The second day of EKO Acropolis Rally Greece has passed. M-Sport holds first and second overall. Lappi fills out the top three.
SS1
The first stage of EKO Acropolis Rally Greece saw some immediate drama as WRC2 leader Andreas Mikkelsen would crash out on the first corner and be forced to retire. Thierry Neuville would win the stage by 0.1 seconds over Teemu Suninen. Dani Sordo would place third 0.9 seconds behind Suninen. Ott Tänak and Emil Lindholm would round out the top five.
SS2
The second stage would see M-Sport prove they can still compete. With Loeb winning the stage and Loubet placing second. Loeb would end up jumping from seventh to first on this stage. Ott Tänak would finish the stage third 1.3 seconds behind Loeb. This would result in Tänak moving to second overall 1.1 seconds behind Loeb. Thierry Neuville would finish the stage fifth and fall to third overall 1.7 seconds behind Loeb.
SS3
The third stage would see Loeb take the win yet again. Thierry Neuville would move into second overall as Ott Tänak would fall to fourth. Loeb would expand his lead by another second to 2.7 seconds over Neuville. Pierre-Louis Loubet would move up to third overall 4.8 seconds behind Loeb.
SS4
Stage Four would see Loeb challenged but not beaten as he and Lappi would tie on the stage. Loeb would extend his lead to 6.4 seconds over Neuville. Lappi would close in on third only being 0.9 seconds behind Loubet.
SS5
Stage five would see Pierre-Louis Loubet take his first-ever WRC stage win, along with the rally lead. Loubet would now lead the rally 1.9 seconds over Loeb who now sits in second. Lappi would move into third 4.2 seconds behind Loubet. Neuville would fall from second to fourth, ending the stage 0.7 seconds behind Lappi.
SS6
Stage six would see Pierre-Louis Loubet win his second-ever WRC stage and maintain the lead. Lappi would move into second place, with 7.8 seconds behind Loubet. Loeb would fall to third 0.5 seconds behind Lappi.
SS7
Stage seven would be the final stage of the second day. It would see Sebastian Loeb regain his lead with a stage win. Loeb would end the day with a 1.7-second lead over teammate Pierre-Louis Loubet. Lappi would end the day 8.7 seconds behind Loeb. Neuville would end 16 seconds behind. Dani Sordo would round out the top five finishing 22 seconds behind.
Breen Trouble
Although the second day went nearly perfect for M-Sport there was some trouble with Craig Breen. At the end of SS2 Breen’s car would start to smoke. This smoke was due to a small fire at the rear of Breen’s car. Breen would suffer misfortune again just two stages later. As on SS4 Breen would suffer a puncture putting him out of contention for the win.
What M-Sport Needed
M-Sport desperately needed a good rally in Greece. So far they’ve gotten that as Loeb and Loubet sit first and second at the end of the day. M-Sports season hasn’t been the greatest as of late and there were a lot of questions surrounding what may change come the end of the season. Loeb is the only driver to win in a Ford this year. While Loubet has stepped up to challenge Loeb.
Toyota Struggles
Toyota hasn’t had a great rally in terms of what we’ve come to expect. Only have one car in the top five with the next closest being eighth overall. Rovanperä who leads the WRC championship sits ninth overall, over a minute behind Loeb.
Hyundai Needs A Push
Hyundai and Ott Tänak were the ones to beat coming into this event as they are coming off back-to-back event wins in Finland and Ypres. Tänak currently sits sixth overall 8.9 seconds behind Sordo. Neuville currently leads the Hyundai trio in fourth, being 7.3 seconds out of a podium position.
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.
