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GREECE - Sebastien Ogier won the Acropolis Rally Greece on Sunday for Toyota, taking advantage of a late setback for Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville, who suffered a double puncture on the penultimate stage. The reigning world champion, partnered by co-driver Vincent Landais, finished 58.3 seconds clear of Belgian Neuville to claim his 69th World Rally Championship victory and his second win of the season. Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta completed the podium in a distant third, while team-mate and championship leader Elfyn Evans could manage only seventh place, cutting his lead over Katsuta to seven points after eight of 14 rounds. Ogier, who is now third in the overall standings and 33 points off Evans, secured maximum points by winning both the final Power Stage and the Super Sunday classification. The Frenchman, taking his second career victory at the Acropolis Rally and his first there since 2011, said the demanding gravel event left no room for error and that he focused on driving gently and avoiding stones. Neuville, who had led after Friday and was just 1.3 seconds behind Ogier before the puncture on stage 16, acknowledged Ogier’s performance and noted the reversal of fortunes after he had benefited from Ogier’s late puncture in Portugal last month. Further back, Josh McErlean took a career-best fourth for Ford, with Toyota’s Sami Pajari fifth, Hyundai’s Adrien Fourmaux sixth, and Martins Sesks eighth for M-Sport Ford, while Skoda’s WRC2 drivers Robert Virves and Andreas Mikkelsen completed the points-paying positions. The championship moves on to Estonia for the next round from July 17 to 19.

By Lauren Mitchell | JQJO News