Sebastien Ogier is being happy for winning Acropolis Rally for the second time in his WRC career and for scoring the maximum points in Greece while he admits that there was no chance to relax referring to his battle with Thierry Neuville.
The nine-time WRC Champion managed to finish at the top step of the podium in Greece for a second time during his career in World Rally Championship as the first time he won Acropolis Rally was back in 2011 when he was driving for Citroen. Ogier took an early lead at the end of Thursday as he was the fastest driver on the superspecial stage which was held in Athens. However, he was keeping the second place for the most part of the rally as Thierry Neuville was at the top of the classification since the end of Stage 2. Neuville was able to manage his lead over the second Ogier mainly on Saturday as the Belgian completed the penultimate day of the rally with a 4,1-second advantage over Ogier. In total, Ogier won eight stages and began his attack on the opening stage of Sunday as he stole the first place from Neuville after SS14 and was leading the rally for 1,3 seconds. Ogier and Neuville set an identical pace in Stage 15 which means that Ogier kept leading Acropolis Rally, but Neuville lost the battle for the victory in Stage 16 when he got two punctures at the rear. As a result of that, Ogier started the Powerstage with an almost 50-second advantage over the second Neuville, but he continued pushing until the end. The journalists informed Ogier at the end of Stage 17 that he scored the ten maximum points from Sunday which means that he collected 35 points at Acropolis Rally and gained two places on the championship as he is now third overall with 125 points.
"It feels good to win the Acropolis Rally again after many years", Ogier said.
"It seems like the Greek gods were with me once more!
"Like often here, it’s been a very tough rally, particularly for the tyres, so I’m glad that we were able to stay out of trouble this time.
"It was very close with Thierry and there was no chance to relax, even in the Power Stage because it was very rough.
"I tried to drive as gently as I could, so I was surprised by the time, but I’m very happy to take the maximum points, which is exactly what we needed".
Photo Credits: Toyota
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