A power concern for Toyota’s Sebastien Ogier handed Hyundai’s Ott Tanak the Acropolis Rally benefit as drama struck 4 of the 5 World Rally Championship title competitors.
Tanak was the only champion opposition to prevent issues to end an attritional Friday on Greece’s rough gravel roadways with a 21.8 s lead over team-mate Dani Sordo.
Ogier had actually led the rally by 5.9 s at the midday service and won 3 of the day’s 6 phases, however a turbo concern with his Toyota GR Yaris ahead of the last test dropped the Frenchman to 4th [+2m26.4s]
Champion leader and roadway opener Thierry Neuville finished a 1-2-3 for Hyundai, recuperating to 3rd [+45.2s] after his i20 N was lowered to 3 cylinders throughout the early morning.
M-Sport-Ford’s Gregoire Munster seemed on course to end up the day in 4th before a double leak in phase 6 dropped him to seventh [+4m08.4s]behind leading WRC2 runners Robert Virves and Sami Pajari.
Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta challenged for the rally lead on Friday early morning after winning phase 2 before an influence on phase 3 led to the Japanese losing a wheel and retiring from the day.
The event contributed to a challenging day for Toyota after title competitor Elfyn Evans suffered a leak on the opening phase and a turbo problem. The Welshman finished the afternoon with a fixed GR Yaris however ended the loop outside the points-paying positions, 9m55 adrift.
Elfyn Evans, Scott Martin, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
Picture by: Toyota Racing
The Acropolis Rally’s notorious rocky roadways produced headings at the start of Friday afternoon when Adrien Fourmaux sustained a pricey altercation with a rock.
The M-Sport-Ford motorist had actually browsed through Friday early morning’s rough gravel phases to route rally leader Ogier by 5.9 s.
Fourmaux’s early morning loop times were a lot more outstanding considering he wasted time to the hanging dust from Elfyn Evans’ injured Toyota GR Yaris, and finished the trio of phases without hybrid power.
At the start of phase 4, the 2nd pass through Ano Pavliani, the Frenchman, sitting 5th in the champion standings, clipped a rock and broke the guiding on his Ford Puma.
Ogier had the ability to continue the speed that put him into a 5.9 s lead at midday service after setting the speed on phase 4 by 1.9 s from Tanak, who moved into 2nd following Fourmaux’s death.
Hyundai’s Sordo, keeping up a hybrid concern, acquired 3rd in general from Neuville, now driving a fixed i20 N Rally1 that had actually dropped to 3 cylinders throughout the early morning loop. M-Sport-Ford’s Gregoire Munster reached 5th while showing speed to clock the fourth-fastest time on the phase.
The fight at the front took another twist in phase 5 [Dafni, 21.67km] when Ogier suffered a mystical concern with his GR Yaris. The rally leader been running highly previously, dropping time in the last split of the 21.67 km Dafni test and delivering 16.7 s to Tanak
Ogier reported that he required to “examine something” on his automobile at the phase end,