The final day then saw the crews face only two stages, but they were a double run of a long stage over 24 kilometres. Josh and Eoin returned to the action following their mid-afternoon retirement with a damaged engine manifold on their Puma, the Motorsport Ireland backed crew would open the road throughout the two stages.

 

Into SS17 Kääriku 1 and it was a great start to the super Sunday standings as Oliver set the pace from rally leader Sami, whilst Adrien had a fantastic stage and increased the gap to his teammate Thierry from 1.9 seconds to 9.8 seconds. Elfyn was also quick, matching the third placed time set by Adrien. Josh who was opening the road had a small off at a junction, but at least was able to finish the stage.

 

Then it was onto the final stage, SS18 Kääriku 2 the Powerstage and Oliver was fastest this time and Thierry was second with Elfyn third. The final two positions in the powerstage were taken by Seb and Takamoto. Sami and Marko crossed the line with the sixth best time and had taken their first top class victory and what a superb drive from the young Finnish crew. They climbed atop their Yaris and celebrated their victory.

Let’s hear from the drivers then and take a look at the final finishing positions, plus the full points standings.

 

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Sami Pajari

“It’s simply an amazing feeling. ‘Arigato gozaimasu’ to Morizo-san and everyone at TGR-WRT for your support and for trusting in me. Thanks to all my supporters, family and friends who stood behind me even when we had tricky times. I also want to thank myself for not giving up and for continuing to push. We’ve had a good first part of the season and after being so many times on the podium, there was no doubt this result was coming, but it’s never easy at this level. This is one of my favourite rallies together with Finland, and I was just enjoying the driving and everything felt natural. Let’s now enjoy the moment before our home event at Rally Finland.”

Oliver Solberg

“This has been a very good weekend. It was very important for me to have a clean weekend and find a good rhythm and get back the feeling and the confidence. Thank you to the team who have supported through a tough time, and I’m very happy to bring back this great result and to be back on the podium. Sami and Marko have done an amazing job with incredible speed and really deserve this result. Today I was able to turn it up just a few percent and take the maximum points from Sunday, so I’m very happy.”

Sébastien Ogier

“It’s been a lot of fun to be back here in Estonia this weekend driving these amazing roads and this fantastic event; it was definitely the right decision. Congratulations to Sami and Marko on their first win: they were clearly the fastest this weekend, so enjoy it! On my side I was not far from the target I set myself. After five years away from these high commitment roads, I was just missing a little bit, and maybe a few tenths on this final day. Still, we scored decent points for the championship, and we will go to Rally Finland with a higher target.”

Elfyn Evans

“We faced a tough start to the weekend with the stages being so dry and the cleaning effect so clear. In the end, I think we clawed back as many positions as we could and that sixth was realistically the most that was possible. Then, the final day was quite OK for us. I think the rain helped a bit to even things out and we had a pretty good run through both stages. So, we came away with some decent points and now we’ll look forward to Rally Finland.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“This weekend did not go the way that we had hoped. We knew that Friday could be difficult with our road position, but our pace was not bad, and I think we were doing our job quite well until we had to stop, and this really affected the rest of our rally, because it was hard to do much from first on the road. It’s very frustrating but nothing is over, and we keep going and keep pushing. We tested some different things with the car for Rally Finland and I hope we have a good rally there.”

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Adrien Fourmaux

“It feels very good to be back on the podium, it was a proper push today in my battle with Thierry, on the first run especially and then we had to ensure the result on the second run. Clearly the first run made the difference today because we had different setups, and it was optimised for the first pass and then a bit worse for the second, but we had a really big push on the first one. In the Power Stage, we knew that we had a decent gap; I should have done a little bit better, but overall, it has been a very positive rally, a good start for us on the fast rallies and I hope we can repeat this kind of performance in Finland.”

Thierry Neuville

“We started the rally with some issues, and we couldn’t really get the car working, so that meant we had to swap a lot of things for Saturday, which suddenly helped the performance to come back. We were continually improving throughout the day and closed on third by the end of Saturday, but I was just not quite in my rhythm this morning and we lost out to Adrien, who definitely deserved to take third place, hats off to him. It is still a good result for the team, considering where we came from, and second in the Power Stage was the maximum we could achieve from the weekend.”

Esapekka Lappi

“We had a challenging weekend in which we struggled with the pace. Generally, the car felt fine throughout the days, it was just difficult to understand why the speed and the times weren’t there versus the competition. On the other hand, we were able to gain more information and data on the setups and tyres, plus more mileage ahead of Finland, where we hope to be better.”

 

M-Sport Ford WRT

Mārtiņš Sesks

“All in all, I think it was a weekend with positives. We did a good job on Friday with our limited experience, and looking ahead to Finland, Friday’s performance is a good positive – it has a lot of similarities with Finland. The rest of the rally was about managing; we did okay, but I wouldn’t say great. I’d say it’s good preparation for Finland, where the grip is higher and maybe we can be a bit more competitive there.”

Jon Armstrong

“It was a bit of a tricky start to the rally, we had the tyre debead on the first stage, over the jump, and then we struggled to make back the time we’d lost. But even without that we’d only have gained one position; the difference was the road position we lost going into Saturday, and we don’t know how much we could have gained with that.

“Overall, we’re happy with the pace. When you gauge it against Josh and Mārtiņš in the same car it’s looking quite good, so we’re happy with that, and we’re looking forward to Finland – it’s going to be a good experience in one of these cars.”

Josh McErlean

“It was a bit frustrating, obviously, what happened on Saturday, but our pace on Friday was nice. Sunday was a bit of a struggle starting first on the road, but we’ll keep learning, and we have plenty of positives to take into Finland. It’s a big reset for the team this week, and we’ll push on in Finland.”

Summary

What a drive then for Sami and Marko, with their sixth podium of the year and their first victory for them at the top level of this championship. Twelve stage wins gave them the lead they needed including the first nine stages. This was impressive as they didn’t take a stage win in this event last year. This result means that every Toyota driver has taken at least one win this year and has also brought the Finns into third in the championship.

 

For Oliver and Elliott this was well needed result to take second overall after a number of events which had seen them not get a result after little mistakes had big consequences. The second place points along with maximum points from super Sunday has given them a good boost in the standings.

 

Finally, Adrien and Alex scored third and has taken them onto equal points with their world champion teammates in the championship standings. It was a good result for the French duo after a few poor results, and this was a well-deserved result.

The next event is Rally Finland, also known as the 1000 Lakes rally and the Gravel Grand Prix to be held over the 30 July to 2 August.

 

2026 FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers’ Standings
After round 9

1	E. Evans	177
2	T. Katsuta	152
3	S. Pajari	144
4	S. Ogier	139
5	O. Solberg	130
6	T. Neuville	111
7	A. Fourmaux	111
8	E. Lappi	25
9	H. Paddon	21
10	Y. Rossel	20

 

2026 FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers’ Standings
After round 9

1	Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team	464
2	Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team	308
3	Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team 2	157
4	M-Sport Ford World Rally Team	116

Onto the second day then and the crews had nine stages in front of them with a total of 150 kilometres to tackle. Takamoto would open the road courtesy of being the last placed top-class crew with his co-driver Aaron at the end of the Friday’s stages. Meanwhile, Elfyn and Scott would the third placed crew on the road and would be looking to regain the positions they lost on the penultimate stage. Overnight rally leaders Sami and Marko would be the last crew through courtesy of leading the rally and would look to open up their lead from their closest challengers from Hyundai.

 

Onto the action then with SS8 Peipsiääre 1 and Sami picked up where he and Marko left off setting the pace from Oliver and Adrien. Elfyn gained two positions, passing Esapekka for seventh overall. It was not a good start for Josh whose Puma suffered from some sort of technical problem and after pulling off the stage the engine would not restart. They lost almost ten minutes before completing the stage at normal pace.

 

Next up came SS9 Mustvee 1 and Sami was again fastest from yes, Oliver and Adrien. As mentioned Elfyn who was third on the road was showing good pace and although not at the front running pace, he was fifth fastest and passed Martins for sixth overall. The Welshman was helped a little with a puncture for the Latvian, but even without this Elfyn would have passed the M-Sport crew.

 

The action continued with SS10 Peipsiääre 2 and Oliver was fastest bringing his teammates run at the top of the stage winners to an end, whilst Adrien was third behind the Toyota crews. Sadly, we lost Josh before the stage as the Puma was retired with a problem with the exhaust manifold.

 

The final stage of the morning loop SS11 Mustvee 2 and it was two in a row from Oliver from Sami and Thierry. Adrien had a slow puncture for the last five kilometres and was only able to set the seventh best time, but at least he’d completed the stage and was still holding third overall. Elfyn was consolidating sixth overall whilst pulling away from Martins.

 

After the lunch time service came SS12 Kambja 1 and Sami restored himself to the top of the stage times winning the stage from Oliver and Adrien. Thierry was eyeing up his teammates podium position, now only 7.9 seconds behind but saw the gap grow a little.

 

The action continued with SS13 Otepää 1 and Sami once again set the pace from Oliver and Thierry. Adrien was still fourth fastest keeping the time loss to a minimum to Thierry. There was a small overshoot for Elfyn in the stage, but not enough to let Martins back too close.

 

Into SS14 Kambja 2 and Sami was just in the zone as he continued to set the pace this time from Thierry and Adrien. Oliver was only fourth in this one but was looking after his tyres and keeping them from overheating. Thierry’s pace took the gap to Adrien down to a little over six seconds.

 

We saw Hyundai take a stage win courtesy of Thierry in SS15 Otepää 2 as he set the pace from Sami and Oliver. The Belgians pace took him even closer to Adrien, the gap now less than two seconds.

 

The short SS16 Tartu Vald would not have any effect on the overall leaderboard and Oliver was fastest from Thierry and Adrien.

 

Let’s hear from the drivers and take a look at the top ten.

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Sami Pajari

“It’s been another really good day. Again, I had a really great feeling with the car and we could start with two stage wins this morning. Then Oliver was having really good pace to bring the gap back down a bit. So, we needed to try and step it up for the afternoon and we managed to do that, adding another 10 seconds to our lead. It wasn’t easy with some different stage conditions and difficult tyre choices, but I’m super happy and now we just need to bring it home tomorrow. We don’t know exactly what the weather will be like – the forecast suggests it could be tricky – but I’m looking forward to it.”

Oliver Solberg

“I had a much better feeling this morning; something similar to what we had here last year in terms of the feeling with the car and the speed. Initially I was still lacking a bit of commitment, but then we made another step for the second pass, the balance felt good, and I could push and set some fastest times. This afternoon we were maybe a bit optimistic going with a full set of soft tyres and it didn’t pay off. I didn’t want to force it and just tried to keep driving my own race. Sami has done an incredible performance so hats off to him. There’s still a long day tomorrow which will be very important for the points, and we’ll try to take as many as we can.”

Sébastien Ogier

“We were able to have a good rhythm and good fun in the car again today. Unfortunately, the road was evolving and getting faster with every car, so it was difficult to fight with the guys ahead of us on the leaderboard. I always prefer to have a fight and to be fifth overall is not what we hoped for, but we’re still on for some important points and tomorrow there are quite a few more to catch. The weather is looking uncertain, and some rain could change things and reduce this cleaning effect, so we just have to keep trying our best until the end.”

Elfyn Evans

“We had a good start to the day. With a slightly better road position than yesterday, we had a good feeling behind the wheel and were able to gain back some positions, which was the main target. We then used the afternoon to experiment with a few different setups, which maybe didn’t go in the direction that we had hoped, but at least we have a solid base to fall back on for tomorrow. Even though there’s only one stage run twice, there’s a lot of points on offer and we’ll have to try to be on our best.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“It was difficult today to be the first car on the road; it’s been so dry so far this weekend and the cleaning effect is really big. We were just focused on trying to find some positive things for the future and for the next rally in Finland, trying a lot of different things with the car setup in every single stage. Some things were positive, some things not so much, but at least we could gather that information. There’s still one more day to go and it probably won’t be easy, but I will keep trying my best, also for all the fans here in Estonia who have been showing such great support for me.”

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Adrien Fourmaux

“Overall, I have enjoyed today a lot, the cars are really fantastic in these kinds of rallies. It’s been a solid day, it’s just a shame that we lost some time to Thierry throughout the day; it was small amounts, but still a little bit each stage. I feel ready for tomorrow, let’s see what the weather will be like, it is still a long day and maybe there will be some rain. It’s really great to have this fight with Thierry because it is good experience with the same cars. The stage tomorrow is very fast followed by some very narrow sections and then some tarmac, so we are going to have to be good for both passes.”

Thierry Neuville

“It was a very enjoyable afternoon after struggling a bit this morning. We made some changes on the car, which gave me a lot more confidence overall. We were struggling in first-pass conditions but in the second-pass conditions with the ruts, we had good speed, and I was enjoying it. Adrien was pushing hard obviously, so we had to push hard as well, without taking too many risks and also looking after the tyres. It wasn’t that easy and simple, we were running five soft tyres today but, in the end, I am happy with my choice.”

Esapekka Lappi

“We didn’t have any problems today, but we also didn’t really improve, which is a shame. The team has done a lot of work to try to improve the pace but for some reason, even with big changes, the car just didn’t react. But we won’t give up, we still have some changes planned for tomorrow so we will see how it goes. [On SS12] we slid wide on a really fast left-hander which was tightening and went completely off the road, but at least we know that this exit could be used!”

 

Classification after Day Two

1 S. Pajari M. Salminen Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 2:08:34.0 2 O. Solberg E. Edmondson Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +25.0 3 A. Fourmaux A. Coria Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +52.1 4 T. Neuville M. Wydaeghe Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +54.0 5 S. Ogier V. Landais Ford Puma Rally1 +1:32.8 6 E. Evans S. Martin Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +2:02.9 7 M. Sesks R. Francis Ford Puma Rally1 +2:16.3 8 E. Lappi E. Mälkönen Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +2:42.0 9 J. Armstrong S. Byrne Ford Puma Rally1 +3:03.2 10 R. Virves J. Viilo Skoda Fabia RS Rally2 +7:07.2

Sunday

The final day sees the crews tackle only two stages, but they are the longest of the whole event at 24.39 kilometres. Let’s see who sets the pace over these two stages and takes the maximum Sunday points along with the powerstage points as well.

The first full day of action included the shakedown stage before the action started in the early afternoon. Elfyn and Scott would open the road throughout the day.

 

The first stage then, SS1 Raanitsa 1 and Sami set the pace just as he’d done during shakedown earlier from Adrien and Oliver. Elfyn, who was opening the road swept the road clear on his way to seventh fastest and ten seconds down on Sami, but at least he was ahead of Takamoto who held eighth position. Jon in the Puma was setting a really good pace, but unfortunately near the stage end over a jump he landed slightly off-line and damaged a tyre on the front right side, and then suffered bodywork damage to the wing. His teammate Martins was the best of the three M-Sport cars with the fifth best time and was fighting back after a penalty which was given before the action really started. After damaging the car during shakedown, they exited service late by two minutes and was given a twenty second penalty accordingly.

 

The shorter SS2 Karaski 1 followed, and it was a second stage win for Sami from Oliver and Adrien this time, with Martins showing great pace as well, matching the Frenchman’s pace. Oliver’s pace took him into second overall, pushing Adrien down to third. Meanwhile there were a few other position changes as Thierry passed Seb as he moved into fourth place and both Takamoto and Josh passed Elfyn as they moved into sixth and seventh as the championship leader fell to eighth and Esapekka was now ninth.

 

The final stage of the loop, SS3 Kanepi 1 before the tyre fitting zone saw Sami make it three out of three from Adrien and Oliver. The Finn was building a lead over his teammate as the gap increased to a little over four seconds. There were some more changes further back as Josh passed Takamoto for sixth place and Esapekka moved into eighth at the expense of Elfyn.

 

After the short break came the first of the second loop of the day, SS4 Raanitsa 2 and Sami picked up when he left off setting the pace from Adrien and Oliver. It was clear these three had the best of the road conditions as they continued to set the pace at the front. Takamoto repassed Josh for sixth overall in this one.

 

Next up was SS5 Karaski 2 and there really was no stopping the Finn as he set the pace again from Oliver and Adrien. There was a position change for Elfyn as he re-passed Esapekka for eighth and was now just 2.3 seconds behind Josh. Incredibly Seb, Takamoto and Josh all set an identical stage time in this stage.

 

Onto the final proper stage then, SS6 Kanepi 2 and this stage would decide the running order on Saturday’s stages. Sami was again fastest from Oliver and Thierry and again three drivers set the same pace again with the Belgian, Adrien and Martins all setting the same time, as there were some position changes further back. Firstly, Takamoto suffered a puncture as the tyre just exploded on a straight piece of road. The pace of the Latvian gained him four positions and he jumped to sixth place, whilst Esapekka also gained two positions moving into seventh place at the expense of Josh and Elfyn who emerged in eighth and ninth overall. Takamoto’s puncture saw him lose five positions and he fell to eleventh place.

The special super stage followed, SS7 Elva Linn, but this would not affect the road positions for Saturday and again Sami was fastest from Martins this time and Thierry.

 

Let’s hear from the drivers and take a look at the standings as well.

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Sami Pajari

“I can be very happy at the end of the day. To take a clean sweep of stage wins and be in the lead is really good, and more importantly the feeling behind the wheel has been really great. The driving has just been flowing quite naturally. Of course, we are pushing but I don’t feel like I’m taking big risk and it feels under control. The morning was super tight with our rivals but in the afternoon we managed to make a bit more of a gap. Still, it’s only Friday. There’s two long days still to go, so no chance to relax yet, but I’m looking forward to tomorrow and will just try to keep enjoying it.”

Oliver Solberg

“Second place is a pretty good position, but I can’t be completely satisfied with the day. This morning it was all pretty close, but the afternoon was a bit more difficult in terms of the times compared to Sami, who has done a great job today. I was struggling a bit with the feeling and to find that sweet spot to be able to push. But we’re not far away and we will keep trying to improve some small things. Tomorrow will be a long day and it will be important to manage the tyres when we’re driving the first and second pass on the same set.”

Sébastien Ogier

“I think it’s been a decent day for us. People know that I will never say I’m happy being in fifth place, but I knew coming here it would be challenging and I think we did a decent job from third on the road after five years not competing here. Sami has been flying today, so well done to him: winning all of the stages is something special. On our side there’s still some work to do to try and improve a bit, work on the car and myself to hopefully be closer to that pace tomorrow and catch some more positions.”

Elfyn Evans

“It’s been a tough start to the rally for us opening the road today with some very loose conditions. We tried to do all that we can, and it didn’t feel so bad behind the wheel. We just weren’t able to put competitive times on the board, and it could be a bit disheartening to see the guys coming faster behind. Thankfully this afternoon with the ruts forming the time loss wasn’t so bad, and tomorrow should at least be a bit better with a couple of cars in front of us.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“Today didn’t go as expected. It was quite a difficult start already in the morning. We went a bit too much on the soft side with the car setup and it wasn’t working so well in the super high-speed sections. We managed it as well as we could and without losing too much time. Unfortunately, we got damage to two tyres during the second loop and couldn’t continue. It’s very disappointing, but I will just keep trying to do my best over the rest of the rally.”

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Adrien Fourmaux

“I am very pleased to be third overnight, it has been a good fight today with Oliver [Solberg], and even with Sami [Pajari] at the beginning before he pulled away. I am happy with my driving and the car; it has been a very positive day. Maybe we should have taken some hard tyres this afternoon, which might have helped me a bit more, but there are no regrets. The feeling inside the car has been brilliant, we’re not off the pace, and it’s a dream to be competitive on stages like these.”

Thierry Neuville

“It was a bit of a tough day today, but we are going to make some changes before tomorrow’s stage, we will change the transmission and see if everything is working as it should. Then we will see. Those little things, when they don’t work perfectly, can cost you a lot of time especially when you have to reduce your speed and when you don’t have complete trust in the car. We are on the limit, taking a little bit of risk over the jumps – those of us who weren’t flat last year, are basically flat this year – and it’s a tough battle out the.”

Esapekka Lappi

“The driving has not been so challenging for us today, but it has been a bit of a mystery when you look at the times. In testing, we felt really good but today we were very far away. The penultimate stage was a step in the right direction, so it was OK. We changed something with the suspension and the transmission, and it worked because my times were almost matching my team-mates. We will try to do something similar for tomorrow; it might not work for the first pass of the stages, but it might for the second pass.”

 

Classification after Day One

1 S. Pajari M. Salminen Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 49:43.5 2 O. Solberg E. Edmondson Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +14.7 3 A. Fourmaux A. Coria Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +16.5 4 T. Neuville M. Wydaeghe Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +24.0 5 S. Ogier V. Landais Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +33.3 6 M. Sesks R. Francis Ford Puma Rally1 +44.7 7 E. Lappi E. Mälkönen Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +46.5 8 J. McErlean E. Treacy Ford Puma Rally1 +46.6 9 E. Evans S. Martin Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +49.8 10 J. Armstrong S. Byrne Ford Puma Rally1 +1:04.3

Saturday

What does the second day hold then for the crews? Well for starters, there are nine stages and a huge 150 kilometres. Four are run in the morning before service, then a single stage before the final four run with a break in the middle on them. What will the top ten look like at the end of the day and can Elfyn improve his position and move up into the top five?

The championship returns to the fast roads of Ott and Martins homeland. Now the crews will have eighteen stages over almost 302 kilometres. Last year, Oliver and Elliott stepped from their Yaris Rally2 into the top spec Yaris and promptly took stage win after stage win, ultimately taking their first overall championship win.

 

They would love to do this again this weekend, but they will have some serious competition from their teammates and also those at Hyundai and M-Sport Ford.

 

Let’s hear from the crews and take a proper look at the stages.

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Elfyn Evans

“Greece was a challenging event for us, but we can look forward to something completely different on much faster roads in Estonia and Finland. It’s important to find a good feeling and prepare the car as well as possible for these events, and it was helpful to drive a national rally in Estonia last week to get used to the highest speeds once again. If it’s very dry in Estonia then there can still be some cleaning for us to do, but we just need to focus on doing our best whatever conditions we face.”

Sébastien Ogier

“To win in Greece was very important for us. Moving from there to Estonia will be a big contrast, and especially for me as I haven’t driven this rally for five years. I’m looking forward to being back, though. It’s one of the most spectacular rallies of the season, and a well-organised event with a great atmosphere. I enjoyed my test last week, getting back the feeling for high speed, and hopefully we can be competitive. I’m sure that it will not be easy, but I always enjoy a challenge like this and will give it my best shot.”

Oliver Solberg

“I’m really looking forward to going back to Rally Estonia. It’s a very special place to me after we took our first win there last year. It’s a really cool rally that I’ve always enjoyed: with the high speeds, massive jumps and excited rally fans, it’s a lot of fun. We haven’t had the easiest run of rallies recently, but now I’m going back to a rally where I have experience with this car, and I just want to try my best and see what we can do.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“After a good rally for us in Greece, I’ve got a good feeling to move onto very high-speed stages in Estonia and Finland, which are some of my favourite rallies. You have to be very committed in Estonia, especially on the second pass when the road gets rutted, but the margins are also very small at those speeds. All of my team-mates can also be very strong in these rallies, but I will try my best to achieve good results and take as many points as possible.”

Sami Pajari

“I’m really looking forward to these next two rallies in Estonia and Finland: they are my favourite ones on the calendar. I’m pretty happy with how we finished the last rally in Greece after a difficult start, we’re still in a good position in the championship, and at the same time our starting position should not be too bad for the next rallies and should allow us to be in the fight, so let’s see what we can do.”

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Thierry Neuville

“We’re heading into Estonia with confidence after two gravel rallies where we have consistently shown strong pace and fought for victory. Taking a win and a second place is encouraging, and our pre-event test also felt very positive. We’ve been competitive in Estonia in recent years, and if the conditions stay dry, they should suit us well. The key to this rally is finding the right balance between traction, precision and protection over the huge jumps, while having complete trust in the car. Our goal is clear: to fight for victory and score a lot of points to fight back in the championship.”

Adrien Fourmaux

“Estonia is a completely different challenge to Acropolis, instead of rough, slow and technical roads, you’re straight into some of the fastest stages on the calendar, so confidence is everything. I really enjoy this type of rally and we’ve completed a good test to prepare for it. We didn’t get the result we wanted in Greece, but that’s behind us now we are focused on the challenges ahead. Estonia gives us a fresh opportunity and if we can put together a clean and consistent weekend, I’m confident we have the potential to be competitive.”

Esapekka Lappi

“I am very much looking forward to being back in the Hyundai i20 N Rally1 again, especially as it will be the last outing of this car at these super-fast events, which is cool to be part of. We used the pre-event test to find the correct balance with differentials, suspension, and downforce. If we nail our pace notes, the rest should be easy. It is hard to know exactly where we are on fast gravel, although the recent results have shown the car has performed well on this surface. My hope is to be fighting higher than the top five.”

 

M-Sport Ford WRT

Josh McErlean

“Estonia is always one of the fastest and most enjoyable rallies of the season, so I’m really looking forward to getting back out there. Greece gave us a solid platform to build from, and the aim now is to carry that momentum into Estonia. I really enjoy these types of events, so hopefully we can keep improving and come away with another strong result.”

Jon Armstrong

“I’m looking forward to going back to Estonia, I’ve been there twice in JWRC and also once in ERC with the Fiesta Rally2. The stages are completely flat out and the style of the surface is generally nicer for me as it’s a bit more sandy. It’s a good way to kick off the summer of speed in a Rally1 car!”

Mārtiņš Sesks

“This is the time of the year when we are as close as possible to our home country, and happy to call Rally Estonia our home rally this year. We’re hoping to see a lot of Latvian fans to feel as at home as possible! I’m looking forward to a great result here; I think we have a lot of positives to take from last year and we’re looking at having a competitive weekend in Estonia.”

Romet Jürgenson

“Obviously, our home event in Estonia is one of the highlights of the season for us. There is a bit more pressure as well, but we have a lot of local support from our fans which definitely gives us this extra push to get the maximum out of ourselves and the car.

 

“Looking at last year’s pace, I think the goal will be to be up there fighting with the top guys. The route itself has stayed the same over the last few years, so the advantage for the Estonians is decreasing as a lot of drivers have knowledge of these stages; it’ll be a very even fight with small margins. I’m looking forward to it.”

In terms of the stages this is how the days look over the event.

Friday has seven stages over just under 104 kilometres, then Saturday has nine stages over almost 150 kilometres and then Sunday has just two stages and a total of just under 50 kilometres.

Summary

Road position is going to be hugely relevant this weekend and in particular Friday’s stages. Elfyn and Scott, plus Takamoto and Aaron will have the most tricky road position as the first two crews into the stage, they will be sweeping the road clear of the loose gravel and making the road cleaner and ultimately faster for those further back.

Oliver and Elliott were eighth on the road during the first day last year which gave them a good advantage to set the pace and build a lead. This year they will be third on the road which will make things harder, whilst Seb and Vincent, Adrien and Alex, Thierry and Martijn and finally Esapekka and Enni fill the lower positions in the top ten and will give them the best road conditions.

The action begins with shakedown on Friday morning and then the first stage starts at just after one o’clock local time.

Onto the final day then of this very tricky rally and the crews had four stages and 84 kilometres ahead of them to tackle the challenge was not over by any degree. Jourdain would open the road throughout the day, whilst Jon would follow him into the stage and would still be cleaning the road for the rest of the crews coming behind.

 

First up then was SS14 Aghii Theodori 1, a 25-kilometre stage to start the day. Adrien would set the pace from Seb and Thierry. There was a lead change as Seb passed Thierry, the gap between them just 1.3 seconds! After Elfyn’s problems at the end of Saturday, it was crazy to see him and Scott get another puncture on the first stage of the day, particularly given that they were looking to move up the standings. At least they didn’t have to stop to change the wheel during the stage.

 

Onto SS15 Loutraki 1 the 16-kilometre stage and what would be the rally ending powerstage. Seb was again fastest from Thierry and this time Takamoto. Adrien who had been running and holding third overall suffered a puncture and lost two positions and was now behind Sami and Elfyn and in seventh overall.

 

After a quick service break came SS16 Aghii Theodori 2 and Seb was fastest from Sami and Adrien. There was drama though for Thierry who suffered right-rear and left-rear punctures and lost 53 seconds to Seb, and this meant that it looked likely now Seb and Vincent would take victory. Sami was also moving up as he passed Josh for fourth position after the Puma crew got beached for thirty seconds or so on the edge of the road before getting going again.

 

We came then to the final stage, SS17 Loutraki 2 and it was a stage win for Seb from Sami and Thierry, Takamoto fourth fastest, whilst Elfyn took the final power stage point. This gave Seb and Vincent victory, with Thierry and Martijn second. Takamoto and Aaron finished third as well giving them good points for the championship.

 

Later the same day there were some penalties of a whole minute given to Josh and Adrien for seatbelt infringements. Adrien’s was from stage twelve on Saturday, whilst Josh’s came on Sunday’s penultimate stage. All of this meant that Sami moved into fourth and Elfyn up to sixth.

Here’s the final standings and we’ll hear from the drivers as well.

 

Final Overall Classification – Acropolis Rally

1	S. Ogier	V. Landais	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	3:36:40.7
2	T. Neuville	M. Wydaeghe	Hyundai i20 N Rally1	+58.3
3	T. Katsuta	A. Johnston	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	+3:04.8
4	S. Pajari	M. Salminen	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	+5:02.2
5	J. McErlean	E. Treacy	Ford Puma Rally1	+5:55.5
6	E. Evans	S. Martin	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	+5:54.9
7	A. Fourmaux	A. Coria	Hyundai i20 N Rally1	+6:08.7
8	M. Sesks	R. Francis	Ford Puma Rally1	+8:05.8
9	R. Virves	J. Viilo	Skoda Fabia RS	+9:50.1
10	A. Mikkelsen	J. Listerud	Skoda Fabia RS	+10:52.5

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Sébastien Ogier

“It feels good to win the Acropolis Rally again after many years. It seems like the Greek gods were with me once more! Like often here, it’s been a very tough rally, particularly for the tyres, so I’m glad that we were able to stay out of trouble this time. It was very close with Thierry and there was no chance to relax, even in the Power Stage because it was very rough. I tried to drive as gently as I could, so I was surprised by the time, but I’m very happy to take the maximum points, which is exactly what we needed.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“It’s very good to finish on the podium after such a tough rally. It was difficult for us in the beginning running second on the road, but we were expecting this, and we had a clear plan to try and avoid problems and mistakes and just manage the situation. It worked out very well, so thank you to Aaron and to the team; we had no issues with the car at all. It’s been a good weekend and I’m looking forward to the high-speed rallies coming up.”

Sami Pajari

“It was a proper Super Sunday for us today and I think we need to be really happy about that. The beginning of the rally was very difficult for us, and it was tricky to recover from that, but I think that we got the most out of it that we could. We managed to make up quite a lot of positions and also take eight extra points from Sunday, so it’s really not been too bad an event in the end and we’re still in a good position in the championship with some nice rallies to come for us.”

Elfyn Evans

“It’s been a tough weekend, in line with what we were expecting beforehand. After a difficult start on Friday, things were actually moving in the right direction and not looking too bad by Saturday afternoon, but then we got the puncture in the last stage. We tried to give it a good go today, but I touched a bank in the first stage which pushed the tyre off the rim. I’m disappointed with how it’s turned out but that’s the way it goes sometimes, and we just have to move on to the next one.”

Oliver Solberg

“I think we did the best that we could today. We at least managed to keep Elfyn behind us in the Super Sunday standings to take one point, but I don’t think it was possible to do more from our starting position. It’s been another blow this weekend and I’m very disappointed; it’s been tough lately with these little mistakes. I just need to keep believing and try to reset and find a better way forward, going into some rallies that I know well and am looking forward to.”

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Thierry Neuville

“All in all, I have mixed feelings at the end of this rally. I’m obviously very disappointed not to be able to fight for the victory until the very end, but on the other hand I am very happy about our pace and the improvements we demonstrated this weekend. There are a lot of positives to take from Acropolis Rally, and we’ve also scored a solid haul of points. This gives us a good opportunity to get back into the championship fight, which was looking quite difficult for us. The fact that the championship leaders did not score many points is also good for us. With more gravel rallies to come, I hope we can carry this momentum forward.”

Adrien Fourmaux

“I think we deserved much more from Acropolis Rally. While I know it is a lottery, it felt like whenever I pushed I avoided punctures, but whenever I tried to be careful, I would get one. It’s almost unbelievable. In the end, it’s a huge shame, but overall, it has been a positive rally. We had the pace and were fighting for the win at the beginning before our issues. It’s frustrating for the championship, as I had high hopes of closing the gap in the points, and it hasn’t gone to plan. However, there is plenty for us to take into Estonia and beyond.”

Dani Sordo

“It has been a difficult rally for us. It started well, but the puncture on Friday took us out of the fight. We lost even more time with our second puncture on Saturday, and after that we were not confident with the tyres or the grip. In the end, we decided to retire the car before the Power Stage to give the team as much flexibility as possible for the two fast gravel events.”

 

M-Sport Ford WRT

Josh McErlean

“It’s been really important, I think, to get a result like this – for me and Eoin, and for the team. It’s been a while since everyone’s had a result, and it was obviously a very challenging weekend with the rocks, the puncture risk and everything that comes with that. We made it a little difficult for ourselves going into the last stage, sliding into the ditch on the previous one, then having to push to protect the position for the final stage. But we’re very happy; it’s the best result we’ve had so far.” (These comments were made before they were given the minute penalty taking them down to sixth).

Jon Armstrong

“So that’s the Acropolis Rally finished. The first day went quite well to begin with – we made the most of our road position and got up to third overall with our first stage win. But then we had a technical issue and a couple of punctures, so we had to retire for the day. We spent the rest of the weekend road-sweeping, which was good learning, if a bit difficult after being on such a high the day before.

“There are still plenty of positives to take away, though – the pace we showed from that road position was really encouraging. We’re looking forward to the fast gravel rallies now and seeing what we can do there. It was a tricky one, a case of what might have been, but that’s how the Acropolis can be.”

Mārtiņš Sesks

“Overall, I think the rally was okay, in the sense that we didn’t make any big mistakes – maybe we were lacking a little pace on Saturday morning, but otherwise we did a decent job from our side. It was a shame about the issue in service, which cost us time, but the team made a great effort to keep us on track. Now I’m looking forward to the next rallies.”

Jourdan Serderidis

“We had a fun rally, with a wonderful itinerary and some super nice stages. Unfortunately, the mechanical issues we had prevented us from getting the result we’d hoped for. But we still had a very good run, a very good drive, and made good progress with our driving, so on that side we’re quite happy. It’s amazing to drive in front of all the Greek supporters. All in all, still a nice weekend.”

Romet Jürgenson

“Obviously the mistake happened quite early on – that’s squarely on me and it’s unfortunate. But after that, on Saturday, we showed some decent pace and could improve on a few things. On the positive side, the pace was good on the first pass of the new stages, which is driven purely by pace notes, and I think that shows that side is decent. And today, second on the Power Stage as well – so there are these little positives to take. But overall, I’m sorry for the team that I made the mistake. Next time we’re in Estonia, so we’ll go flat out there.”

 

Summary – The Podium

It was a great win for the French crew in their Yaris and it’s brought them into the title fight. It’s fair to say they benefitted from a good road position on Friday and once they got ahead of Thierry and Martijn and then the Belgian’s suffered their double puncture the win was in their hands of Seb and Vincent.

 

For Thierry and Martijn it was a case of what might have been as they battled their old foe again for victory which was then ended early with the double puncture. It was good though to see Hyundai on the pace with their two permanent crews and perhaps in the coming rallies they will make their way to the top step again.

 

Finally, for Takamoto and Aaron, considering they were second on the road through Friday it was a very good drive to third overall, keeping themselves out of trouble. This delivered them a well-deserved podium and great points for their championship challenge.

Onto the second day then of action and the crews faced six stages over 108 kilometres, with four run in the morning, including two stages which would only be run once, then the service break before the final two stages in the afternoon. The Puma duo of Jourdain and Jon would open the road throughout the day as the first and second crews respectively into the stages.

 

First up then was SS8 Ghymno 1 a 19.6-kilometre stage and it was a good start from Seb who set the pace from Thierry and Adrien. Behind the top three, Elfyn was the best of the rest and looking ahead to the crews in front of him, Martins, Takamoto and Josh and in fact the Japanese driver had already moved ahead of the Latvian crew and into fifth place.

 

Into the single run of SS9 Kolines and Adrien was fastest from Seb and Thierry as the trio made the most of their advantages road positions as the last crews to finish the stage. Seb closed the gap to Thierry for the overall lead as well, bringing the gap down to less than five seconds. There was a change in positions as Takamoto passed Josh for fourth in the overall standings after the Irishman was twenty-five seconds slower. Elfyn was edging closer to Martins as well, the gap just under fourteen seconds now.

 

It was back to the top of the time sheets for Thierry in SS10 Menalo Mt 1 a 15-kilometre stage as he set the pace from Seb and Adrien. Meanwhile, Elfyn was on the move after setting the fifth fastest time and he passed Martins for fifth place overall. The Welshman was going well as he’d not just passed Martins, he was also faster than Josh and closed the gap to him in a battle for fifth place overall.

 

The final morning stage then with the single run through SS11 Kefalari before the service break and Seb was fastest from Thierry and Elfyn this time as he beat Adrien by just one tenth of a second. It was a good time from the Frenchman to set the pace as he’d damaged the rear wing on his car somewhere in the stage, just as well there was a service break really!

 

Just two stages remained then as the crews went first to SS12 Ghymno 2 and the first thing to report on was the stage was shortened by 4.5 kilometres to 15.1. This was due to the road near the original start position having deteriorated badly. Thierry was fastest by over seven seconds from Seb with Takamoto third in this one. Elfyn gained one position as Adrien suffered a puncture with the Welshman moving into fifth now and even closer to Josh who now held fourth by just four seconds. There would be drama though which was just plain ridiculous as later crews came through in the WRC2 category. Some spectators were being quite stupid with their behaviour, standing in the wrong places and the stage was red flagged. Frankly, they know who they are and should hang their heads in shame.

 

Now to the final stage of the day, SS13 Menalo Mt 2 and Seb was fastest from Adrien and Thierry. Sadly, there were two crews who suffered punctures in this one, the first being Dani, whose front right tyre failed after hitting a rock in the line at five kilometres into the stage. They decided to carry on and lost a minute. The other crew to have the same problem was Elfyn and it appears to have been in the same part of the stage as well. He and Scott stopped to change the wheel, and in the process lost almost two minutes and they fell to seventh overall. All their good work through the day was undone, but this is the nature of rally. From all of this Adrien was now back into fourth, with Josh now fifth and Sami gained two positions after the punctures for Elfyn and Dani.

Let’s take a look at the top ten and hear from the drivers.

 

Classification after Day Two

1	T. Neuville	M. Wydaeghe	Hyundai i20 N Rally1	2:40:18.7
2	S. Ogier	V. Landais	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	+4.1
3	T. Katsuta	A. Johnston	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	+2:17.0
4	A. Fourmaux	A. Coria	Hyundai i20 N Rally1	+3:00.6
5	J. McErlean	E. Treacy	Ford Puma Rally1	+3:01.6
6	S. Pajari	M. Salminen	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	+4:38.3
7	E. Evans	S. Martin	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	+4:43.1
8	D. Sordo	C. Carrera	Hyundai i20 N Rally1	+5:17.8
9	A. Mikkelsen	J. Listerud	Skoda Fabia RS	+5:54.6
10	R. Virves	J. Viilo	Skoda Fabia RS	+6:08.5

Hyundai Motorsport

Thierry Neuville

“I’m really happy with my day. Much like yesterday, I was feeling really comfortable in the car and managing both my speed and the roughness of the terrain. We’re getting closer to the end of the rally; our plan is to continue pushing to stay in first place. We know it isn’t over until you cross the final finish line, and tomorrow is going to be pretty rough – especially in the Power Stage. We have to cross our fingers and continue the job we’ve been doing so far this rally.”

Adrien Fourmaux

“Saturday was quite a challenging day. We were trying to manage the risk of punctures as much as we could, but unfortunately on the second pass of Menalo Mt we suffered one early on. We decided to stop and change, knowing we would lose the podium place. However, although we were sixth, we knew we were only 14 seconds away from fourth, so we pushed hard in the last stage. We managed to gain two positions, one on pace and the other as a result of Elfyn’s puncture. It’s a good road position for tomorrow, when everything is still possible. We are going to try and catch Taka, so my target is to go flat out and finish on the podium.”

Dani Sordo

“It is a shame our day ended in the way it did. We had a good stage time on SS12, finishing fourth fastest for the third time here in Greece. On SS13, we encountered rocks in the middle of the road, and we picked up our second puncture of the weekend. Now we focus on Sunday; while there are only four stages, it’s still going to be a long day, and we’re expecting the Power Stage to have a lot of stones. We’ll need to find the balance between pushing for points, and avoiding punctures that could punish us.”

 

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Sébastien Ogier

“I think it’s been a good day for us. In places these roads were nice to drive, and in others it was just about trying to survive the roughness. In this last stage I was planning to push, and then seeing how many others were having trouble in there made me more unsure, but we managed to have a decent rhythm and keep the fight open until tomorrow. I’m happy with what we’ve done so far but the most important day is coming, where we need to secure the best result and extra points are also available. I will keep the same approach and we’ll see what happens.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“This morning the first target was to catch the two cars in front of us and we did that in two stages. After that it was just about managing the high risk of punctures, and I think we did quite a good job to get through the day without any problems. It’s nice to be in third overall tonight but tomorrow’s stages are maybe even rougher than today, so anything can still happen, and the main focus will be to finish without problems.”

Sami Pajari

“I think there was not so much more that we could have done today. On some stages we had quite solid pace, on others maybe not, but I think this was mainly down to the conditions because our road position was not great after yesterday’s troubles. We were able to gain a few places after issues for other drivers, and that also makes our road position better, so I think that gives us a chance to try and take a few more points tomorrow.”

Elfyn Evans

“The day was going pretty well; we were enjoying the cleaner roads; we had a good rhythm, and we were climbing up the leaderboard. Unfortunately, in the last stage we picked up a puncture. It came quite suddenly after an impact, and we had to stop and change it. It’s dropped us right back to where we started the day so we’ve got it all to do again tomorrow, and of course the road position will not be any easier either, but we’ll fight for what we can.”

 

Summary

Onto the final day then and although there are what appears to be not many stages, with four making up the total, with over 84 kilometres to go including two runs of Aghii Theodori at over 25 kilometres, the challenge remains big!

The first full day of action followed Thursday’s action which had shakedown in the morning and a super special stage in the evening which was won by Seb from Takamoto and Thierry. Elfyn was sixth in the stage. Onto the six stages then for the crews on Friday and of course Elfyn and Scott would open the road throughout the day.

 

First up then was SS2 Bauxites and at 22.97 kilometres it was a real challenge for them all. Adrien set the pace from his teammate Thierry, whilst Seb was third. The pace of the Belgians took them into the lead from their teammates Adrien and Alex pushing Seb and Vincent down to third overall. With such tricky road conditions whilst opening the road, Elfyn and Scott were tenth fastest and fell four positions to tenth overall. It was not a good start for Oliver who suffered a puncture losing almost a minute and a half and twenty-five positions as well.

 

Into SS3 Parnassos Mt another 22.28 kilometres stage and Adrien made it two in a row beating Thierry and Jon! It was a good stage for the M-Sport crews as Josh and Martins we also fourth and fifth fastest. There were some good changes in the overall leaderboard as Adrien now led from Thierry and Seb, Sami moved into fourth, Jon’s pace brought him up three positions into fifth overall.

 

Before the remote service came SS4 Stiri 1, yet another long stage at 24.18 kilometres and Seb set the pace this time from Thierry and Jon again. Adrien was only eleventh quickest after getting a puncture on the front right-hand side corner. The Frenchman fell to fourth position from the lead. All of this meant that Jon was now holding third position.

 

After the remote service it was to SS5 Elikon Mt that the crews headed to next and this stage will go down in history as the place where Jon and Shane took their first ever overall stage victory, beating Seb and Thierry. A simply brilliant drive! There was a stop for Finnish crew Sami and Marko who had a puncture to change and fell eight positions to fifteenth place.

It was back to SS6 Stiri 2 next and Thierry was fastest from Seb and Takamoto. Adrien was fourth and passed Jon for third overall as the Irishman suffered first a puncture and then a loss of power as well. After the highs of the previous stage, they fell down the leaderboard.

 

Onto the final stage of the day then with SS7 Thiva, yet another single run stage. Adrien set the pace from Seb and Thierry, and they filled the top three positions overall. We lost Oliver and Elliott as they spun off and their car was beached at the edge of the road. Championship leaders Elfyn and Scott ended the day in seventh overall after opening the road.

 

Let’s take a look at the top ten and hear from the drivers.

 

Classification after Day One

1 T. Neuville M. Wydaeghe Hyundai i20 N Rally1 1:26:48.2 2 S. Ogier V. Landais Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +9.7 3 A. Fourmaux A. Coria Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +42.4 4 J. McErlean E. Treacy Ford Puma Rally1 +1:10.1 5 M. Sesks R. Francis Ford Puma Rally1 +1:16.9 6 T. Katsuta A. Johnston Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +1:33.2 7 E. Evans S. Martin Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +2:08.4 8 D. Sordo C. Carrera Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +2:49.5 9 A. Mikkelsen J. Listerud Skoda Fabia RS +3:10.6 10 S. Pajari M. Salminen Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +3:13.1

Hyundai Motorsport

Thierry Neuville

“Today was a great day. The car was working very well, and I felt very confident on the stages. I tried to manage the rhythm and adapt to the conditions, pushing when it was clean and being smooth where it was rough. We did what we needed to today – obviously, you always need a bit of luck to get through without any trouble, and the rally is still long. We’re happy to be in the lead tonight, but we know that the rally is not over, and we need to try to repeat this performance tomorrow.”

Adrien Fourmaux

“It’s been a very competitive day for us, with three of the six fastest times. We’re in a great place with the car, which was performing really well back on gravel, and it’s nice to see the results of the team’s hard work. It’s a shame we lost 30 seconds with a delamination that led to a puncture, but I want to focus on the positives. It’s a long game, and we’re still in the fight for the win.”

Dani Sordo

“It was not my best day today; it was disappointing to pick up a puncture on the second stage and lose some time. After that, I struggled for confidence, but we managed to regain a few positions and avoid being first on the road tomorrow. If this had happened on Saturday, it would have been much more difficult for us to recover a good result, and we’re in a position to have a much better day tomorrow.”

 

Toyota Gazoo Racing

Sébastien Ogier

“It was clear that today would be difficult as a team with the amount of loose gravel on the road. At least I had the best start position within the team, and I tried to use that as much as I could. In some sections we still saw the guys starting behind us could be quite a bit quicker, but overall, I think we can be happy. We had a good rhythm and stayed out of trouble on stages that were very abrasive for the tyres. So far it’s going to plan, but we need to keep it going the same way.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“It’s been quite a clean day overall for us. We tried our best to manage the tyres, and unfortunately we did pick up some damage a couple of times, but we know that this can happen in this kind of very extreme conditions. To be P6 overall tonight is quite good considering that we were second on the road. Of course, it could be better, but it could also be worse. Realistically I think we can still aim to catch the two cars in front of us tomorrow and otherwise try to stay away from problems, because anything can still happen in a rough rally like this.”

Elfyn Evans

“We knew that today was going to be tough in our position opening the road, but it turned out to be even tougher than we had expected. The cleaning effect on some of the stages today was really extreme. It’s very dry this year and we’ve started the rally with some rockier and more abrasive stages compared to last year, and the impact of that for us has been clear. We just have to keep trying tomorrow, which I’m sure will be another tough day to challenge everyone.”

Sami Pajari

“We had some nice stages during the morning loop, and I think that our pace was quite decent considering our road position. I felt that we were doing quite an OK job while trying to avoid any issues, but unfortunately the issues still came our way and in total we lost around two minutes. It means we are realistically out of the fight for the win, but there’s still two long days to go. Anything can happen and we just need to keep going.”

Oliver Solberg

“Today has been tougher than expected. To have the puncture in the first stage this morning was unfortunate, and after that we were just trying to stay out of trouble really. Then in the last stage of the day I got too wide in a right-hander and just got beached on the edge of the road, and when I tried to reverse I damaged the gearbox and ended up being stuck. It’s very frustrating, especially as we had not been pushing after what happened earlier. It’s been a tough run lately and we need to understand it and improve and keep our heads up.”

 

Saturday

The stages on the second day of the rally will see the crews five stages, two of which are only run once. It will be a challenging day indeed!

After a good break since Rally Japan at the end of May, the teams come together for the first of many gravel rounds from now to the end of the year. Elfyn and Scott come to this event as the championship leaders with a twenty-point lead over Takamoto and Aaron, whilst the most likely championship challengers, Oliver and Elliott, plus Seb and Vincent are a further fifty-five and sixty-one points further back respectively.

 

In terms of the best placed Hyundai crews is the French duo of Adrien and Alex who have eighty-nine points and lie in sixth position. They might have the best road position as well throughout Friday’s stages and the Hyundai teams car has shown pace on gravel.

 

In terms of the stages, this years rally has 323 kilometres over seventeen stages. The longest day in regard of the number of competitive kilometres is Friday with 130 kilometres over six stages. Then Saturday has six stages over 109 kilometres with two of the stages only run once. Finally, Sunday has four stages over 84 kilometres, which includes the longest stage of the whole weekend.

 

Let’s hear from the drivers.

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Elfyn Evans

“To win Rally Japan again was amazing and it rounded off what’s been quite a good first half of the year for us, but we know that the second half can be tough with every rally being on gravel, so everything is still very open in the championship. Greece can be one of the more difficult rallies to open the road, particularly with most of the Friday stages being run only once. But we’ve got some good experience now of being in this position, and we’ve been working hard together with the team to try and improve the feeling and the pace for those conditions. We already made a step forward in Portugal, and we’ll be trying to make the best of the situation again in Greece.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“The Acropolis Rally is a really rough and tough rally for the cars, the tyres and us as crews. Last year, when the rally moved back to the summer, was especially demanding for everyone with the heat. This year the conditions could be similar, so being as fit and prepared as possible is one of the main priorities in the lead up to this rally. It has not been the easiest event for me in the past but working together with the team I have started to find better feeling and pace on these rougher rallies, and I will try my best like always to get a good result.”

Oliver Solberg

“We’ve had some tough results on asphalt recently, but I’m looking forward to putting that behind me and focusing on gravel for the rest of the season, with an exciting mix of rallies coming up. We had a good result in Portugal, finishing second, and hopefully we can build on that in Greece. The Acropolis is a very demanding rally; it’s usually very hot and very rough. It’s another rally we won last year in the Rally2 car, but I’ve never driven it with a Rally1 car before. So, there will be some adapting to do once again, but I will be giving it my best shot like always.”

Sami Pajari

“We have been on a really strong run recently and hopefully we can continue this now that we are going back onto gravel, which is perhaps a more natural surface for me than asphalt anyway. Our performance on gravel in Portugal was really good – one of our best so far – even though we didn’t get a reward for it. The Acropolis is a tough rally, but I’ve done quite well there before – I finished P4 with the Rally2 car two years ago and started with good pace last year until we had to stop with a problem. If we can have a clean run this time, I think we can do well.”

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Adrien Fourmaux

“I’m really looking forward to Acropolis Rally and the return to gravel. At this event, we’re really trying to avoid any punctures, but also reading the grip and the compressions, with bumps and crests threatening to kick the car off in a different direction. Starting later in the running order will help you with cleaner lines when it’s dry, which is a clear advantage compared to the cars in front cleaning the road and improving the conditions, however there is also more tyre wear and the risk of loose rocks. Our target for the second half of the season is to get some victories to be back on track for the championship fight. Last year we finished third here, which was good, but we can do better. It’s been quite a tough first half of the season due to the amount of tarmac events, where we struggled a bit more, but we are in a good position to be very competitive for the rest of the season.”

Thierry Neuville

“We have a good starting order heading into a run of gravel events, where we know we can be competitive – we proved that last year and in the past. That gives me a real boost of motivation, knowing we’re heading into a rally where we should perform well. There are other factors at play too, like tyre choice and so on, but generally this should be a much more competitive weekend for us. We know what to expect from this event, though these are new roads. Temperature and weather can be tricky here, so while you can build on what you know, you still need to stay sharp. We’re driving in a slightly different area and region, so you can hit stages with sharper stones, looser or more abrasive surfaces, and everything can change quickly. Our goal is clear — we’re going for victory. With our starting order, a competitive car, and a rally where we have always performed well, that is absolutely our target.

Dani Sordo

“Greece is a rally that I love. The stages are brutal with the heat, the rocks and uneven surfaces, but this sort of challenge suits our car and approach as a team. You have to be patient and manage your tyres, because one mistake can cost you everything. We’ve had some great results at Acropolis in the past, particularly in 2022 and 2024, so I come here with a lot of confidence. Now I want to go one better. The target is always the same: bring the car home, help the team in the manufacturers’ fight, and if we can fight for the win, we will. Portugal did not end the way we hoped, so we are looking to put that right next weekend.”

 

M-Sport Ford WRT

Josh McErlean

“Acropolis is always a tough event. We have a decent road position, so there could be opportunities if we stay out of trouble. It’s nice to turn to gravel again for the remainder of the WRC season!

“It will be a quick turnaround from Donegal, and with plenty of new stages the focus is on a good recce and being well prepared. Hopefully we can put everything together and have a solid weekend for the team.”

Jon Armstrong

“We’re really looking forward to Greece. It’s going to be a significant challenge with the temperatures we’re expecting, and there are a lot of single-pass stages, so having a strong recce will be important. It’s definitely one of the toughest events in rallying.

“If we can take a steady approach, focus on ourselves, and do a good job, then it should be a positive event for us. The boat journey on Thursday night should be good fun as well, so we’re looking forward to something a little different and to getting back onto the gravel after Japan.”

Mārtiņš Sesks

“I’m really excited to take on the Acropolis Rally again. Last year was my first time competing there, and there were a lot of things that were completely new to us. We had to learn the rally as we went, and unfortunately a few things didn’t go our way.

“This year will be interesting as the rally features some new stages and takes us to a different part of Greece. It will be great to explore the country again while tackling another demanding event. I’m really looking forward to it.”

Jourdan Serderidis

“Greece, our homeland, is at the heart of our 2026 programme. We are currently leading the national championship after two rallies, but now our focus turns to the Acropolis Rally, one of the highlights of the WRC season.

“We are back with our M-Sport Ford Puma Rally1 car, ready to compete against the world’s best gravel rally drivers. Our goal is to enjoy this demanding event, achieve the best possible result, and continue our fight for the Greek Cup awarded to the highest-placed national driver.

“This year’s event features several new stages, adding an extra level of difficulty. But we enjoy a challenge!”

Romet Jürgenson

“I’m looking forward to heading back to Greece, where we secured the Junior title in 2024. It’s one of those very demanding rallies where you have to think about a lot of factors that maybe aren’t such a big focus at other events.

“Hydration is really important, and you need to keep yourself in good condition to get through three tough days. The same applies to the car and the tyres – you have to manage them carefully and can’t always push at 100 per cent on every stage, otherwise problems can quickly arise.

“Overall, I’m really looking forward to it. It’s always a very enjoyable rally.”

Summary

This is going to be a very challenging three days for the crews and with very likely dry conditions throughout the weekend, it will make the challenge greatest for the championship leaders, Elfyn and Scott. It’s fair to say that the top three into the stages on the first day will likely have the worst of the road conditions as the top level of gravel gets swept from the road and creating the lines for the crews further back.

There will be crews who don’t complete every stage and therefore those who do will likely have that consistent run on everyday meaning they could take a really good result.

The action gets underway with shakedown on Thursday morning (25 June 2026) at one minute past nine  UK time and then the first stage, a short super special later in the day at a little after five pm.