Hyundai Motorsport has achieved a WRC hat-trick for the first time in its history in an Acropolis Rally which ends with victory for Thierry Neuville. The Belgian adds his first victory in the hybrid era of the World Cup.
He did it! After several failed attempts, Thierry Neuville has achieved his first victory with the Hyundai i20 N Rally1, which de facto means opening his record in the hybrid era of the WRC. The Belgian driver has had to wait nine events to win the Acropolis Rally, but he has done it in the best possible scenario, since Neuville has led Hyundai’s first hat-trick in history in the World Rally Championship.
The two great unknowns to solve in the last stage of the Acropolis they were wondering if the Hyundai team was going to use team orders to favor Ott Tänak and if Elfyn Evans was going to have the pace to break the treble of the South Korean firm. The answer to both questions was the same, a resounding no. Hyundai did not alter the order of its drivers and Elfyn Evans caused low at the first change.
Ott Tänak is 53 points behind Kalle Rovanperä with three rallies to go and 90 units at stake
The only threat to Hyundai’s treble was not even managing to start SS14, the first stage of the day. Mechanical problems in the link section left Elfyn Evans’ Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 out of the game and the horizon cleared for the leaders. Ott Tänak had the pleasure of taking the scratch in the first section of the day, while Thierry Neuville scored the fastest time in SS15.
The Power Stage was a mere formality in which even things were going well for Hyundai, since Ott Tänak edged out Kalle Rovanperä to score an extra point more than the WRC leader and continue closing the gap that separates them. Craig Breen, Gus Greensmith and Esapekka Lappi completed the ‘top 5’ of the section, thus sharing the additional points that are distributed in this section.
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The World Cup twist
Thierry Neuville’s win and Hyundai’s treble in Greece They show the enormous turn that the World Cup has undergone since Estonia. There came the last victory for Kalle Rovanperä and Toyota, as since then Hyundai has won it all. Neuville already has his first win in the hybrid era of the WRC, Tänak continues to cut points from the leader – he is 53rd – and Sordo counts every rally played this year for a podium. Almost nothing.
Pierre-Louis Loubet has been the best of the rest after signing his first two scratches in the WRC and leading the test during Friday’s stage. A puncture has weighed down a performance that even so has been very positive. Craig Breen has finished fifth, with Takamoto Katsuta sixth as the last surviving priority driver. From behind, the best ‘Rally2’ in a really tough date.
winner and champion
Emil Lindholm has been the other winner of the Acropolis Rally After winning the category WRC2. The Finnish driver dominated the silver class throughout the event to beat Nikolay Gryazin by 36.1 seconds. For his part, the local hero Alexandros Tsoouloftas finished thirda result that has taken him to ninth place overall and to add his first points in the World Cup, to the delight of the Greek fans.
Final classification of the 66th Acropolis Rally Greece
The Acropolis Rally closes its doors and the WRC will return to action on the occasion of Rally New Zealand between September 29 and October 2.
Photos: Red Bull Content Pool / Hyundai Motorsport