June 28 : Toyota's reigning world champion Sebastien Ogier won the Acropolis Rally Greece on Sunday after Hyundai's Thierry Neuville suffered a double puncture on the penultimate stage.Nine-time world champion Ogier, with co-driver Vincent Landais, finished 58.3 seconds clear of Belgian Neuville with Toyota's Takamoto Katsuta coming in a distant third.Toyota's championship leader Elfyn Evans finished seventh on the road but was later moved up to fifth after Josh McErlean and Adrien Fourmaux were handed one-minute penalties and demoted for not having seatbelts fully fastened while their cars were moving.That gifted Evans four extra points and left him 11 clear of Katsuta after eight of 14 rounds. Frenchman Ogier is third overall, 37 points off the lead.
The win was Ogier's 69th in the World Rally Championship and his second of the season, and he scored maximum points with a final Power stage and Super Sunday win."The Greek gods finally supported me," said Ogier of his second career Acropolis win and first since 2011. "It was a long weekend. There was never a time to relax. I drove as gently as I could and tried to avoid every stone." Neuville, who had led after Friday, said his car was performing well and noted he had benefited in Portugal last month when Ogier punctured on the penultimate stage.Ogier had retaken the lead on the opening stage of the final day, and Neuville was only 1.3 seconds adrift when he punctured with 10 km left in stage 16. The pair had posted identical times on stage 15."Fair play to Ogier, he did an incredible race as well. We don't know what would have happened without the puncture. But that's rallying, in Portugal we profited from his puncture and now he does from ours," said two-time Acropolis winner Neuville.Toyota's Sami Pajari moved up to fourth after the penalties with Irish driver McErlean dropping to sixth for M-Sport Ford and Hyundai's Fourmaux to seventh.Martins Sesks was eighth for M-Sport Ford, with Skoda's WRC2 entries Robert Virves and Andreas Mikkelsen completing the points places. The next round is in Estonia on July 17 to 19.
