Thierry Neuville’s FIA World Rally Championship title hopes were bolstered on Saturday as the Hyundai ace (above) emerged from the plot twists of another punishing day at Acropolis Rally Greece with a commanding overall lead.
The Belgian, who started the penultimate leg third, climbed to the top as his i20 N Rally1-driving factory teammates, Ott Tanak and Dani Sordo, suffered misfortunes in what has proven to be easily the season’s most brutal rally so far.
Tanak had led by 21.8s after Friday’s grueling opening leg, but Greece’s unforgiving, rock-strewn gravel stages took their toll early on Saturday. Forced to stop twice within six miles to change wheels, the Estonian’s challenge fell apart as he dropped four minutes and plummeted down the leaderboard to fourth.
Sordo, making his first top-level appearance since June’s Rally Italy Sardinia, briefly inherited the lead. But, like so many before him, the Spaniard was undone by the unforgiving road conditions. A collision with a rock caused a rear-tire blowout, which cost around 50s and negated his advantage in an instant.
But Neuville, whose Friday had been somewhat marred by a misfiring engine, managed to survive the rock-related carnage. Carefully pacing himself and conserving his Pirelli tires, he steered his Hyundai clear of any potential disasters to end the day with a lead of 53.7s over Sordo.
Sebastien Ogier, Neuville’s closest championship challenger despite starting the 2024 season on a part-time schedule only, clung to third overall, the eight-time WRC champ ending Saturday 1m20.9s adrift of the lead in his Toyota GR Yaris Rally1.
With 18 points provisionally secured (they’ll be confirmed only if Neuville finishes Sunday’s closing leg), the rally leader and his co-driver, Martijn Wydaeghe, are on course to extend their WRC points lead, which stood at 27 points over Ogier at the start of the rally.
“There’s another day left, so at the moment there is no conclusion yet,” insisted Neuville, who’s finished WRC title runner-up five times, but is yet to make the final step. “We need to see where we end up tomorrow — that’s the only thing that counts.
“So far we’ve had a very good management of our rally and, despite some issues on Friday, nothing major happened. From the beginning, our approach was to be careful with the car when it was needed and we somehow got through. I tried to adapt my driving style a bit in the ruts and not put the car too sideways with the risk of hitting stones — that’s the only thing you can do.
“It’s a lottery out there and we don’t know what will happen. Tomorrow we have to see what the weather will be like and how hard we need to drive for the extra points. There are a lot of things we still have to manage.”
Sordo’s tire blowout obliterated the rear bodywork on his i20 N, and with no mid-day service, he and co-driver Candido Carrera were forced to patch up the car as best they could. The duo even resorted to wearing ski goggles to keep the dust out as they fought to retain second place.