Motorsports
EKO Rally Acropolis: First win for Sordo, drama for Toyota and Lapi in ED Perivoli 2
Hyundai’s overall dominance in stage three of the race continues, with Sordo setting the fastest time and Neville holding the reins of the race.
The twelfth stage of the race and the fifth for today is “ED Perivoli 2” where we had the biggest twists and turns of EKO Rally Acropolis 2022 so far in the morning.
However, the drama continued for the Toyota Gazoo Racing Team who saw Kale Rovanpera crush the Yaris and their hopes of recovery this morning. This time it was Esapeka Lapi who had a problem and stopped in the middle of the track for 2-3 minutes. He then moved very slowly just to finish the stage. He is now over 13 minutes behind the leader. All Japanese hopes of victory were dashed.
Danny Sordo set the fastest time, followed by Ott Tanak with 1.7″ and Elfin Evans with 3.0″. Thierry Neville was fourth in the special but remains overall winner while the other two Hyundais round out the podium.
The top 5 in the ranking of the EKO Rally Acropolis 2022, after the ‘ED Orchard 2’.
- Thierry Neville for Martin Vidage (Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT)
- Ot Tanak – Martin Jarveoja (Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT) +34.2”
- Dani Sordo – Cadito Carrera (Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT) +42.9”
- Elfin Evans – Scott Martin (Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT) +58.2”
- Pierre-Louis Loubet – Vincent Landet (M-Sport Ford WRT) +2′ 16.7”
Alexandros Tsouloftas climbed to 13th overall and 6th in the WRC2 category. Lambros Athanassoulas, who is facing a health issue, is 16th and Vassilis Velanis is 25th overall. In the WRC3 Open category, Nontas Karanikolas is fourth and battles Diego Domínguez for third place while remaining third overall with 30th place in the race.
The statements of the protagonists after ‘ED Perivoli 2’:
#69 Kale Rovanpera – Jone Haltunen (Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT)
“Interesting expert. The conditions were different compared to the first round. I drove slowly.”
#8 Ot Tanak – Martin Jarveoja (Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT)
They did not stop for explanations at the special’s STOP.
#11 Thierry Neville – Martin Vidage (Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT)
They did not provide any information on the STOP of the special.
#33 Elfin Evans-Scott Martin (Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT)
“So far, it’s good. We have to go”.
#18 Takamoto Katsuta – Aaron Johnston (Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT New Generation)
“The hybrid system does not work.”
#42 Craig Breen – Paul Nagle (M Sport Ford WRT)
“It was pretty good. We have to go”.
#4 Esapeka Lapi – Yane Ferm (Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT)
He had a mechanical problem and finished the special about 13 minutes late.
#6 Dani Sordo – Cadito Carrera (Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT)
“I made an effort, followed clear lines. I will try not to press the tires. It’s very hot in the car.”
#7 Pierre-Louis Loubet – Vincent Landet (M-Sport Ford WRT)
“We had a few small problems. We must go”.
Sportish lives the legendary EKO Acropolis Rally together with EKO, the largest Greek marketing company in its category and a main sponsor of the event and also the “EKO Super Special Stage” in OAKA.
Source: sport 24
Hi, my name is Jayden James. I am a writer at Sportish, and I mostly cover sports news. I have been writing since high school and have been published in various magazines and newspapers. I also write book reviews for a website. In my free time, I enjoy playing soccer and basketball.