WRC 3
Fontana survives late scare to clinch Greece WRC3 glory
Matteo Fontana cemented his place at the top of the WRC3 standings with a comprehensive victory at EKO Acropolis Rally Greece on Sunday.
Fontana started the final day of the rally with a 3min 56.7sec buffer over Tymek Abramowski and despite a slight scare when he had to stop to change a puncture on his Ford Fiesta Rally3 on Sunday’s opening stage, the Italian was still able to hold on for a comfortable win of 41.7sec.
The victory was the third of the season for the reigning champion, who now leads the WRC3 championship by 34 points over Spain’s Gil Membrado whilst Abramowski’s second-place finish boosted the Pole from 8th to 4th.
It marked the third second-place finish of the season for Abramowski in as many starts, as he was left ruing a puncture to his Fiesta on Friday morning’s opening stage, effectively ruling him out of fighting for the lead.
Tymek Abramowski recorded his third second-placed finish in as many starts
© AT World
Making his WRC debut, Greek youngster Flandy relied on the experience of legendary Greek co-driver Kostas Stefanis to navigate him to the final step on the podium.
Another who had been in the early fight for victory had been Nataniel Bruun before engine issues to his Fiesta on Friday afternoon forced an early retirement and a Saturday morning restart. Despite the setback, the Bolivian youngster managed to climb from sixth back to fourth with a host of top-three times, including a clean sweep of stage victories on Sunday.
Rounding out the top five was Poland’s Grzegorz Bonder.
