The final leg of Acropolis Rally Greece again offered some extremely difficult road conditions. Heavy rains in the days before the start had caused the roads to deteriorate significantly. Nevertheless, the fight of the two Toksport WRT crews for victory in WRC2 continued until the last kilometres. After the first stage of the final leg on Sunday, Andreas Mikkelsen/Elliott Edmondson (NOR/GBR) in the #20 ŠKODA FABIA Rally2 evo had nudged teammates Marco Bulacia/Marcelo Der Ohanessian (BOL/ARG) from top spot in the category standings.
The Norwegian-British duo started into the final Powerstage with a 20.2 seconds lead. Bulacia did everything he could to claw back time. The 20 years old from Bolivia was faster than his experienced teammate, but not enough. „I am very pleased with our job this weekend. Today Andreas was faster, but we had a very good pace and we are happy to bring the ŠKODA FABIA Rally2 evo back home without problems,“ Bulacia said. With this win, Mikkelsen extends his overall lead in the WRC2 overall drivers‘ standings. Also, Toksport WRT increased the gap to the pursuers in the teams’ standings. „It’s looking good for the championship. A great result for the team. The car was perfect the whole weekend,“ Mikkelsen concluded.
In WRC3, Kajetan Kajetanowicz/Maciej Szczepaniak from Poland and Brits Chris Ingram/Ross Whittock, both crews in ŠKODA FABIA Rally2 evo, tried to chase down overnight leaders Yohan Rossel/Alexandre Coria. But the two Frenchman hung on to first of the category. In the end, Kajetanowicz/Szczepaniak had to be content with second position, 14.5 seconds ahead of the 2019 FIA European Rally Champions from England. They were followed by Finnish duo Emil Lindholm/Reeta Hämäläinen in another ŠKODA FABIA Rally2 evo from Toksport WRT. With this result Kajetan Kajetanowicz consolidated his runner-up position in the WRC3 overall standings. In total, seven ŠKODA FABIA Rally2 evo crews are listed inside the top 10 in WRC3.
Final Result Acropolis Rally Greece (WRC2)
1. Mikkelsen/Edmondson (NOR/GBR), ŠKODA FABIA Rally2 evo, +3:37:27.1 hrs.
2. Bulacia/Der Ohannesian (BOL/ARG), ŠKODA FABIA Rally2 evo, +16.7 sec.
3. Gryazin/Aleksandrov (RAF/RAF), Ford Fiesta Rally2, +4:45.0 min.
4. Linnamäe/Morgan (EST/GB), ŠKODA FABIA Rally2 evo, +6:02.0 min.
5. Prokop/Michal (CZE/CZE), Ford Fiesta Rally2 Mk2, +9:02.7 min.
6. Johnston/Kihurani (USA/USA), Citroën C3 Rally2, +9:27.6 min.
Top 3 WRC2 after 9 of 12 rallies
1. Andreas Mikkelsen (NOR), ŠKODA FABIA Rally2 evo, 126 points
2. Marco Bulacia (BOL), ŠKODA FABIA Rally2 evo, 104 points
3. Mads Østberg (NOR), Citroën C3 Rally2, 96 points
Final Result Acropolis Rally Greece (WRC3)
1. Rossel/Coria (FRA/FRA), Citroën C3 Rally2, +3:39:15.4 hrs.
2. Kajetanowicz/Szczepaniak (POL/POL), ŠKODA FABIA Rally2 evo, +32.8 sec.
3. Ingram/Whittock (GBR/GBR), ŠKODA FABIA Rally2 evo, +58.9 sec.
4. Lindholm/Korhonen (FIN/FIN), ŠKODA FABIA Rally2 evo, +3:04.8 min.
5. Kehagias/Tsaousoglou (GRC/GRC), ŠKODA FABIA Rally2 evo, +16:16.1 min.
6. Panagiotis/Nikolopoulos (GRC/GRC), Citroën C3 Rally2, +16:23.9 min.
Top 3 WRC3 after 9 of 12 rallies
1. Yohan Rossel (FRA), Citroën C3 Rally2, 155 points
2. Kajetan Kajetanowicz (POL), ŠKODA FABIA Rally2 evo, 105 points
3. Nicolas Ciamin (FRA), Citroën C3 Rally2, 57 points
Number of the day: 1-2 and 1
After nine of the 2021 FIA World Rally Championship’s rallies, ŠKODA FABIA Rally2 evo drivers hold positions one and two in the WRC2 overall classification. Norwegian Andreas Mikkelsen leads Toksport WRT teammate Marco Bulacia from Bolivia by 22 points. Toksport WRT also leads the WRC2 Teams’ standings.
2021 FIA World Rally Championship
Rallye Monte-Carlo 21 – 24 January
Arctic Rally Finland powered by CapitalBox 26 – 28 February
Rally Croatia 22 – 25 April
Vodafone Rally Portugal 20 – 23 May
Rally Italia Sardegna 3 – 6 June
Safari Rally Kenya 24 – 27 June
Rally Estonia 15 – 18 July
Renties Ypres Rally Belgium 13 – 15 August
EKO Acropolis Rally Greece 9 – 12 September
Rally Finland 30 September – 3 October
RallyRACC Rally de España 14 – 17 October
