Hyundai Motorsport has ended the second day of Acropolis Rally, the ninth round of the 2021 FIA World Rally Championship (WRC), firmly in the podium chase
Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja completed Saturday’s running with an impressive stage win to increase their hold on second place, with a 9.4-second buffer to third
Dani Sordo and Cándido Carrera continue to be on the outskirts of the podium places in fourth, while Thierry Neuville and Martin Wydaeghe moved into the top-ten overall.
Lamia, Greece
September 11, 2021 – Hyundai Motorsport remains on course for a podium finish in the Acropolis Rally, after Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja strengthened their hold on second place after 12 of the weekend’s 15 scheduled stages.
The Estonian crew have been unable to match the pace of rally leader Kalle Rovanperä but increased their advantage over the chasing Sébastien Ogier. Dani Sordo and new co-driver Cándido Carrera retained their overnight fourth position after another trouble-free day on the Greek gravel stages. Thierry Neuville and Martin Wydaeghe, meanwhile, had their sights on making up positions after their power steering issues on Friday, moving up into tenth place.
Saturday’s schedule covered six stages over a competitive distance of 132.56km, almost 50% more than Friday’s challenging loops. Pavliani (24.25km) and Gravia (24.81km) got the penultimate day’s action underway. Following a mid-morning tyre fitting zone, crews moved onto Bauxites (22.97km) and the shorter Eleftherohori (18.14km) to complete a four-stage loop. An early afternoon service in Lamia offered a welcome opportunity to reflect and plan for the final stages, repeated runs of Pavliani and Eleftherohori.
Tänak had taken four second-fastest times during the day before unlocking a stunning stage win on the final timed run (SS12 Eleftherohori 2). The performance overturned a decreasing gap to Ogier to move the Estonians 9.4-seconds clear, having been 0.2-seconds ahead at the end of Friday.
Crew Notes: Ott Tänak/Martin Järveoja (#8 Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC)
Stage win on SS12 (Eleftherohori) strengthened the Estonians grip on second place
Crew hoping to find a good rhythm for the three final stages
Tänak said: “I wouldn’t say the final stage was a turning point, but we have certainly been working hard to find solutions and feeling in the car. We have been trying different things with the tyre choice, going a bit more extreme, to try and keep the pace and retain our advantage over Séb (Ogier). So far that’s the maximum we’ve been able to do, but tomorrow will be another story. We still want more confidence and pace in the car, but there are three tricky long stages to go, so everything is still possible. I will for sure be doing my best to find a good rhythm in the car.”
Crew Notes: Dani Sordo/Cándido Carrera (#6 Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC)
Spanish crew remain in fourth place in their first WRC event as a crew
Trouble-free day with large gap ahead to third and behind to fifth
Sordo said: “We have completed many kilometres today, so it has been a long and hard Saturday with very difficult conditions. We are still holding our fourth place, like yesterday, but a bit further away from the top-three. At the beginning of the day, I realised it was hard to catch them, so we focused on maintaining our place and not making any mistakes. If I’m honest, I can’t say I am entirely happy; I am in the middle of nowhere on the classification, and it’s difficult when you look at the times from the top-three. Still, we have managed our pace and it will be important to have another clean day tomorrow.”
Crew Notes: Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (#11 Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC)
Belgian crew in fightback mode after power steering issues on Friday
Moved up to the top-ten overall and hunting down leading WRC 2 cars
Neuville said: “Our objective today has been to close the gap to the WRC 2 cars, which we have been able to do. This morning, there was a lot of road cleaning in the stages, and it was pretty challenging. In some stages the R5 cars could go quicker than us, but this afternoon the conditions were more equal. As a result, we could find a good rhythm and make up some positions. It will continue to be tough on the final day, especially being so early on the road, but we are going to give it our all and try to get through without any mistakes.”
Team Principal Andrea Adamo said: “At the end of another tough day at Acropolis Rally, I have to say I am amazed by the great job that all three of our crews have achieved today. Thierry, alongside Martijn, has done everything he could to catch-up in difficult conditions, sweeping the roads and making no mistakes; it’s very impressive. Dani has once again shown he is Mr. Consistency, keeping his position to bring home what he can. Ott had a problem in the final stage of the first loop due to an impact, nothing to do with him, but he has fought back this evening. It is incredible to see what he and Martin can do when they are in catch-up mode, how they can always pull a rabbit out of the hat. It allows us to enjoy rallying even more than we already do. I would have loved to have fought for the win in this event, but the rally is not finished. It is still game on.”
Sunday at a glance
Three stages remain on the Acropolis Rally schedule on Sunday, including the longest individual timed test of the event
The first challenge for crews will be the 23.37km Tarzan stage before they tackle the might of the 33.20km Pyrgos
A shortened version of Tarzan will act as the Power Stage, at 12.68km in length, bringing Sunday’s total distance to 69.25km
Classification after Day Two
1
K. Rovanperä
J. Halttunen
Toyota Yaris WRC
2:36:52.8
2
O. Tänak
M. Järveoja
Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC
+30.8
3
S. Ogier
J. Ingrassia
Toyota Yaris WRC
+40.2
4
D. Sordo
C. Carrera
Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC
+2:09.4
5
A. Fourmaux
R. Jamoul
Ford Fiesta WRC
+3:19.2
6
G. Greensmith
C. Patterson
Ford Fiesta WRC
+3:35.0
7
E. Evans
S. Martin
Toyota Yaris WRC
+5:51.9
8
M. Bulacia
M. Der Ohannesian
Škoda Fabia Evo
+7:09.0
9
A. Mikkelsen
E. Edmondson
Škoda Fabia Evo
+7:09.8
10
T. Neuville
M. Wydaeghe
Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC
+7:47.6