by Yannis-Marios Papadopoulos
With 72 crews and… a question mark over the weather!
In the anniversary version of the EKO Acropolis Rally for its 70 years on the international sporting scene, 72 crews from 31 countries will start under the Acropolis on Thursday afternoon, September 7.
There is much concern about the weather conditions that will prevail during the race. The bad weather “Daniel” made the efforts of the crews during the three-day reconnaissance particularly difficult, but the forecasts for an improvement in the weather on race days make everyone optimistic.
Ten hybrid cars of the Rally1 class will compete in the Greek mountains from 7 to 10 September, with the supporting WRC2 class attracting an additional thirty entries.
At the same time, for the third consecutive year the Greek presence will be strong, with 20 crews, while the title for the Junior Championship will be decided in Greece, as the EKO Acropolis Rally is the seventh and final round of the JWRC Championship.
The 2022 World Champion, Toyota Gazoo Racing, will line up in the race with four GR Yaris Rally1 cars. Next to the usual suspects, Kalle Rovanpera, Elfyn Evans and Takamoto Katsuta, the Greek spectators will have the chance to see once again the 8 times World Champion, Sebastien Ogier, who competes in selective races.
Hyundai Shell Mobis is expected with three i20N Rally1s, for its stablemates Thierry Neuville and Esapekka Lappi, but also the highly experienced Dani Sordo who was recruited for the EKO Acropolis Rally.
After a series of mediocre performances in Estonia and Finland, M-Sport Ford aims to end its bad streak in Greece. The first fiddle in its effort will be the 2019 World Champion Ott Tanak, while, with two more Puma Rally1s, the young Pierre-Louis Loubet and Jordan Serderidis will appear with the Greek flag, in his fourth participation in this year’s Championship, after the Monte Carlo, Mexico and Safari rallies.
In the WRC2 battle, thirty cars of the genre will be present at the EKO Acropolis Rally, among them the protagonists of the Greek races. In the list stands out the name of the leader of the standings Andreas Mikkelsen, who wants to make a decisive step for the title. His task is expected to be anything but easy, as he will be facing the winner of the Rally Finland in the category, Sami Pajari, the second in the standings, Yohan Rossel (Citroen C3 Rally2), but also Oliver Solberg (Skoda Fabia Rally2), Gus Greensmith (Skoda Fabia), Nikolay Gryazin (Skoda Fabia), Andrien Fourmaux (Ford Fiesta Rally2) and others.
The Greek Champion (2021, 2023), Alexandros Tsouloftas (Volkswagen Polo GTi Rally2), will try to repeat last year’s success (9th overall and third WRC2 Open), while Lambros Athanasoulas will start the race with high goals, who for the third consecutive year will be behind the wheel of an i20 Rally2, with the support of Hyundai Hellas. Armed with his experience, the Greek Champion (2019) George Kechagias is expected to be among the protagonists, who will have a Skoda Fabia Rally2 at his disposal. Another Greek Champion, namely the 2016 title holder, Giorgos Filippidis, returns to the Acropolis Rally – after five years -, also driving a Skoda Fabia Rally2. The Greek interest is expected to be gained by entries such as those of Vassilis Velanis (Skoda Fabia Evo Rally2) and Panagiotis Roustemi (Skoda Fabia RS Rally2), but also by the fast on dirt, Chrysostomos Karellis (Citroen C3 Rally2).
The EKO Acropolis Rally will be the curtain raiser for the JWRC, an event in which the future stars of the WRC participate with a Ford Fiesta Rally3. All the main protagonists are expected in Greece, with Ireland’s William Creighton being the firm favourite for the title. In terms of years, they will be “facing” Greek crews with cars of similar specifications. Themis Chalkias is expected to drive the brand new Renault Clio Rally3, while F2 Champion for the last three years, Nonnas Karanikolas will start with a Ford Fiesta Rally3, as will the talented Spyros Galerakis.
However, the RC4 category will also be of interest, with six Greek crews in the extreme special stages with two-wheel drive cars of Rally4 specification. The reason is Savvas Lefkaditis, Paschalis Hadjimarkos, Theodoros Kalamaras and Adkanell with Peugeot 208, Yannis Plago who returns to Acropolis, this time with a Ford Fiesta, and the evergreen Harry Kaltsounis (Opel Corsa), who, at the age of 74, continues to write his own history in the EKO Acropolis Rally.
The Friday programme
After the completion of the EKO Super Special Stage at “Water Square”, the crews of this year’s EKO Acropolis Rally will spend the night in Loutraki, where the action will start on Friday morning.
Friday’s programme includes a total of five special stages, one of which will be held twice.
The special “Loutraki 1” will start at 8.23 a.m. and has a length of 18.10 km, and will be repeated at 12.19 p.m. In between, at 9.26 am, the 16.43km long special “Pisia” will take place, while immediately after the “Pisia” there will be a brief reconvening at the Club Hotel Casino Loutraki.
The fourth special of the day is the “Livadia” of 21.03 km at 3.12 p.m., while the last special of the Friday program is the “Elatia” of 28.32 km at 4.45 p.m.
The entry of the first race car at the Lamia service park is estimated shortly after 6 p.m. on Friday 8 September.
