Neuville leads after demanding Friday at EKO Acropolis Rally Greece

Thierry Neuville leads EKO Acropolis Rally Greece after a demanding opening full day, as the event’s rough gravel roads and high tyre demands created challenges across the field.

The Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team driver ended Friday 9.7 seconds ahead of Sebastien Ogier, with team-mate Adrien Fourmaux third following an eventful day in which he led the rally before losing time to a puncture.

The longest day of the rally, covering 129.22 competitive kilometres across six gravel stages north of Loutraki, featured heavy road cleaning, sharp rocks and constant risk. Few crews completed the day without issue, but Neuville’s measured approach allowed him to hold the lead overnight.

“It is always nice to lead but it doesn’t mean anything to us at the moment as the rally is very long,” Neuville said. “Tomorrow will be very tough for the car and the tyres.”

Neuville moved into the lead on SS4, Stiri, after Fourmaux reached the finish with a front-right puncture. The Belgian also had to manage balance issues after losing his front splitter, but kept his advantage through the afternoon loop.

“It was quite close at the end,” he said after the first pass of Stiri. “It’s incredibly rough out there. I was struggling quite a lot in here with the fast sections, we are missing the front splitter so the aerodynamic balance is off.”

Ogier remained Neuville’s closest challenger throughout the afternoon. The Toyota Gazoo Racing driver won SS4 and stayed within reach of the lead, but said his priority was avoiding trouble on one of the most demanding days of the season.

“It’s been a good day for us, I can be happy with that,” Ogier said after the final stage. “At the moment I just focus on myself and stay out of trouble.”

Fourmaux showed strong pace during the morning loop, winning Bauxites by 0.1 seconds from Neuville before setting the fastest time on Parnassos Mt to take the rally lead. His advantage was short-lived, however, after a puncture on the following stage dropped him to fourth.

The Frenchman responded well in the afternoon, winning the final Thiva stage to climb back to third overall, 42.4 seconds behind Neuville.

M-Sport Ford World Rally Team also experienced a mixed Friday. Jon Armstrong was one of the standout performers of the morning, climbing as high as third overall before taking his first WRC stage win on Elikon Mt, where he beat Ogier by 0.6 seconds.

His day was then compromised on the next stage, when a front-right puncture was followed by a loss of power. Armstrong eventually retired from the day after losing more than four minutes on Stiri 2.

“I don’t know, simultaneously we had a front-right puncture and then lost all power,” Armstrong said.

Team-mate Josh McErlean avoided major issues to hold fourth overnight, 1min 10.1sec off the lead, with Martins Sesks completing a strong day for M-Sport in fifth.

“It is a nice position to be in,” McErlean said. “It has been a solid day and we tried to stay out of trouble as much as possible. The biggest thing was to try and get some sort of road position for tomorrow and I think that has been achieved.”

Sesks ended the day 6.8 seconds behind McErlean, while Takamoto Katsuta was sixth for Toyota after a difficult day of risk management on the rocky Greek roads.

Championship leader Elfyn Evans faced a challenging Friday opening the road and completed the leg seventh, 2min 08.4sec behind Neuville. The Welshman struggled for traction throughout the day as loose gravel and exposed rocks made conditions particularly difficult for the first car on the road.

“We knew it was going to be tough and it was even more tough than expected,” Evans said. “I tried to push a bit more [on the final stage]. It was a more forgiving surface in here, but it doesn’t feel like we are going anywhere.”

Dani Sordo was eighth after losing almost two minutes to a wheel change on Parnassos Mt, while Andreas Mikkelsen held ninth overall and the WRC2 lead after a close fight with Robert Virves. Mikkelsen ended Friday 8.2 seconds ahead of Virves in the category, with Alejandro Cachón third among the Rally2 runners.

Sami Pajari completed the top 10 after a difficult day that included a puncture and a brief loss of power, while Oliver Solberg’s Friday ended on the final stage when he ran wide and beached his GR Yaris Rally1 at the 6.5km mark.

Saturday takes crews into the Peloponnese for another demanding leg featuring Ghymno, Kolines, Menalo Mt and Kefalari.