Rally Greece: Ogier and Tanak fastest after super special stage

Toyota’s Sebastien Ogier and Hyundai’s Ott Tanak are joint fastest after the opening Super Special Stage at the World Rally Championship’s Acropolis Rally Greece, setting identical times.

Feature image credit: Jaanus Ree // Red Bull Content Pool

The action is officially underway in Greece, as the 1.5km super special stage, held in the country’s capital, Athens, ignited the Rally of Gods. And it was not without issues for some drivers.

Both Toyotas hit some part of the 1.5km test, with Takamoto Katsuta nudging the far side doughnut barrier off its stand, whereas Ogier repeated a similar moment with the near side doughnut barrier.

Then the eight-time world champion lost his passenger mirror after making contact with the advertising archways.

Regardless, Ogier and Tanak both topped the timing boards with the fastest times of the opening stage with a 1 minute, 18.1-second time through the Greek capital.

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It marks the second time on Thursday that a WRC session finished with joint-fastest drivers as Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta and Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville topped the event’s shakedown runs on Thursday morning.

This time, the two drivers could only best third and fifth fastest, respectively, with Hyundai’s Adrien Fourmaux filling the void in fourth place.

Toyota teammates, Elfyn Evans and Kalle Rovanpera, finished in sixth and seventh, ahead of their teammate Sami Pajari in ninth. M-Sport Ford’s Martins Sesks occupied eighth between the Toyota group.

M-Sport’s Joshua McErlean rounded out the top 10 ahead of both his teammates, Gregoire Munster and Jourdan Serderidis, who finished 17th and 36th overall.

Friday kicks off bright and early for the crews with a 26.76km test with Aghii Theodori 1, starting at 7:28am local time (5:28 BST), followed by five more stages to complete the first full day of action.

Read more WRC here:

• Neuville and Katsuta fastest in Rally Greece shakedown test
• Rally Greece: what stages will make up the Acropolis WRC event?
• Rally Greece: the latest weather report ahead of WRC event
• WRC 2025 Acropolis Rally Greece – Entry List
• Ogier leads Tanak at WRC Rally Italia Sardegna as Fourmaux rolls
• Notional time gives Ogier WRC Rally Italia Sardegna morning lead

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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.

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.