Sébastien Ogier has taken the lead on Acropolis Rally Greece after the opening stage, while Toyota team-mate Elfyn Evans has already hit trouble and lost two minutes.
Evans had already been losing time relative to his title rivals in the opening splits of Ano Pavliani and then pulled up 9.4 miles into the stage to change a wheel, costing him two minutes.
He then slowed again in the final corners of the stage, with co-driver Scott Martin indicating there was “no alarm” for whatever secondary issue had led Evans to decrease his speed.
Evans was left frustrated at the puncture, as he felt he should have avoided it from happening: “That wasn’t the best,” he lamented. “That was really stupid. We knew the place but clearly didn’t manage it so well.”
He then stopped on the road section between stages one and two and was on the phone to his engineers at service, starting inside the engine bay, indicating that secondary problem may have consequences.
Ogier leads by 0.6s from Hyundai’s Ott Tänak but was livid at stage end, frustrated that only three minute gaps, rather than four, had been implemented.
“It’s a good stage but it’s annoying the sport never learns,” said Ogier. “We know there will be hanging dust. They say no [to longer gaps]. What do you have in the head? It’s crazy.”
Fellow GR Yaris Rally1 driver Katsuta, who was fourth-fastest and 2.7s off the pace, delivered similar comments to his esteemed team-mate: “Why can’t we get four minutes? So much dust at the beginning of the stage. How many times we repeat the same thing? It’s a funny story.”
Championship Thierry Neuville was 10.6s off the pace due to two contributing factors: one was the “massive cleaning” from being first on the road but, more worryingly, there was also a technical issue aboard his i20 N Rally1.
“The engine power was some problem at some points so we have to check,” he said. “I was running on three cylinders at some point.”
Neuville parked on the road section between stages one and two and opened the hood on his i20, tinkering away to try and resolve the problem.
Adrien Fourmaux was unlucky not to take the lead after the opening stage, having been 0.7s up on Ogier at the halfway mark until encountering Evans’ dust. He dropped to third by stage end, 0.8s off the lead.
Dani Sordo completed the top five behind Katsuta, 6.6s adrift of the second Toyota and one second up on team-mate Neuville.
Grégoire Munster could only manage the eighth-fastest time, arriving at the finish revving his engine and suffering from an undisclosed technical problem. He was 21.6s off the pace, four tenths down on WRC2 runner Yohan Rossel.
Sami Pajari’s hopes of an all important victory to keep his WRC2 title hopes alive have already taken a dent, losing 7.6s to Rossel with a tire off the rim on the first stage.
