Ogier leads as puncture lottery shakes up leaderboard

Sebastien Ogier has moved into the lead of Acropolis Rally Greece despite being among several World Rally Championship crews to pick up punctures on a brutal Friday morning.

Eight-time world champion Ogier completed the morning loop with a 6.1s lead over Hyundai’s Ott Tanak, with Adrien Fourmaux in third 14.4s adrift.

Ogier took a shared overnight lead with Tanak into Friday’s rough gravel stages after last night’s Athens super special. Ogier set a blistering time in stage two, despite being second on the road, before dropping to third as the road cleaning effect took hold in stage three, which helped Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville, starting fifth, to march into 4.2s lead over Fourmaux.

However, the leaderboard underwent a shake up in the second pass through the Aghii Theodori stage, that hosted the second test in searing temperatures. The rutted roads exposed plenty of bedrock increasing the risk of punctures that crews had expected would impact the rally given the stages are much rougher than previous years due to a prolonged period of dry weather.

Six of the Rally1 crews suffered from either puncture or damage to the tyres in stage four. Neuville was impacted the most as a front-left failure cost him the rally lead. The reigning world champion elected to press on instead of changing it and managed to reach the stage end having lost 39.5s.

It was enough to drop Neuville from the lead to sixth overall as Ogier moved back into the lead after topping the times in stage four, despite losing his front left tyre towards the end of the stage.

“Honestly at the moment there is no drama, we lost 39s and we need to target a good road position for tomorrow and that is the only thing we can do. If luck isn’t on our side we won’t be able to make it happen,” Neuville told Autosport.

“There is a massive risk of puncturing so it is the same for everyone. It is a lottery, all the tyres are damaged.

“Hanging dust was a problem this morning and we could see we were losing some time. It is a problem we know but we just keep acting as if it is nothing.”

Considering his road position, Ogier declared his start to the rally as “perfect” despite the puncture.

“I’m more than happy. It has been a perfect start for us. I’m really happy with my driving and how we have managed it. It was very rough in the last stage but it is just a taste of what is to come,” Ogier told Autosport.

“Luckily the puncture came 200 metres from the stage finish, so we didn’t lose any time.”

Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta was the first to pick up a puncture in stage two and was quickly followed by M-Sport pair Josh McErlean and Martins Sesks. Katsuta and McErlean lost two minutes stopping to change wheels while Sesks continued on his deflated rubber, losing 1m33s. Nine WRC2 runners were forced to stop with tyre issues.

Elfyn Evans, Scott Martin, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

The second pass of the stage provided even more torture for the tyres as championship leader Elfyn Evans, Tanak, Sami Pajari, McErlean and his M-Sport team-mate Gregoire Munster picked up punctures or tyre damage.

Fourmaux, who won stage three, was among the few to avoid tyre trouble having done his best to try and avoid the roughest sections of the stages. The Frenchman is hopeful that he will receive time back from the officials after getting caught in the dust of a delayed Katsuta in stage two.

“In the last one I decided to manage the rough parts because the road was destroyed so I was really careful avoiding rocks and going outside of the line. I was losing time but it was ok, this is how I want to manage it,” Fourmaux told Autosport.

Heading into the afternoon stages Toyota’s Pajari held fourth [+27.5s] ahead of Kalle Rovanpera, who struggled to find the balance in his GR Yaris [+32.4s].

Evans found the going tough opening there road before suffering a steering issue caused by an impact, which left the championship leader in seventh, with Munster the top M-Sport runner in eighth. Oliver Solberg enjoyed a trouble-free run to top the WRC2 field in ninth.