Cruel fate for Toyota Gazoo Racing in Greece

Sébastien Ogier and Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team were on course to secure second position and strong points from the Acropolis Rally Greece until a final stage drama intervened yesterday (8 September).

Ogier was fighting back after losing more than two minutes at the end of Friday with a technical issue. On the final morning he stormed into second overall and a good lead in the separate Super Sunday classification with wins on the first two stages of the day.

The subsequent Power Stage offered another opportunity to convert that pace into valuable extra points, but early in the rock-strewn test Ogier’s car sustained a puncture that led it to run wide in a following corner and roll over.

Ogier and co-driver Vincent Landais were thankfully unharmed and, after a delay while they made some repairs, were able to get their car through the stage and to the final time control in Lamia – at least securing the 13 points they had banked for finishing Saturday in third position.

Sustained hot and dry weather made this one of the roughest and toughest editions of the Acropolis Rally for many years. Elfyn Evans lost significant time with multiple issues during the rally but reached the finish taking points for third in the Super Sunday classification and the Power Stage. Takamoto Katsuta, who stopped with damage on Friday morning, took fifth on Super Sunday and in the Power Stage.

After an impressive Rally1 debut with TGR-WRT at Rally Finland, Sami Pajari and Enni Mälkönen returned to their WRC2 campaign in Greece in their GR Yaris Rally2 car run by Printsport and claimed their third win of the season in fourth place overall. They sealed the win in a thrilling dead heat with Robert Virves (Škoda) after sustaining a puncture in the final stage, and now close to within three points of the championship lead.

It is the fourth WRC2 win in total for the GR Yaris Rally2 in the last six rallies in what were the most demanding conditions it has faced yet in its debut season.

Team quotes

Jari-Matti Latvala (Team Principal): “It’s been a tough weekend, but Seb is a fighter and after what happened on Friday, he had to push. He needed to try to win the Power Stage and the Sunday standings because with that we would have been able to recover some ground in the championship. What happened in the last stage was unfortunate and we paid a big penalty for it, but at least he and Vincent could bring the car to the finish. We keep fighting, we will not lose that spirit, and we’ll take it rally by rally and see what the results will be. One positive to take away from today is that our Rally2 car won WRC2 in the hands of Sami and Enni, and that is something really nice to see.”

Elfyn Evans (driver car 33): “After a difficult weekend, today didn’t go as well as we would have liked. Clearly, the speed is still missing. In some sections and moments we were still performing OK, but I didn’t feel fully at home to really push with no worries. I was probably too keen to finish cleanly after what’s been a difficult few days. It’s been a big disappointment lately, things have not been going well and we need to get back on the right track. We have some work to do and we’ll look to start again fresh in the next event.”

Sébastien Ogier (driver car 17): “We gave everything all weekend. We did a lot right, we had a great feeling in the car and great pace, and we fought as hard as we could until the last stage. Unfortunately, we picked up a puncture around a kilometre in, I didn’t react to brake early enough for the next corner, and we rolled. Thankfully we managed to fix the car and bring it back to service, and at least earn some points for the team. It’s been a strange weekend. In many aspects it was close to perfection, but it doesn’t count in rallying if you don’t bring it all to the end. This is not a rally where you want to be taking risks, you need some luck to do so, and it was not on our side. It’s satisfying for me to still be able to compete like this: I enjoy pushing the limits, it’s been fun in the car. But I know very well after all these years that sometimes it doesn’t go your way. I will still be there in the next three events, continuing to give my best and keep fighting.”

Takamoto Katsuta (driver car 18): “It’s been a very tough rally. Today on the final day we also had some difficulties. The stages were rough and I tried to take some points on the Power Stage in particular, but unfortunately, we picked up a puncture. This probably cost us the chance to take some more points. It’s been a disappointing weekend and I’m sorry for the team. The car felt amazing at the beginning of the rally, but with my small mistake our chances of a good result were over, so I need to do a better job in future.”

PROVISIONAL FINAL CLASSIFICATION, ACROPOLIS RALLY GREECE
1 Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1 HYBRID) 3h38m04.2s
2 Dani Sordo/Cándido Carrera (Hyundai i20 N Rally1 HYBRID) +1m46.8s
3 Ott Tänak/Martin Järveoja (Hyundai i20 N Rally1 HYBRID) +2m57.3s
4 Sami Pajari/Enni Mälkönen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) +7m01.1s
5 Robert Virves/Aleks Lesk (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +7m01.1s
6 Yohan Rossel/Florian Barral (Citroën C3 Rally2) +7m31.9s
7 Kajetan Kajetanowicz/Maciej Szczepaniak (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +9m54.0s
8 Fabrizio Zaldivar/Marcelo Der Ohannesian (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +11m27.9s
9 Josh McErlean/James Fulton (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +12m27.2s
10 Roberto Daprà/Luca Guglielmetti (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +13m44.9s
16 Sébastien Ogier/Vincent Landais (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1 HYBRID) +23m44.5s
18 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1 HYBRID) +24m45.5s
30 Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnston (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1 HYBRID) +41m22.2s
(Results as of 16:30 on Sunday, for the latest results please visit www.wrc.com)

2024 FIA World Rally Championship for drivers after round 10:
1 Thierry Neuville 192 points
2 Ott Tänak 158
3 Sébastien Ogier 154
4 Elfyn Evans 140
5 Adrien Fourmaux 130
6 Kalle Rovanperä 86
7 Takamoto Katsuta 80
8 Dani Sordo 44
9 Sami Pajari 34
10 Esapekka Lappi 33

2024 FIA World Rally Championship for manufacturers after round 10:
1 Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team 413 points
2 TOYOTA GAZOO Racing World Rally Team 388
3 M-Sport Ford World Rally Team 215

What’s next?
Rally Chile takes place on 26-29 September in the forests of the Bio Bío region around the city of Concepción on South America’s Pacific coast. The stages are technical but largely fast with a mix of smooth and abrasive gravel.

ENDS