Neuville takes overnight lead of Rally Greece as other punished
27th June 2026Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville topped the World Rally Championship’s Acropolis Rally Greece, remaining ahead of Toyota’s Sebastien Ogier by 9.7s after a punishing day for his rivals.
Feature image credit: Jaanus Ree // Red Bull Content Pool
Where people faltered in the punishing Greek terrain, the 2024 world champion was able to keep himself out of trouble to take the overnight lead in Greece.
By the end of the longest day of running, in terms of overall competitive kilometres (129.22km), Neuville found himself at the top of the overall timing boards, having taken over Ogier as the rally leader.
However, the leading advantage was far from comfortable for the Belgian crew as they sat 9.7 seconds ahead of Ogier, with his teammate, Adrien Fourmaux, 42 seconds further back in third.
The second day of running wasn’t without problems, though, as punctures started to affect the running order.
Toyota’s Oliver Solberg was the first to be hit with a puncture on the opening stage of the day. Whilst he did take a more cautious approach for the remainder of the morning loop, Solberg outbraked himself at a left-hand corner and beached his car on the final stage.
Solberg’s teammate, Sami Pajari, and Hyundai’s Dani Sordo were other drivers who suffered punctures during the morning loop of the day.
It was a bittersweet day for M-Sport Ford’s Jon Armstrong, who managed to take home his maiden stage win, beating Ogier by 0.6 seconds on SS5. However, on the following stage, the Irishman suffered a puncture and lost power, eventually retiring from the day.
2026 Acropolis Rally Greece: The full WRC stage guide and times
Day 2 times:
- Thierry Neuville, Hyundai – 1hr 26m 48.2s
- Sebastien Ogier, Toyota +9.7s
- Adrien Fourmaux, Hyundai +42.4s
- Joshua McErlean, M-Sport Ford +1m 10.1s
- Martins Sesks, M-Sport Ford +1m 16.9s
- Takamoto Katsuta, Toyota +1m 33.2s
- Elfyn Evans, Toyota +2m 8.4s
- Dani Sordo, Hyundai +2m 49.5s
- Andreas Mikkelsen, WRC2 +3m 10.6s
- Sami Pajari, Toyota +3m 13.1s
M-Sport Ford’s Jon Armstrong and Jourdan Serderidis found themselves down in 30th and 42nd overall, with Armstrong 14 minutes off the pace whilst Sederidis sat 26 minutes behind.
Read more WRC here:
- Ogier takes overnight lead after sole Rally Greece stage
- Thierry Neuville tops shakedown ahead of Rally Greece
- Thierry Neuville tops first pass of shakedown at Rally Greece
- Solberg looking to put asphalt troubles ‘behind me’ ahead of Rally Greece
- Acropolis Rally Greece: the latest WRC weather forecast
- Ogier looking forward to Rally Greece challenge with new base
- Elfyn Evans believes the rally championship remains ‘very open’
- FIA conclude Candidate Rally US event for 2027 calendar bid
- Toyota expecting a ‘demanding’ end to 2026 WRC season
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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.
