WRC: Neuville in the lead after six specials in Greece, Ogier 2nd

Belgian Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) took the lead on Friday evening in the Greece rally, the 10th event out of 13 in the WRC world championship, ahead of Frenchman Sébastien Ogier (Toyota) and Finnish Kalle Rovanperä (Toyota), provisional leader of the championship. After six of the fifteen special stages of the event, Neuville is closely followed by Ogier, in ambush only 2.8 seconds behind, while Rovanperä, the reigning world champion, is left behind and is 25.5 seconds behind the leader. .

Briton Elfyn Evans (Toyota), winner of the last rally at the beginning of August in Finland and who came back 25 lengths behind the Finn in the championship, is in fourth place 31 seconds behind Neuville.

The Belgian, third less than half a second behind Rovanperä on Thursday evening, took control of the Acropolis Rally from the second special and kept it at the end of the fifth and final timed zone of the day.

Although he was the fastest during SS 3, Rovanperä lost a lot of time afterwards, starting with SS 4 won by Ogier, who is in good shape for his return after skipping the two last races. The Finn, however, remains ahead of his main opponent for the title, his teammate Evans, who is 25 points less than him in the provisional championship standings.

The Estonian Ott Tänak (M-Sport/Ford), victim of a water pump problem which caused him to lose almost four minutes, let off steam on the track by signing the best times of SS 5 and 6, but he is relegated to more than 3.30 minutes from the lead and has probably said goodbye to victory in the land of the Gods. His French teammate Pierre-Louis Loubet experienced mechanical problems with his Ford Puma and was unable to even start the first special of the day. He was forced to abandon.

On Saturday, six new specials will be on the program representing more than 141 timed kilometres.

Classification of the Rally of Greece, 10th round of the WRC world championship, after the 6th special on Friday:

1. Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (BEL, Hyundai) 55:10.4

2. Sébastien Ogier/Vincent Landais (FRA, Toyota) at 2.8

3. Kalle Rovanperä/Jonne Halttunen (FIN, Toyota) à 25.5

4. Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (GBR, Toyota) à 31

5. Esapekka Lappi/Janne Ferm (FIN, Hyundai) à 32.1

...

8. Ott Tänak/Martin Järveoja (EST, M-Sport/Ford) à 3:34.5

...

Principal abandonment: Pierre-Louis Loubet/Nicolas Gilsoul (FRA-BEL, M-Sport/Ford).

Stage winners: Kalle Rovanperä (SS1, SS3), Ott Tänak (SS5, SS6), Thierry Neuville (SS2), Sébastien Ogier (SS4)