Sébastien Ogier has labeled this year’s Acropolis Rally Greece the roughest he has ever seen, with the organizer unable to prepare the roads like normal.
The Acropolis was one of the events on the original World Rally Championship calendar back in 1973, and has established a reputation for being one of the roughest rallies on the schedule.
But 2011 winner Ogier, who this week makes his seventh start in Greece, feels the 2024 event is the roughest he’s encountered.
“I think it is, yes,” he told DirtFish during the recce. “At least after recce it looks challenging.
“I think it’s a word you’ll hear a lot after recce but for me it’s one step rougher than we used to see here in recent years. Maybe the organizer has been a bit annoyed that we were saying recently that it is not as rough as it used to be, I don’t know!
“But it looked like some stages didn’t see much repair compared to last year or a long time, so some section for sure we’ll have to survive them.”
Ogier's experience of the Acropolis goes back more than a decade
Ogier’s championship rival, Thierry Neuville, feels the abundance of loose stones will create a particular hazard.
“It looks incredibly challenging out there in terms of roughness, and loose stones – lots of loose stones. It’s going to be exciting,” Neuville told DirtFish.
“We need to keep it smooth and, yeah, just enjoy our run through: don’t try to make too much and fingers crossed, because it’s going to be a bit of a lottery in terms of punctures this weekend.
“Lots of stones, so easy to damage the radiator, some water pipes, even the steering or something, so we have to have our eyes wide open and try to avoid as many stones as we can.”
Hyundai team-mate Dani Sordo added: “Honestly, it will be really, really tough. This year the rally is tough – I think much more than the previous years.
“I think we make really good pacenotes but it will be difficult to not have any issue. Already the first stage is hard and second stage also – they didn’t repair the roads and it’s slippery with a lot of stones, so it needs something.”
Rocks and stone lurk in the road to catch out the unwary
A clever approach will therefore be required.
“It’s going to be a tough weekend – we have to be smart,” Adrien Fourmaux agreed.
“It’s really rough in some places, more than the previous years, so it’s going to be really interesting. But I hope our road position [fifth] will be a good point for us, so we’ll see.”
Acropolis clerk of the course Anita Passalis confirmed that the stages are rougher than previous years, owing to weather conditions in the lead-up to the event.
“We are aware that this year’s route is more challenging than in previous years,” Passalis told DirtFish.
“The extremely dry weather in the last few months has significantly hampered our efforts to properly prepare the stages.
“Despite this, the considerable effort put in by all the personnel and machinery provided by the prefectures and municipalities to the organizers is commendable.
“I believe that this time, the EKO Acropolis Rally will truly demonstrate its reputation as one of the toughest rallies in the championship.”
