Belgian duo wins Acropolis Rally by 15 seconds
The Belgian crew of Thierry Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe won the Acropolis Rally by 15 seconds on Sunday.
Neuville and Wydaeghe edged Hyundai Shell Mobis teammates Ott Tanak and Martin Jarveoja of Estonia in the 10th of 13 World Rally Championship races.
Hyundai swept the podium places with Spain’s Dani Sordo and Candido Carrera taking third place, 1 minute, 49.7 seconds behind the winners.
Apart from a short opening segment inside Athens’ Olympic Stadium on Thursday, most of the rest of the race was held in the mountains of central Greece, finishing in the city of Lamia on Sunday.
France’s Pierre-Louis Loubet and Vincent Landais claimed fourth, 3:42.2 off the pace. The pair had to overcome a wrecked right front tire as a result of driving into a ditch on Saturday and dropping into seventh place.
The top six finishers all drove hybrid cars.
Last year’s winning duo of Kalle Rovanpera and Jonne Halttunen finished 15th after Rovanpera made a wrong turn Saturday and smashed the back of his Toyota Yaris, breaking the rear suspension.
Rovanpera still leads the WRC standings with 207 points, ahead of Tanak (154) and Neuville (131).
Toyota Gazoo leads the manufacturer standings with 404 points, ahead of Hyundai (341) and M-Sport Ford (214).
[AP]
