WRC
Neuville holds Ogier at bay in Greece
Thierry Neuville kept Sébastien Ogier behind him at the head of EKO Acropolis Rally Greece after a closely fought Saturday morning on the Peloponnese stages.
The Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team driver reached the midpoint of the leg with a 6.3sec advantage over Ogier, after the pair traded blows across Ghymno, Kolines and Menalo Mt.
Ogier began the day 9.7sec behind Neuville and immediately reduced the gap by setting the pace on SS8, Ghymno. The Toyota Gazoo Racing driver was 1.5sec faster than the rally leader to trim the deficit to 8.2sec, then gained a further 3.3sec on the following Kolines test.
But Neuville responded on Menalo Mt, going fastest by 1.4sec from Ogier to push his lead back out to 6.3sec with one stage remaining before service.
“It was a good stage,” Neuville said after Menalo Mt. “I tried to give it a bit more rhythm at the beginning. It was good grip and nice flow, but still a demanding stage.
“We are taking care of the tyres and car. Ten seconds in front or behind doesn’t change anything on a rally like this. There is an amount of work left.”
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Ogier, who has so far combined speed with a measured approach on Greece’s demanding gravel roads, said his priority remained avoiding mistakes rather than forcing the issue.
“Again we keep focusing on ourselves and just try to run clean and have no mistake,” said the nine-time world champion. “We could push more but the risk of puncture in here is too high. We are following the same plan from the beginning.”
Adrien Fourmaux strengthened Hyundai’s grip on the podium positions in third. The Frenchman won SS9, Kolines, and survived a wild moment on Menalo Mt after a pacenote scare, but remained 50.6sec behind team-mate Neuville.
“We had a moment,” Fourmaux admitted. “It was a huge mistake in my pacenotes, so it was a big save. We are quite lucky. I saved it. After that I decided to slow down a bit.”
Takamoto Katsuta climbed to fourth overall for Toyota, helped by a strong time on Kolines and continued issues for those around him. The Japanese driver sits 1min 53.9sec off the lead and 19.8sec clear of Josh McErlean.
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McErlean remains on course for a career-best result in fifth, despite losing time on Kolines after struggling for traction. The M-Sport Ford driver is 20.0sec ahead of championship leader Elfyn Evans, who moved up to sixth after a much stronger morning from sixth on the road.
Evans, who lost more than two minutes on Friday while opening the road, set encouraging times through the loop and was fourth-fastest on Ghymno before going fifth on Menalo Mt.
“I’m just doing everything we can,” Evans said after the final stage of the morning so far. “I didn’t feel like we had a good run in the middle of the stage, but the rest was okay.”
Mārtiņš Sesks slipped to seventh after struggling to find rhythm through the morning. The Latvian, who had started the day fifth, admitted something was “not really clicking” as he dropped behind both McErlean and Evans.
Dani Sordo is eighth for Hyundai, ahead of Sami Pajari, who spun on Menalo Mt after being caught out by mud in a slow corner. Andreas Mikkelsen completes the top 10 overall and continues to lead WRC2 in his Škoda Fabia RS Rally2.
Mikkelsen extended his advantage over Robert Virves on Ghymno and remained in control of the category as the loop progressed, while Alejandro Cachón held third in WRC2.
The morning loop concludes with Kefalari before crews return to repeat Ghymno and Menalo Mt after service in Loutraki..
