Ott Tanak and Martin Jarveoja clinched their and Hyundai’s first victory in eight months after winning the EKO Acropolis Rally Greece by 32.8 seconds over Sebastien Ogier and Vincent Landais in a tense final day.
On the Wolf Power Stage Tanak dropped 16 seconds to Ogier which turned out to be gearbox related which cost the rally winner the maximum Super Sunday points which were scooped up by Ogier.
The top two each won a pair of stages on Sunday while Adrien Fourmaux and Alex Coria stood on the podium for the first time since Monte Carlo back in January.
Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin brought their Toyota home in fourth place to maintain their championship lead, albeit reduced to just nine points ahead of Ogier with Tanak three points further back in third on the title log.
Thierry Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe came home in fifth after a scare on the penultimate stage when his i20 N lost power. He was forced to stop and reset the computer but it didn’t help and the Belgians lost 1:28s.
Oliver Solberg was a remarkable sixth overall – his third straight victory in WRC2, some 53.8 seconds ahead of his old teammate Gus Greensmith.
Yohan Rossel, Kajetan Kajetanowicz and Alejandro Cachon rounded out the top ten.
Read the full report in Motorsport Monday tomorrow.
