The first full day of action on the Greek roads would see the crews tackle just over 120km’s in six stages. We had a leaderboard of sorts with Ott leading from Seb and Takamoto. The championship leader, Elfyn, was sixth. The day would not feature any full service at the service park, but there would be a remote service in the middle of the six stages.
First stage then of the day, SS2 Aghii Theodori 1 – 26.76 km and Seb was fastest from Sami and Thierry. Seb stayed in the lead from Thierry who jumped up three positions into second overall and Sami who gained six positions, moving into third overall. Martins had to stop his Puma in the stage to change a wheel, but Takamoto and Josh also had to stop to change as well after getting punctures.
It was all change at the top following SS3 Loutraki – 12.90 km. Adrien took the stage from Thierry and Ott. Seb fell from the lead to third whilst Thierry moved into the lead. Adrien gained four positions and moved into second overall. Meanwhile Elfyn continued to open the road and maintained seventh overall.
Before the remote service came SS4 Aghii Theodori 2 – 26.76 km and Seb set the pace just like earlier from Ott and Takamoto this time. Seb and Ott both gained positions with the Frenchman moving back into the lead from third overall, with Ott now second and Adrien dropping one position to third. The big loser was Thierry who fell from the lead to sixth place. The Belgian had a puncture but did not stop. It was a rough stage and even the top two had tyre trouble.
Then came the afternoon stages and the temperatures were really climbing out there. The first of three completely new stages, SS5 Thiva – 19.58 km saw Adrien set the pace from Ott and Seb. Kalle was fourth fastest and moved up into fourth overall. Thierry had another puncture and lost five positions falling to eleventh overall. Things were going well for Elfyn who’d kept out of trouble and was now in sixth place.
Onto the penultimate stage then, SS6 Stiri – 24.18 km and Adrien was again fastest from Ott and Greg. Ott took the lead and Adrien gained a position moving into second place with Seb falling to third. Also gaining a couple of positions was Elfyn who moved into fourth place. It was Kalle who lost time dropping four positions to eighth place. Also climbing the leaderboard was Greg who after his third fastest time was now up to fifth overall. Thierry gained one position, moving back into the top ten.
The final stage then, SS7 Elatia – 11.58 km and Thierry was back to stage winning pace with his teammates Ott and Adrien with the second and third fastest respectively. Thierry gained a couple of places moving inti eighth overall.
Let’s take a look at the top positions and hear from the drivers.
Classification after Day One
|
Hyundai Motorsport
Ott Tänak
“It’s been a very positive day all together. We could see that it was a super demanding day on many fronts, so at times it was difficult to keep it all in one piece, but we are happy that we didn’t have any troubles with the car or the tyres. It’s been really long: 15 hours in the car in 41 degrees means it’s been a difficult journey. Tomorrow will be a much slower day; very technical, twisty and narrow passes through the forests. Let’s see what it has in store, I’m sure it won’t get any easier.”
Acropolis Rally 2025, 26-29 June 2025
Photographer: Romain Thuillier
Worldwide copyright: Hyundai Motorsport GmbH
Adrien Fourmaux
“Today was really positive, but we need to get some time back from SS2 this morning when we were slowed down by Katsuta’s dust. It was a really good day for me, we were managing well on the rougher parts of the stages so we could push where it was clean, and this paid off. Generally, our road position was beneficial, but we still had the issue of some really rough areas that forced us to slow down, compromising us a bit throughout the day. Nevertheless, the handling of the car was great. When you start to push too hard in Greece, you get into trouble, so I will keep today’s approach for tomorrow.”
Thierry Neuville
“We didn’t expect to get two punctures in a row and lose that much time, so that was a huge frustration – it felt like we got hit by a big hammer twice. I really struggled to bounce back this afternoon; we didn’t have enough liquid in the car, and I was really not feeling well, so altogether a big struggle. It’s definitely a tough event, but I have never had this many punctures since the start of a season in my career. We need to have something more reliable – deciding results on tyres is not nice.”
Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT
Sébastien Ogier
“Overall, the day has been very positive; to be where we are from second on the road is better than we expected. The morning loop was especially good for us with the two stage wins in Aghii Theodori. Loutraki on the other hand was a proper taste of what was to come in the afternoon – on those stages the cleaning effect was much harder, and we lost some time. I am still pretty pleased with what we achieved and with the car, and with a better start position tomorrow we can be even more competitive.”
Elfyn Evans
“It was tough today. It was hot and we definitely suffered opening the road. It was a tough position to be in, especially with how the afternoon stages were, having to clean everyone. I am not particularly happy with how the day went and with how difficult it was to get a good feeling in the conditions that we faced. Fourth is a reasonable position to be in with several others having had trouble today, but there is still a long way to go, and we need to keep driving a clean rally.”
Takamoto Katsuta
“Unfortunately, we had to change a tyre early in the first stage this morning; we’re not sure what happened but the roads were rough and there was a very big step in the bedrock. But there can be many dramas on Acropolis, so I made an effort to avoid a similar issue later and also avoid any mistakes. By the end of the day, we recovered to sixth overall, which is good considering what happened this morning. It is still a long way to go, and anything can happen, so I will keep pushing enough while avoiding trouble.”
Kalle Rovanperä
“It’s been a demanding day on the cars, the tyres and the crews – it has been so hot. I wasn’t able to have the pace that I wanted in the morning which was quite annoying. Also, the roads were so rough that with many big hits to the car we picked up some damage and carried this for the rest of the day. On a rally like this you need some luck, and we didn’t have it today but tomorrow we can try again.”
Sami Pajari
“We had really tough and tricky conditions today. There are so many rocks and anything you hit can lead to trouble. I was pushing in some places but being clever in the tricky sections. It was going quite well in the morning; we were in the game, and I was really happy with the car and the driving. Unfortunately, after SS5 we found we had a technical issue and couldn’t go any further. It was a pity, but Acropolis is so rough that these things can happen, and hopefully we can restart tomorrow.”
Oliver Solberg
“It’s been quite warm at times,” grinned Oliver. “But OK, we are here, and we’ve been able to drive like we wanted through the day. The key to a rally like this is to try to drive neatly, keep the car as straight as possible and try to avoid the rocks.
“There are so many rocks out there, it’s impossible to miss them all. But I think we’ve done a good job with our Toyota GR Yaris today.
“I didn’t do this event last year, actually I only started it twice before and I haven’t finished either time. Elliott and me want to change that this year. It’s quite tricky at times because we haven’t competed on some of these stages before and when you have the dust hanging in the road it can be a bit complicated. I’m driving with a little bit spare, not going flat out – the risk is really high if you do that.
“Like I said, I want to finish, and I would love to win this rally in this beautiful country.”
Saturday
The second day will see the crews face 123km’s over six stages, with the afternoon stages being a full rerun of the morning stages.
Can Seb fight back into the lead, or will we see Ott continue to hold the lead at the end of the day. Perhaps Adrien could be in the top spot as well?
We shall find out at the end of tomorrow!
Leave a Reply