World motor sport is coordinated from today (05.09.2024) at… Greece time for the start of the 10th round of WRC The historic Greek race of the FIA World Rally Championship, the EKO Rally Acropolis, will officially begin on Thursday, September 5 at 19:00, with the Opening Ceremony taking place in front of the Lamia Panhellenic Exhibition, where the focus of the event will be on the event. The image of the launch will be broadcast live by COSMOTE TV on COSMOTE SPORT 5HD channel and by ERTFlix platform on ERT SPORTS channel 2. It is worth noting that the WRC’s Greek struggle enters the eighth decade of his “life” as with last year’s “Rali of the Gods” were completed 70 years (1953-2023) since the first conduct of Rally Acropolis under that name. EKO Rally Acropolis is part of the WRC’s fourth consecutive year racing program and has once again as its “base” Lamia. Service Park of the race is located at the Panhellenic Exhibition of Lamia, where the festive start of “Rali of the Gods” will take place, while EKO Rally Acropolis includes special routes in Central Greece, Peloponnese and – once again – Attica, where it is scheduled to take place the super-special route of the race. This year, however, because the series of experts has changed, the super-special will not “open the curtain” of EKO Rally Acropolis, but will “close” on Saturday night (7/9) the 2nd day leg. “The seat” of the “Rali of the Gods” event is not Water Square, as it was last year, but the emblematic Seirios Motor Service Station in Malakasa, as the organizers chose to air another point of Attica this year, with these images being broadcast in every… corner of the planet. On the ultra-special route 1,97 km long, racing cars will start on the highway deck, one towards Athens and the other towards Lamia. Jumping over the dividing breast through a specially shaped ramp will continue to the other direction current. A part of the route will pass through the parking lot of the SEA Sirios in the current to Athens, while along its engraving there will be artificial obstacles. With the interest of motor sports fans in the WRC’s Greek struggle for granted, EKO Rally Acropolis is invited to confirm its… tough and unpredictable character, in order to remain for many years still in the carald. It is recalled that at the end of June it became known that the agreement between Motorsport Greece and WRC Promoter was signed in order for the Greek WRC race to remain in the league’s competition program for 2026 and 2027. At the same time, an agreement was reached between the two sides and regarding the date of the “Rali of the Gods”, as the Greek organizers wished to return to its traditional date, at the beginning of the summer, resulting in the Rally Acropolis of 2025 being set to take place in 26-29 June. It is worth noting that differentiated will be the route of the annual Rally Acropolis, as – among other things – in the program of the race the Special Thebes returned, while the brand new special Wine village and a new “version” of the -loved spectators- Pavlianis, which, as Ano Pavliani this year, will consist of a new section, which will “consist” the oldest special, but with the opposite time. Apart from this, starting in the village of Regini returns the special of the same name, including Eltaia (with the opposite time), while, as in previous years, the race will be “extended” from Corinth and the special Saints Theodores and Loutraki, to Eurytania with the legendary “Tarzan”. “Key” for a good result at the Christmas Rally Acropolis will be the second leg held on Saturday, in which drivers are invited to stay away from mechanical problems, as there is no intermediate service. The day’s program includes five specials and the super-special, total length of 116.23 kilometers, which means that technical problems are severely punished. However, the Friday arm can also cause… “painheads” to drivers and teams who are invited to travel 135.02 racing kilometers into three recurring specials, as rocks and stones “excavated” during the first pass can cause major damage to cars. At the same time hard ground and high temperatures require drivers to carefully manage their tires and car. The “airport” of the annual Rally Acropolis opens tonight (5/9, 19:00) in the “stress” of the race, Lamia with the start-up at the Panhellenic Exhibition of the city, while on Friday six special routes will take place (Upper Pavlianis 1 & 2, Daphne 1 & 2, “Tarzan” 1 & 2). The following are six specials on Saturday (Regini, Thebes, Saints Theodoroi 1 & 2, Loutraki, superspecial) and on Sunday will be held the last three specials (Einohori, Eleftherochori 1 & 2), with which the race will be completed. Driver rating after 9 matches 1. Thierry Neville (Belgium/Hyundai) 168 points 2. Sebastian Ozier (France/Toyota) 141 3. Ot Tanak (Estonia/Hyundai) 137 4. Elfin Evans (M. Britain/Toyota) 132 5. Adrian Furmo (France/Ford) 119 6. Calle Rovanera (Finland/Toyota) 86 7. Takamoto Katsuta (Japan/Toyota) 76 8. Especa Lapi (Finland/Hyundai) 33 9. Andreas Mikelsen (Norway/Hyundai) 29 10. Danny Sordo (Spain/Hyundai) 27 11. Sammy Pagari (Finland/Toyota) 26 12. Gregoire Minster (Luxembourg/Ford) 23 13. Oliver Solberg (Sweden/Skoda) 22 14. Martins Sesks (Latvia/Ford) 22 15. Nikolai Grazin (Bulgaria/Citroen) 12 16. Yoan Rochelle (France/Citroen) 7 17. Yari- Matti Latvala (Finland/Toyota) 6 18. Gus Greensmith (M. Britain/Skoda) 6 19. Jean Solans (Spain/Toyota) 6 20. Georg Linamae (Estonia/Toyota) 5 21. Laurie Yona (Finland/Skoda) 5 22. Cagetan Cagetanovic (Poland/Skoda) 5 23. Miko Haikila (Finland/Toyota) 4 24. Rope Corhonen (Finland/Toyota) 3 25. Jordani Sertheridis (ELLADA/Ford) 2 26. Joshua McEarlin (Ireland/Skoda) 2 27. Pepe Lope Lópeth (Spain/Skoda) 2 28. Martin Prokop (Tsechia/Skoda) 0 Manufacturers Rating 1. Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team 395 points 2. Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT 375 3. M-Sport Ford World Rally Team 207
The Echo Rally Acropolis at the start line
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