LAMIA, Greece —
Thierry Neuville led a Hyundai podium sweep at the Acropolis Rally on
Sunday as championship leader Kalle Rovanpera salvaged a few points from the
wreckage in the closing Power Stage.
اضافة اعلان
Belgian Neuville
edged Estonian Ott Tanak by 15 seconds with Dani Sordo third at 1min 49.7sec.
The first driver
in another make was Frenchman Pierre-Louis Loubet who was 3:42.7 back in his
Ford.
Not everyone on
Hyundai was happy with the finishing order.
Tanak, who had won
the previous two races to delay Rovanpera’s seemingly inevitable coronation,
cut the gap again to 53 points, but said the team should have made sure he
collected the 25 points for victory, rather than the 18 for second place.
“If you want to
fight for a championship, the decision to have no team orders was wrong,” Tanak
said at the finish.
“If you want to
have good PR, it’s a good decision. It depends how you look at it. It’s a
shame.”
The other Hyundai
drivers were more positive about the team.
“It has been a
tough season so far and to get the victory after a very difficult weekend in
Belgium is a relief,” said Neuville after his first victory of the campaign.
“The most
important thing is we have a 1-2-3 for the team after all these years we finally got it and it’s a historical moment for
the brand and the team. Everybody has worked hard for this and it’s a nice
reward.”
Neuville overtook
Welshman
Elfyn Evans, who broke down on the way to the start of the first of the
day’s three stages. He had been a few seconds behind Sordo.
“This time I was
lucky because everybody retired!” said the Spaniard.
“I am happy for
the team.”
Rovanpera, who
drove into a tree on Saturday, finished 15th, having rebounded to win the
Power Stage and collect five bonus points. This time Tanak edged the Finn to claim
the maximum bonus.
“I have done many
good and bad weekends but this is one of the worst ones,” said the Finn.
There are three rallies
left. The next is in New Zealand from September 29 to October 2 before the
championship moves on to Spain and culminates in Japan.
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