Ogier tops Acropolis Qualifying

Sebastien Ogier has set the fastest time on the Qualifying Stage to earn the right to select his starting position first for the opening day of the Acropolis Rally.

Driving a Volkswagen Polo R, Ogier and co-driver Julien Ingrassia completed the 3.10-kilometre test near Loutraki in a time of 2min 14.5sec.

Weather conditions for the session were dry and sunny, with a temperature of 26 degrees Celsius and strong winds, gusting to 50kph, in the Service Park.

“Today was very important and I was very motivated to do this,” said Ogier. “Normally in qualifying I prefer to be safe, because it’s better to be second or third than make a mistake and finish at the bottom.

“But start position here is going to be very important and I wanted to be first to have first choice [of road position] so I really pushed.

“The stage was quite rough I hope the rest of the weekend is not going to be as bad as that. There’s quite a strong wind at the moment and everybody hopes that will stay so that there are no problems with the dust tonight.”

Citroen DS3 WRC driver Dani Sordo was second quickest, 1.1sec slower than Ogier. “The car was feeling fine, so I’m happy with this first test,” he said.

“I was surprised by Sebastien’s time because it was really, really fast. But okay, it’s a long rally, and if we are in the same position once the rally starts it will be fantastic.”

Qatar M-Sport driver Evgeny Novikov was third quickest, 1.2sec off Ogier’s time, with Thierry Neuville, also in a Fiesta RS, third, 0.4sec further back.

Ford Fiesta RS driver Mads Ostberg rounded off the top five times.

The WRC crews will select their starting positions at 1215hrs local time.

Here are the full Qualifying Stage times:
Sebastien Ogier: 2m14.563s
Dani Sordo: +1.104
Evgeny Novikov: +1.263
Thierry Neuville: +1.688
Mads Ostberg: +2.030
Mikko Hirvonen: +2.415
Nasser Al-Attiyah: +2.742
Mikko Hirvonen: +2.770
Jari-Matti Latvala: +3.414
Martin Prokop: +4.829
Khalid Al-Qassimi: +5.749