the finnish Kalle Rovanperä (Toyota) was imposed this Sunday on Greece’s 70th Acropolis Rally10th out of 13 exams of WRC world championshipand took another step towards his second consecutive world title.
The reigning world champion took advantage of the setbacks suffered by Belgian Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) and Frenchman Sébastien Ogier (Toyota), who were forced to retire on Saturday, to claim his third victory of the season after Portugal and Estonia.
Rovanperä won with a comfortable margin of over a minute and a half British Elfyn Evans (Toyota)his teammate and main rival in the race for the world title, and the veteran Spaniard Dani Sordo (Hyundai).
The 22-year-old Finn, who already won the Acropolis in 2021, won with a final time of 3h00:16 and an advantage of 1:31 over Evans and 1:35 over Sordo, who returned to the competition since the rally of Kenya in June, unfazed by their narrow victories in the first two rounds of the day.
At first the best time was for Elfyn Evans (16:40.2), followed by the Spaniard (16:49.2) and the Belgian Thierry Neuville (16:55.2), with Rovanpera (17:11.4) delayed in eighth position.
The second stage was taken by Dani Sordo (6:46.4) with Evans next (6:47.7) and the Estonian Ott Tanak (6:48.8/Ford Puma Rally1) and the Finn again in eighth place (6:56.7), but leader in the general classification and best time in the final section (6:28.1)(6.30.06), with Evans (6.30.06), Tanak (6:30.7) and Sordo (6:32.1) in his wake to ensure qualification.
With this victory, the third of the season, Rovanpera extended his advantage over Evans to 33 points with three races remaining until the end of the season, in Chile, Germany and Japan.
“After a difficult rally in Finland, we had to go back, although we didn’t leave. A good performance, the start and the first finish were very good. We drove smart and we had a good -attack here. It’s a big relief,” he said Rovanpera at the end of the test in WRC talks.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Rose Herman and I work as an author for Today Times Live. My expertise lies in writing about sports, a passion of mine that has been with me since childhood. As part of my job, I provide comprehensive coverage on everything from football to tennis to golf.
