Crews braced for tough opening day in Greece

The opening day of the Acropolis Rally is set to have a major bearing on the result of the world championship qualifier according to leading teams and drivers.

Greece returns to the WRC schedule for the first time in two years later this week with a demanding route based around the town of Loutraki, 90 kilometres west of the capital Athens.

Friday’s itinerary is made up of six special stages with a total competitive distance of 141.33 kilometres. However, with only a remote service halt available for teams to carry out the most basic of repairs using components carried in their rally cars, drivers will have to blend outright speed with a degree of caution to ensure they are still in contention when they reach Friday’s overnight halt.

“It’s going to be a big challenge and could decide the rally,” said George Black of the Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team. “The remote service takes place after the first two stages of 62 kilometres. Normally after this amount of running you’d look to replace all four corners of a car purely just as a precaution. But [teams] won’t have an opportunity to replace anything.”

“As a result drivers are going to have to be very clever on Friday to the extent you might see a few unusual stage times as some drivers might be more prepared to go for it than others. It’s vital drivers pace themselves, particularly if we get hot weather.”

Factory Citroen driver Sebastien Ogier said: “You have to be very intelligent. The cars, the tyres and the crews all suffer in Greece. You have to watch out for the mechanical components even if the DS3 WRC has been reliable and robust since the start of the season. Each rally is a new test.”

Rival M-Sport Stobart Ford driver Mads Ostberg added: “If you want to be in with a chance to finish on the podium in Greece then I think you must push, but the roads are incredibly rough so there’s always the risk of damaging the car. I think we’ll see how it goes on the first stage and adjust our pace to the circumstances.”