Kalle Rovanpera leads the Acropolis Rally after he topped the order on Thursday evening’s superspecial stage in the Greek capital Athens, but the Finn is braced for tough times ahead.
Torrential rain disrupted chunks of the reconnaissance, forced organisers to can Thursday morning’s shakedown and slash the length of Sunday’s Power Stage from 19 to nine kilometres.
The length of Friday’s opening Loutraki test has also now been trimmed by eight kilometres, such has been the impact of the deluge in central Greece.
But while the build-up to the rally has been far from straightforward, a stage win for Rovanpera appears to suggest business as usual in the world championship with the 22-year-old 0.3s ahead after he outgunned his fellow Finn Esapekka Lappi through the all-Tarmac, 1.48km superspecial.
“It’s nice to start the rally by driving in front of the fans in Athens,” Toyota’s world champion said.
“The stage was tricky but we tried to enjoy it and the time was good. Normally if it was dry this might not be the best style of rally for me, but now with conditions as they are it could be a bit better.
“Still, I hope the stages are drying up a bit at least from how it’s been during recce. It was quite a challenge with a lot of rain over the last few days. Making the pacenotes has not been so easy when it’s this muddy and you can’t see the corners so well.”
Although Rovanpera enjoyed a perfect start in his bid for a second Acropolis victory, his team-mate Elfyn Evans will be playing catch-up through Friday’s leg after he dropped 2.8s to Rovanpera, whom he trails by 25 points in the championship chase.
Evans was 11th-quickest but quick play down the potential significance of his time loss to Rovanpera, even though the wet weather is likely to make running second on the road a disadvantage.
“Superspecials like this one are always tight and twisty so you need to be fully focused, but it’s good to get the rally started,” Evans said.
“It’s been a tough recce with almost constant rain, so the stages are petty muddy at the moment.
“We’ve seen here in previous years that it can dry out pretty quickly, so it’s about trying to judge what information to put in the pacenotes and depends on how the conditions will develop.
“It’s going to be difficult but it’s the same for everyone and we will just have to try and manage as best as we can.”
Thierry Neuville was third-fastest, 0.1s behind his Hyundai team-mate Lappi and 0.1s ahead of Dani Sordo, who is competing in the third factory i20 for the first time since June’s Safari Rally.
M-Sport’s Ott Tanak was fifth-quickest through the opening stage followed by Toyota’s eight-time world champion Sebastien Ogier, who was equal sixth-fastest with team-mate Takamoto Katsuta on his sixth appearance of the season.
Pierre-Louis Loubet was eighth in the second M-Sport Ford Puma as Andreas Mikkelsen set the WRC2 pace in ninth.
The first of two runs through the Loutraki stage, which has been shortened from 18.10km to 10.37km is up first on Friday with the action due to begin at 08:23 local time.
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