Acropolis Rally – Day Two
A dramatic afternoon at Acropolis Rally, round ten of the 2023 FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) season, has ended with Hyundai Motorsport’s Dani Sordo and Cándido Carrera moving into a fantastic second place.
The Spaniards are the best-placed Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team crew, with team-mates Esapekka Lappi/Janne Ferm in fifth. Overnight leaders Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe sadly retired from their hard-fought first place on the opening stage of the afternoon loop.
Saturday’s gruelling itinerary comprised of three stages ran twice: Pavliani (SS7/10, 24.25km), Karoutes (SS8/11, 28.44km) and Eleftherohori (SS9/12, 18.02km). The harsh and unforgiving roads became more and more treacherous with each pass; many crews felt the punishing nature of the ‘Rally of the Gods’ throughout the day’s running.
Sordo/Carrera were one of the few crews to have trouble-free runs through the treacherous stages. Gaining a position on every stage of the morning, the Spaniards were fourth by the end of the first loop. Their upward trajectory continued on SS10 Pavliani 2, when they progressed into a provisional podium place, but the pendulum then swung in favour of Elfyn Evans on the next stage.
An impressive run through the final stage, SS12 Eleftheohori 2, saw Sordo set the second fastest time – enough to move into the provisional top-three. The #6 Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid gained another position following issues for rally leader Sébastien Ogier, and the Spaniards head into the final three stages of the event in a remarkable second place.
Lappi/Ferm endured a character-building day; nevertheless, the Finnish crew never gave up. A handbrake issue on the opening stage lost them some time to their rivals, before they picked up a puncture on SS8 Karoutes 1. The crew was able to change the tyre and continue on their way with a conservative run through the final stage to safely bring their Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid back to service. Further issues in the afternoon hampered their progress; the Finns finished the day in fifth, yet the unpredictable nature of Acropolis Rally means there is still everything to play for on Sunday.
It had been a feisty start to the day for Neuville and Wydaeghe, who initially lost the lead of the event on the first stage. A stellar performance on the following test saw the Belgians bounce back from a near eight-second deficit to reclaim the top spot.
Neuville extended his lead even further on the final stage of the morning loop to head into mid-day service with a healthy advantage of ten seconds, but the abrasive gravel routes of Acropolis Rally bit back in the afternoon loop. The duo was forced to retire for the day on SS10 Pavliani with broken suspension, as the rock-lined and hole-filled roads halted the duo’s victory push.
Crew Notes: Dani Sordo/Cándido Carrera (#6 Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid)
- Spaniards gained five places in the overall order on solid Saturday
- Crew claimed second place on gripping final stage
Sordo said: “I am quite happy with today; I would like to be closer to the others, but we managed the conditions quite well and now we are in second. In all honesty, while the stages were a little bit demanding, they were much better than we expected. The second stage of the loops was slippery and hard on the tyres – a proper Acropolis stage – and Eleftherotori had stones everywhere, so we had to take it very carefully for the car. In the end, we have no problems on the car, which is very important. We have a lot of work to do tonight – tomorrow is a long day, and the stages were in a really bad condition during the recce, but hopefully we can bring home a good result for the team.”
Crew Notes: Esapekka Lappi/Janne Ferm (#4 Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid)
- Technical gremlins continued on Saturday
- Finns determined to take fighting spirit into Sunday’s Power Stage
Lappi said: “A bit too much action today! Our issues started yesterday, and then continued today with the handbrake in the morning and then later the transmission. For sure, the result is really bad; I don’t know what I could do differently. I guess it is just bad luck. The conditions today were much better; we thought during the recce it would be a lot tougher, but it’s dried up a lot and I thought the stages were quite good. Let’s see what we can do tomorrow; we’ll keep our eyes on Power Stage points, but first we need to get there.”
Crew Notes: Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (#11 Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid)
- Stage win on SS8 Karoutes saw Belgians storm back to the lead of Acropolis Rally
- Broken front-right suspension on SS10 Pavliani 2 resulted in pair’s heart-breaking retirement
Neuville said: “We were leading the rally but unfortunately, we were forced to retire for the day on SS10. We were about 11km into the stage, following the line, when we drove over a hole and the suspension broke. We don’t know exactly what broke, I think the accumulation of vibration and shocks throughout the weekend caused a suspension failure after an impact. At the end of the day, this is one of the roughest rallies of the season, and this year it is particularly tough for the cars. It’s very frustrating to be unlucky again this weekend considering all the hard work and efforts everybody puts in to get the best possible result. The performance was there but everything needs to be perfect to score the maximum points. Now, we look forward to the upcoming event to finish on a high on the last three rallies of the season.”
Hyundai Motorsport Team Principal Cyril Abiteboul said: “We know that Greece is a test, and today once again demonstrated that is a well-deserved reputation. It is a very bitter feeling for everyone that Thierry and Martijn retired; it was very clear that they were in a commanding position, and our chances to win this rally were genuine. We feel sorry for them but also for the work that went into the preparation of the rally, as we wanted to defend our win from last year. Unfortunately, fate decided otherwise. We are yet to understand exactly what happened, but we hope to repair the car for tomorrow. It was not the only action of the day: Esapekka had to fight against his car to bring it back to service, and hats off to him and Janne for being able to do that. We need to investigate what caused their transmission issue. Dani was able to drive around the challenges and issues for others, which has promoted him into an interesting position for Sunday. It gives us a good reason to cheer for tomorrow’s fight.”
Sunday at a glance
- Three more stages remain to be contested on the final day of Acropolis Rally
- A sole run of Tarzan (SS13, 23.37km) opens the day followed by two runs of Grammeni (SS14/15, 9.00km) to close out another intense round of the WRC.
Classification after Day Two
| 1 | K. Rovanperä | J. Halttunen | Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid | 2:29:40.5 |
| 2 | D. Sordo | C. Carrera | Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid | +2:04.4 |
| 3 | E. Evans | S. Martin | Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid | +2:09.4 |
| 4 | O. Tänak | M. Järveoja | Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid | +4:49.7 |
| 5 | E. Lappi | J. Ferm | Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid | +6:16.2 |
| 6 | T. Katsuta | A. Johnston | Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid | +7.02.2 |
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