Sébastien Ogier (Toyota) celebrates his second World Rally Championship victory of the season at the Acropolis Rally—rival Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) drops out after suffering a flat tire
Toyota driver Sébastien Ogier secured his second victory of the season at the Acropolis Rally in Greece, the eighth round of the 2026 World Rally Championship (WRC). This followed a thrilling head-to-head battle against Hyundai driver Thierry Neuville, which was abruptly decided by a bitter tire drama for the Belgian.
Trailing the Hyundai duo of Thierry Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe by a razor-thin margin of 4.1 seconds, nine-time world champion Ogier and his co-driver Vincent Landais headed into Sunday’s decisive four special stages.
Previously, the two exceptional drivers had engaged in an epic neck-and-neck duel on the relentless gravel stages on Friday and Saturday, during which they were never more than eleven seconds apart. Right on the first special stage of the final day, Ogier went on the attack and gained 1.3 seconds on Neuville.
When both drivers then clocked exactly the same time—down to the tenth of a second—on the 15th special stage, the stage was set for a true showdown on the final two stages. While the Rally1 competition was struggling en masse on the merciless route, the two leaders had so far been spared any tire problems.
The outcome won’t be decided until the penultimate stage
But on the penultimate stage, fate struck mercilessly: Neuville immediately suffered a double flat tire on the rear. As a result, the Belgian lost a total of 53.5 seconds in one fell swoop—and with it, not only the thrilling duel against Ogier but also the overall victory at the Acropolis Rally.
On that very stage, which proved to be Neuville’s undoing, Ogier literally flew down the course with the absolute fastest time. His lead suddenly grew to a whopping 54.8 seconds ahead of the final Power Stage.
On the already extremely tough final Loutraki stage, the Frenchman capped off his performance with another magnificent run and secured the victory with a 58.3-second lead. Since he also won the “Super Sunday” classification and the Power Stage, it was simply a perfect weekend.
“The Greek gods were finally on my side!” Ogier beamed at the finish. “It was an incredibly long weekend with not a single second to catch my breath. I drove as gently as I possibly could and really tried to avoid every single rock.”
Toyota driver Katsuta rounded out the podium
Rival Neuville was understandably torn: “I’m currently wavering between deep disappointment and, somehow, a bit of joy. The car is performing superbly, and we feel really comfortable in it. Still: mixed feelings.”
“Hats off to Ogier—he also drove an incredible race. Who knows what would have happened without the tire punctures. But that’s just how rally racing goes: In Portugal, we benefited from his tire puncture; now it was his turn,” Neuville recalled.
Toyota driver Takamoto Katsuta rounded out the podium in third place. A remarkable result, considering that the Japanese driver had to start second on Friday and suffered massively from the “road sweeper effect.”
Nevertheless, he managed to salvage sixth place by the end of the first leg—despite a tire failure on SS4, where the tread peeled off the rear right tire. Under his own power, Katsuta then overtook the M-Sport Ford duo of Josh McErlean and Martins Sesks on the course on Saturday morning and snatched fourth place.
Fourmaux also affected by multiple tire punctures
Adrien Fourmaux in the Hyundai was still in a promising third place on Saturday afternoon. On Friday, he had even briefly led the standings before a front-right tire failure on the fourth special stage set him back behind Neuville and Ogier.
Fourmaux was in prominent company: Many drivers complained of flat tires because the revised, hard Hankook tires simply couldn’t always handle the brutal conditions. On the twelfth special stage, the Frenchman suffered his second flat tire and had to cede third place to Katsuta without a fight.
In the end, Fourmaux could only manage sixth place, as Sunday plagued him with two more tire failures. Meanwhile, Josh McErlean (M-Sport Ford) celebrated the best WRC result of his career by finishing fourth. The Irishman even managed to recover from a late run into the underbrush on the penultimate stage.
In the end, he defended his position, crossing the finish line 6.7 seconds ahead of Toyota’s young driver Sami Pajari. Pajari himself had lost nearly two minutes on SS5 due to a wheel change on the course. Elfyn Evans started the Acropolis Rally as the World Championship leader—with the unenviable task of being the first to hit the course on Friday.
The poor grip conditions promptly cost the Welshman over two minutes, which was only enough for seventh place after the opening stage. Although he was able to work his way up to fifth place at one point, a flat tire on SS13 set him back again. Another slow puncture on Sunday finally halted his momentum, leaving him with only seventh place overall.
Elfyn Evans Defends His World Championship Lead
Although Evans was able to defend his lead in the World Championship, his once-comfortable 20-point cushion over Katsuta has now melted away to a meager seven points. Martins Sesks secured eighth place in the M-Sport Ford.
Before the very last special stage, Hyundai had decided for tactical reasons to withdraw Dani Sordo’s car from the race. Sesks himself had been held up earlier by technical problems, which also resulted in a 3:10-minute penalty because he had left the service park too late on Saturday.
Jon Armstrong (M-Sport) provided one of the biggest surprises of the weekend. He shone at times on Friday, sitting in a sensational third place, and even set the first WRC stage win of his career on the fifth special stage. However, a bitter turbo failure on Friday afternoon rudely dashed all his podium dreams.
Oliver Solberg also had a rally to forget. After an early flat tire, he never really found his rhythm and went off the road spectacularly on the seventh special stage. The Monte Carlo winner leaves Greece with a meager haul of just a single “Super Sunday” point.
Rounding out the top 10 are the strong WRC2 winner Robert Virves and his Toksport Skoda teammate Andreas Mikkelsen. The next round of this year’s World Rally Championship will take place in Estonia from July 16 to 19, 2026.
