Day Three of EKO Acropolis Rally Greece has passed. A new leader has emerged after chaos arised.
SS8
Stage eight would see M-Sports dominance continue as Loeb took another stage win. Thierry Neuville would move into second overall passing Loubet who falls to third. Lappi would fall to fourth overall, 3.8 seconds behind Loubet.
SS9
Stage nine would see Thierry Neuville move into the lead after Sebastian Loeb retired. Ott Tänak would move into second place 18.6 seconds behind Neuville. Lappi would move back into third, 3.9 seconds behind Tänak.
SS10
Stage 10 would see Neuville take his third stage win of the event, and extend his lead. Now leading Lappi who moved into second by 31 seconds. Tänak would fall to third 1.3 seconds behind Lappi.
SS11
Stage 11 would see Neuville take his third straight stage win and his fourth of the event. Neuville would extend his lead over Lappi by 6.4 seconds to 37.4 seconds. Tänak would shorten the gap between him and Lappi by 0.1 seconds to 1.2 seconds.
SS12
Stage 12 would see Dani Sordo take his first stage win. Sordo would now sit in third after Lappi retired. Tänak would move into second 34.2 seconds behind Neuville.
SS13
Stage 13 would see Ott Tänak take his first stage win and cut the gap between him and Neuville. Tänak would cut the gap between him and Neuville by 6.3 seconds to 27.9 seconds. Sordo would remain third 25 seconds behind Tänak.
Trouble For M-Sport
M-Sport came into the third day looking to continue their dominance. Unfortunately for them, that didn’t go to plan. At the end of SS8 Loeb would be forced to retire with an alternator issue. On SS9 Loubet would suffer a puncture putting him out of contention for the lead and likely a podium position. Luckily for M-Sport Loubet was able to regain fifth overall, but he’s likely too far out of fourth. As he sits nearly two minutes behind Evans. M-Sport would start the day with six cars and end with only two. Greensmith and Serderidis would both retire on SS11 due to Mechanical issues.
M-Sport came into the third day looking to continue their dominance. Unfortunately for them, that didn’t go to plan. At the end of SS8 Loeb would be forced to retire with an alternator issue. On SS9 Loubet would suffer a puncture putting him out of contention for the lead and likely a podium position. Luckily for M-Sport Loubet was able to regain fifth overall, but he’s likely too far out of fourth. As he sits nearly two minutes behind Evans. M-Sport would start the day with six cars and end with only two. Greensmith and Serderidis would both retire on SS11 due to Mechanical issues.
All The Luck On Their Side
Hyundai was the only team to not suffer a major problem on day three. They were also the only ones without a car in the top three coming into the day. They would end the day with three cars in the top three. Neuville sits first with Tänak second and Sordo third. As a team, they couldn’t ask for much better as their closest competition heading into day four sits 7.1 seconds behind Sordo.
Bad Fuel For Lappi
Lappi would enter stage 13 in second but would stop just 2.2km in. The reason for this stop is believed to be bad fuel. He would continue the stage at a reduced speed and retire after the stage due to a mechanical issue. It is unknown if he will rejoin EKO Acropolis Rally Greece tomorrow.
My name is Joe Moore. I am a writer for Belly Up Hockey, Belly Up Racing, and Belly Up Sports. You can find me on Twitter.
