Neuville victorious after Ogier rolls on final stage

Thierry Neuville clinched victory in the toughest Acropolis Rally in recent years to boost his World Rally Championship title hopes after rival Sebastien Ogier rolled on the final stage.

WRC points leaders Neuville and co-driver Martijn Wydaeghe claimed a second win of the season by 1m36.8s from team-mate Dani Sordo, with Ott Tanak third [+2m57.3s] to complete a surprise Hyundai 1-2-3. Neuville’s main title rival Ogier appeared on course to finish second before rolling his Toyota GR Yaris in the drama-filled final stage.

Eight of the nine Rally1 crews hit serious trouble across the three days of competition as the event left a significant mark on the title race.

Neuville’s run to victory, starting first on the road, wasn’t without problems after his i20 N was reduced to three cylinders for Friday’s opening three stages, before ending Friday 45.2s adrift in third position.

Title rival and part-time driver Ogier lit up the timing screens and was clearly the fastest driver on Friday. The eight-time world champion led Tanak by 11.7s before a turbo failure emerged at the end of stage five. The Frenchman dropped more than two and half minutes, effectively curtailing his victory bid.

This handed Tanak the lead, that he had briefly held after stage two, heading into Saturday, but the 2019 world champion became the next driver to hit trouble on the rough travel roads. Tanak was forced to stop and change a wheel twice after suffering punctures on stage seven that cost him more than four minutes, dropping him to fourth overall – picking up 10 Saturday points.

Team-mate Sordo inherited the rally lead before he hit a rock causing puncture in stage nine. His right-rear tyre delaminated ripping a hole in the bodywork on the rear quarter of his i20 N.

Neuville picked up the baton to become the rally’s fourth different leader. The Belgian managed to avoid issues through a Saturday, without a service, to head in to the final three stages with a 53.7s lead over Sordo, who took 13 points, as Neuville claimed the provisional 18 points in the process. Ogier pushed on to close the gap to 1m20.9s to secure 15 points.

Ogier once again proved his speed on the tricky tests topping the Sunday standings comfortably before his rally unravelled in spectacular fashion when he misjudged left-hander and rolled.

Incredibly, Ogier was…