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Kalle Rovanperä scored his third victory of the season at EKO Acropolis Rally Greece on Sunday afternoon to tighten his grip on this year’s FIA World Rally Championship.
The 22-year-old had looked set to bring up the rear of the podium at this 10th round but found himself topping the standings by more than two minutes after Saturday’s penultimate leg when former leaders Thierry Neuville and Sébastien Ogier retired.
Both were sidelined by central Greece’s unforgiving rocky mountain roads, with Neuville’s Hyundai i20 N sustaining front suspension damage before Ogier, driving a Toyota GR Yaris similar to that of Rovanperä’s, stopped after SS12 with rear suspension failure after hitting a rock.
Rovanperä could afford to relax through Sunday’s three-stage finale and sealed a near-perfect weekend with the maximum five bonus points for winning the Wolf Power Stage. He headed team-mate Elfyn Evans, his closest championship challenger, by 1min 31.7sec at the finish and extended his points over the Welshman to 33 with three rounds remaining.
“Of course, it’s a big relief,” said Rovanperä, who also helped grow Toyota’s manufacturers’ championship lead to 91 points over Hyundai. “After a difficult rally in Finland, we needed to come back now, even though we never left. A strong performance, starting first and finishing first is quite nice. We had a clever drive and still a good push here [in the Wolf Power Stage].”
Evans lost more than one minute on Saturday as a result of his Toyota overheating but fought back to finish runner-up after battling with Hyundai’s Dani Sordo until the very last stage.
Sordo had held the upper hand overnight but a sluggish run through Tarzan cost him the position. The Spaniard, contesting his first rally since Kenya in June, lost out by just 4.2sec after four days of competition.
Ott Tänak incurred 3min 40sec in time penalties when a water pump failure meant he was late to leave Friday’s tyre fitting zone. But the M-Sport Ford Puma driver enjoyed a relatively clean run from then onwards and climbed to an impressive fourth, albeit more than four minutes back from the lead.
Esapekka Lappi was fifth in a Hyundai ahead of sixth-placed Takamoto Katsuta while Toksport WRT3’s Andreas Mikkelsen passed his teammate Gus Greensmith in the penultimate stage to win the WRC2 category in a Škoda Fabia RS Rally2.
In doing so, the Norwegian moved 16 points clear of championship rival Yohan Rossel, who finished ninth overall in his PH Sport-entered Citroën C3, while Ogier completed the leaderboard.
In the all-Ford Fiesta Rally3 WRC3, Paraguay’s Diego Dominguez scored a dominant victory to keep alive his hopes of winning the 2023 WRC3 championship.
The Paraguayan backed up his win on this very same rally 12 months ago by completing the weekend almost seven minutes clear of second-placed Eamonn Kelly, who was able to hold his position despite suffering transmission issues on the final day.
With victories in Mexico, Kenya and Greece so far this year. Victory in Chile next month would leave him tied on a perfect 100 points with Finland’s Roope Korhonen, the current championship leader. Dominguez also snatched the event win in the Junior WRC Championship.
The championship heads to South America later this month for round 11. Rally Chile Bio Bío returns to the WRC calendar from September 28 – October 1. The gravel road encounter is based in Concepción.
Acropolis RallyWRC
SEASON 2023SportRallies1SportWorld Rally ChampionshipRalliesWRCSEASON 2023Acropolis Rally01Sunday, September 10, 2023 – 4:41pmSunday, September 10, 2023 – 4:41pm
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Kalle Rovanperä and Jonne Halttunen snatched the EKO Acropolis Rally Greece victory on Sunday in their GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid. It’s the pair’s third triumph of this FIA World Rally Championship this season. The Finns extend their championship lead further with three rounds remaining.
Rovanperä’s teammate Elfyn Evans is second, while Hyundai’s Dani Sordo is third.
Norway’s Andreas Mikkelsen and Torstein Eriksen claimed the WRC2 class win in their Toksport-entered Škoda Fabian RS, while Luxembourg’s Grégoire Munster and his Belgian codriver Louis Louka (BEL) took the WRC2 Challenger victory in an M-Sport Ford WRT Fiesta Mk II.
Mikkelsen fought back from 12th overall on Friday to clinch his third win of the season in style. He also extends his championship lead over PH Sport’s Yohan Rossel (Citroën C3).
Acropolis RallyWRC
SEASON 2023SportRallies1SportWorld Rally ChampionshipRalliesWRCSEASON 2023Acropolis Rally01Sunday, September 10, 2023 – 1:25pmSunday, September 10, 2023 – 1:00pm
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Toyota celebrated a hard-fought 1-2 home success as the #7 entry of Kamui Kobayashi, José María López and Mike Conway finished ahead of its sister #8 machine shared by Brendon Hartley, Sébastien Buemi and Ryō Hirakawa.
Porsche Penske Motorsport equalled its best result of the season as the #6 entry of André Lotterer, Kevin Estre and Laurens Vanthoor enjoyed a stellar race, taking the lead on the opening lap and remaining in control for well over half of the race, but eventually having to settle for the final step of the podium.
Ferrari AF Corse took fourth and fifth with the #50 499P of Antonio Fuoco, Nicklas Nielsen and Miguel Molina finishing ahead of the #51 machine shared by Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado and Antonio Giovinazzi.
Hertz Team Jota claimed sixth position but lost early momentum after a penalty for a collision with its sister LMP2 entry in the opening stages of the race.
Peugeot TotalEnergies’ cars were seventh and eighth with #94 9X8 of Gustavo Menezes, Stoffel Vandoorne and Loïc Duval finishing ahead of the #93 9X8 which experienced a lengthy last-hour pit stop for Jean-Éric Vergne after a hydraulic issue.
Proton Competition Porsche took its first FIA WEC points for ninth place despite being compromised and slipping out of contention for the top spots following a safety belt issue that occurred midway through the race.
Cadillac Racing rounded out the top ten, having recorded a disappointing result after the #2 V.Series R lost its left front wheel in the penultimate hour, having to spend several laps in the garage for repairs.
TEAM WRT WINS AND CLOSES ON LMP2 TITLE
#41 WRT Oreca-Gibson of Robert Kubica, Louis Delétraz and Rui Andrade won after overhauling the early-leading #22 United Autosports car. The trio extended their title advantage after their second win of the season.
The #31 WRT entry of Robin Frijns, Ferdinand Habsburg and Sean Gelael looked to have sealed 1-2 for WRT after Frijns vaulted United Autosports’ Filipe Albuquerque with 10 minutes to go but the Portuguese re-took the position in a thrilling fight, and along with teammates Phil Hanson and Frederik Lubin sealed second place.
Title-contending Inter Europol Competition arrived in Japan 10 points off the championship-leading Team WRT entry but experienced a difficult race weekend and took the checkered flag ninth in class.
AF CORSE TAKES FIRST LMGTE AM VICTORY OF THE SEASON
Davide Rigon, Thomas Flohr and Francesco Castellacci took the #54 AF Corse Ferrari to its first LMGTE Am win of 2023.
The #57 Kessel Racing Ferrari 488 GTE Evo of Riotmo Miyata, Takeshi Kimura and Scott Huffaker finished second to make it 1-2 for the “Prancing Horse”, however, was later handed a 10s penalty for not reducing the speed sufficiently during a Full Course Yellow period.
Title-winning #33 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C8.R experienced a hectic race that included two penalties to finish third on the road, but was promoted to second place following the penalty for the #57 car.
The #85 Iron Dames entry shared by Sarah Bovy, Michelle Gatting and Rahel Frey rounded out the top three, taking its second podium finish of the season.
WECEndurance6 Hours of FujiWEC
SEASON 2023SportCircuit1SportWorld Endurance ChampionshipCircuitWECSEASON 2023WECEndurance6 Hours of Fuji00Sunday, September 10, 2023 – 11:37amSunday, September 10, 2023 – 11:37am
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