braking just to not break it. If you think about it, maybe not the best time for this.”
Yohan Rossel completed the WRC2 podium and scored sixth overall, having recovered strongly from stopping to change a wheel on Friday’s final stage.
He’d been the early class leader but lost a minute and a half with his Friday stoppage, eventually clawing much of that back and falling only 30.8s from the top spot.
“I think we deserve a victory for sure but the level is so high that when you did a mistake, it’s impossible to win,” said Rossel. “It’s the elite, it’s normal.”
