At the end of Saturday afternoon, Thierry Neuville protected his lead at Acropolis Rally with Sebastien Ogier and Takamoto Katsuta following him.
Thierry Neuville was able to double his lead over the second Sebastien Ogier to 10,8 seconds after Stage 12 as the Belgian set the fastest time there, but he dropped many seconds in Stage 13 compared to the nine-time WRC Champion. In addition to that, the WRC TV reported that a coolant leaking from Neuville's car, but he was confident that he will manage to return back to the service park.
Sebastien Ogier reels in the first Neuville by setting the fastest time in Stage 13 which means that he is now just 4,1 seconds adrift. Moreover, Ogier took a bug risk on Saturday afternoon as he carried only one spare wheel as the risk of a puncture was very high considering what happened to the other Rally1 drivers.
Takamoto Katsuta moved up to third position after Stage 12 and does the 2-3 for Toyota Gazoo Racing. If he finishes at the lowest place of the podium on Sunday, this will be a huge boost on his title fight with Elfyn Evans who dropped even behind on the classification.
Adrien Fourmaux stopped to change a front right puncture in Stage 12 and lost three places as he dropped from third to sixth. However, he managed to climb into fourth position after Stage 13 taking advantage over his rivals' punctures.
Josh McErlean comes right behind the fourth Fourmaux for one second and remains the best driver for M-Sport Ford as he stayed out of trouble on the final two stages of Saturday. Also, it must be mentioned that he kept Evans behind for four seconds at fifth position after the end of Stage 12.
Sami Pajari is now sixth overall and gained two positions after the end of SS13 after Sordo's and Evans's punctures.
Elfyn Evans follows his teammate for 4,8 seconds and dropped more than one minute in Stage 13 as he stopped to change a front right puncture. In total, the Welshman lost two places in one single stage.
Dani Sordo lost his seventh place and is now eighth as he continued driving in Stage 13 despite the fact that he got a front right puncture.
Martins Sesks is in eleventh place overall and received a 190-second time penalty as his Puma could not start and he lft the service park with a 19-minute delay.
Oliver Solberg and Jon Armstrong remain outside the top ten.
Armstrong stopped after the SS13 stop control as the rear left of his Puma caught fire. He and Shane Byrne managed to extinguish the fire which was caused by a brake or a fuel leak.
Watch below the stage times:
Watch below the overall classification after Stage 13:
Photo Credits: Hyundai
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