Jari-Matti Latvala delivered an impressive performance across the demanding gravel roads of Greece to secure overall victory at the Historic Acropolis Rally, the second round of the FIA European Historic Rally Championship gravel season.
Co-driven by Tomiya Maekawa aboard their Toyota Celica Turbo 4WD ST185, the Finnish-Japanese pairing controlled the rally from the opening stages and steadily extended their advantage across three demanding days of competition, before overcoming a late mechanical issue on the final day.
The event began on Friday evening with the ceremonial start in Lamia before crews tackled the opening “Stirfaka” night stage in difficult and changing grip conditions. Rainfall during the stage caught several competitors out, but Latvala immediately found his rhythm to establish an early lead over the field.
Saturday’s action brought some of the toughest conditions of the weekend, with heavy rain and mud significantly affecting the route. Organisers were forced to cancel the first pass of the “Makrirahi” stage due to safety concerns caused by deteriorating surface conditions, while crews faced extremely slippery roads across the remaining tests. Despite the challenging conditions, Latvala and Maekawa maintained a clean and consistent run, building an advantage of more than four minutes by the end of the leg.
Behind the leaders, the battle for the remaining podium positions remained highly competitive throughout the rally. Austria’s Kris Rosenberger and Nicola Januschke Bleicher emerged as one of the standout pairings of the weekend in their Subaru Impreza Turbo GT, consistently running near the front and setting the pace on Sunday’s “Thiva” special stage. Greek crew Achilleas Christodoulou and Konstantinos Soukoulis also impressed on home soil to secure a podium finish with their Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution, while Czech crew Vojtech Stajf and Veronika Havelkova managed to grab the fourth place overall in the Toyota Celica GT Four ST165. Christophe Jacob and Isabelle Reignier completed the top five and managed to hold onto the lead of the Gravel Championship after another measured drive through the punishing Greek stages.
The rally once again highlighted the diversity and character of the FIA EHRC field, with iconic machinery from multiple rallying eras tackling the legendary mountain roads. Toyota Celicas, Ford Escorts, Porsche 911s, Subaru Imprezas and Volvo models all featured across the competitive entry list as crews faced one of the toughest events on the historic rally calendar.
The famous “Tarzan” special stage proved to be one of the defining moments of the weekend. Making its first appearance in the Historic Acropolis Rally itinerary, the legendary test delivered spectacular action and punishing conditions, further underlining the endurance challenge presented by the Greek event.
Despite appearing comfortably in control heading into the closing stages, Latvala’s rally victory was briefly placed under threat on Sunday when a mechanical issue affected the leading Toyota Celica. However, the team successfully managed the issue before the final “Neochoraki” stage, allowing the reigning EHRC Champion to complete the rally and seal an emphatic overall victory.
For Latvala, the result marked another successful appearance on the roads where he claimed overall Acropolis Rally victory during his FIA World Rally Championship career in 2013. The former factory driver once again demonstrated his experience and pace on rough gravel conditions, adding another historic success to his growing EHRC campaign.
Despite the punishing terrain and changing weather conditions that defined the weekend, crews battled through one of the championship’s most iconic and unforgiving events yet, reinforcing the Historic Acropolis Rally’s reputation as one of the ultimate tests in international historic rallying.
With two rounds now completed in the FIA EHRC gravel season, attention next turns to the championship’s upcoming summer events, where the battle for points is set to intensify in Finland at the Lahti Historic Rally, on 20-22 August
