The first stage of the EKO Rally Acropolis 2022 started on Friday morning with Sebastian Leb’s victory. The French M-Sport Ford WRT driver showed his vast experience, braved the dust and set the fastest time on ED Loutraki 1, the first specialty of the day. With that he leads the race.

Behind him, Ott Tanak was 1.1 inches slower, with the top five rounded out by Thierry Neville also in a Hyundai i20 N, Pierre Louis Loubet in an M-Sport Ford Puma and Kale Rovanpera in a Toyota Yaris, who had the disadvantage of that he cleared the way when he first began.

The 17.95km course had swampy ground and the crews had problems with dust, so it was decided to start 4 minutes apart for the rest of the day. Next special, Harvati.

Let’s see what the protagonists have to say.

#69 Kale Rovanpera – Jone Haltunen (Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT)

“It’s not easy, traction is low. It’s not easy to start first, it’s not the best combination. I’ll do my best.”

#8 Ot Tanak – Martin Jarveoja (Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT)

“Nobody cares about the car’s balance if you can’t see it. We knew this was going to happen.”

#11 Thierry Neville – Martin Vidage (Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT)

“We had no sight. You’re on the 5th and suddenly you can’t see anything. We asked for four minutes, we knew it would be, but nobody did anything.”

#33 Elfyn Evans-Scott Martin (Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT)

“It’s hard to find a rhythm in the dust.”

#18 Takamoto Katsuta – Aaron Johnston (Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT NG)

“In some places we couldn’t see anything at all. And my notes aren’t good.”

#42 Craig Breen – Paul Nagle (M Sport Ford WRT)

“There is a lot of dust in some places. The special was ok.”

#4 Esapeka Lapi – Yane Ferm (Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT)

“All right, dust is a problem. But it’s the same for everyone except for Kalle. Otherwise the special was clean.”

#19 Sebastian Lebb – Isabelle Galmis (M-Sport Ford WRT)

“Good special, but not easy. It’s the sun, the dust, and it’s very slippery in places. The brakes overheat a bit, but it’s not a big deal.”

#6 Dani Sordo – Cadito Carrera (Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT)

“It was difficult with the grades and the dust. On the tarmac we went out a bit in a closing corner.”

#44 Gus Greensmith – Jonas Anderson (M-Sport Ford WRT)

“The first 6 km were good, then we got stuck. It was very difficult”.

#7 Pierre-Louis Loubet – Vincent Lande (M-Sport Ford WRT)

“Good special for us. Difficult with dust.’

#9 Iordanis Serderidis – Frederic Miklot (M-Sport Ford WRT)

“The problem was the dust. We lost time, otherwise the stage was clean, I really liked that.”