OGIER PUTS TOYOTA ON TOP AFTER ACROPOLIS RALLY GREECE OPENING STAGE

TOYOTA GAZOO RACING STARTS ACROPOLIS RALLY GREECE WITH ATHENS SUPER SPECIAL WIN FOR SÉBASTIEN OGIER

Sébastien Ogier gave TOYOTA GAZOO Racing World Rally Team the perfect start to Acropolis Rally Greece by winning Thursday evening’s opening stage in Athens and taking the early rally lead.

The first competitive test of the rally was held on smooth asphalt in the Ellinikon area of Athens, a contrast to the rough gravel and rocky mountain stages that await crews later in the weekend.

Ogier, who had already been second-fastest in the pre-event shakedown near Loutraki, carried that pace into the super special stage and set the fastest time to move into the overnight lead. He ended the day one second ahead of team-mate Takamoto Katsuta.

Behind the two Toyota drivers, Sami Pajari and Oliver Solberg set identical times to share fourth overall, while championship leader Elfyn Evans completed the top six after the opening test.

Toyota also saw a clean start for TGR WRC Challenge Program driver Yuki Yamamoto, who safely negotiated the Athens stage in his GR Yaris Rally2 car. Yamamoto arrives in Greece looking to build on the momentum of his maiden WRC2 podium at Rally Japan.

With the ceremonial opener complete, the focus now shifts to the demanding gravel stages that define Acropolis Rally Greece.

KEY POINTS

Sébastien Ogier won the opening stage of Acropolis Rally Greece for Toyota.

Ogier leads the rally by one second over team-mate Takamoto Katsuta.

The opening stage took place on asphalt in Athens before the rally moves to rough gravel roads.

Sami Pajari and Oliver Solberg set the same time and are tied in fourth overall.

Championship leader Elfyn Evans ended the opening stage inside the top six.

Yuki Yamamoto completed a clean run in his GR Yaris Rally2 car.

Quotes:

Juha Kankkunen (Deputy Team Principal)

“It’s nice to be back in Greece and starting the Acropolis Rally. I drove this rally myself 14 times – the first time was 40 years ago – and I know you need a little bit of luck to win here. Tyre management has always been quite important and I’m sure it will be again this year, with some long stages running back-to-back and with so many stones on the road. It should be a close and interesting fight with our rivals, who have usually gone well in this event. Tomorrow could be particularly tough with our cars starting in the first five places and cleaning the road for the others, but I’m sure all our guys will give it their best.”

Elfyn Evans (Driver car 33)

“It’s good to get the rally started tonight in Athens with a clean run. The stages ahead are looking pretty dry and rocky and we’ll be first on the road tomorrow, so we’re probably going to feel the effect of that a bit, but we just have to try and limit the damage as best as we can. Saturday’s stages in particular are quite new for everyone so it’s been a challenging recce making those fresh pacenotes, but we hope we’ve done it right and we can have a good event.”

Sébastien Ogier (Driver car 1)

“Athens is an amazing city with so much history and to start the rally with a stage there and put on a show for the fans is always a special moment to enjoy. Tomorrow the real challenge will begin. As usual on this rally, the risk of damaging the car or the tyres is very high with all the rocks around, so the main thing will be to stay out of trouble. Hopefully we can be in contention again and we’ll pray to the Greek gods for a good result!”

Oliver Solberg (Driver car 99)

“The Acropolis is a great rally and Greece has a lot of history and passion for the sport, and it’s nice to start with a clean and smooth stage this evening! Tomorrow will be an extremely long and rough day without a proper service, so we will need to take a clever approach. We’ll try to have a clean day, get through with decent speed and no problems and then hopefully be in a good position for the rest of the weekend.”

Takamoto Katsuta (Driver car 18)

“It’s always nice to start this rally in Athens and put on a show for the people. Every year they make a new super special stage, so it’s always an interesting challenge for us drivers. My feeling is good in the car and everything was working fine in shakedown. There’s a lot of new stages this year so it’s not easy to know where the roughest places will be, but we just need to try our best to avoid trouble.”

Sami Pajari (Driver car 5)

“There’s always a great atmosphere in Athens and it was good to put on a show for the fans, even if the stage probably isn’t going to have much impact on the final result with such a long and demanding rally ahead of us. The feeling is good with the car after shakedown but it will be important to find the balance between keeping everything in one piece and finding some proper speed where we can.”

End of day one (Thursday):

1 Sébastien Ogier/Vincent Landais (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) 1m38.2s

2 Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnston (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +1.0s

3 Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +1.1s

4 Sami Pajari/Marko Salminen (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +1.2s

= Oliver Solberg/Elliott Edmondson (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +1.2s

6 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +1.4s

7 Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +1.9s

8 Dani Sordo/Cándido Carrera (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +2.5s

9 Jon Armstrong/Shane Byrne (Ford Puma Rally1) +2.8s

10 Yohan Rossel/Arnaud Dunand (Lancia Ypsilon Rally2 HF Integrale) +2.9s