Rovanpera wins new Rally Greece super special stage in Athens
8th September 2023Toyota’s Kalle Rovanpera is the Acropolis Rally Greece leader after the young Finnish driver put in the fastest time in front of a packed crowd.
Following a poor showing at his home rally, last time out, Rovanpera set the benchmark time on the board at the brand new 1.48km, EKO Super Special Stage, to lead the rally as darkness fell on the Greek capital city of Athens.
Rovanpera was the last driver out onto the course, as the championship leader, and beat the two Hyundai’s of Esapekka Lappi and Thierry Neuville in second and third respectively.
After the first stage, Rovanpera was hopeful to fight for the rally win, he said:
“After the disappointment in Finland, I want to do a good race and we have to fight for it for sure.”
It was a good showing from the Hyundai team as both Lappi and Neuville set identical times on the board, three-tenths behind Rovanpera, and Daniel Sordo finished a tenth behind his teammates in fourth.
M-Sport Ford’s Ott Tanak rounded out the top five on the opening day, seven-tenths behind Rovanpera’s time.
Despite Rovanpera’s lead, it was not a good showing overall for Toyota who currently lead the championship. Returning eight-time world champion, Sebastien Ogier was the second fastest Toyota driver, down in sixth, as he also put in an identical lap time with his teammate Takamoto Katsuta (seventh).
Ford’s Pierre-Louis Loubet completed the WRC class drivers inside the top 10, in eighth, ahead of the WRC2 drivers, Andreas Mikkelsen and Nikolay Gryazin in ninth and 10th respectively.
Toyota’s Elfyn Evans sat in 12th after the first stage while Ford’s Greek driver, Jourdan Serderdis, sat 33rd in the overall standings.
That’s all for the article; Rovanpera wins new Rally Greece super special stage in Athens!
Read more WRC here:
- Mikkelsen leads WRC2 after opening solo stage in Rally Greece
- WRC Rally Greece: Shakedown cancelled, who can eat into Rovapera’s lead
- Evans secures Rally Finland victory comfortably ahead of Neuville
- Evans evades Neuville’s challenge after third day of WRC Rally Finland
- WRC: Rovanpera OUT of Rally Finland
- Evans snatches WRC Rally Finland lead as Rovanpera rolls out
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Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.
I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
Kamron Kent
Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
