At the end of Friday afternoon, Thierry Neuville is still leading Acropolis Rally with Sebastien Ogier and Kalle Rovanpera following him.
Thierry Neuville remains the leader of Acropolis Rally and set the fastest time in Stage 5 as he chose to put four soft tyres to his i20N resulting in increasing his gap from the second Sebastien Ogier to 7,4 seconds. However, the Belgian driver lost 4,6 seconds in Stage 6 as the rear diff of his i20N was broken.
Sebastien Ogier overtook his teammate Kalle Rovanpera on the overall classification and is second overall since Stage 4. He was the fastest driver in SS4 while he kept his momentum in Stage 6 despite the fact that he lost the rear wing of his Yaris there.
Kalle Rovanpera is behind Ogier for 25,5 seconds and was struggling with his Yaris on the muddy conditions in SS5 and SS6 as he started first on the road.
Elfyn Evans took back his fourth place at the end of Stage 6 despite the fact that he arrived at the stop control of SS6 with a damaged rear wing. He and Esapekka Lappi had a joint gap from Neuville at the end of SS4, but the Welshman dropped from fourth to sixth overall at the end of SS5.
Esapekka Lappi competes the top five and managed to steal Evans's fourth position after the end of the penultimate stage of Friday as he followed the same tyre strategy as Neuville. However, he and Janne Ferm stopped to repair a minor water leakage after SS4 while he revealed at the stop control of SS5 that his i20N's radiator was licking. Finally, it must be mentioned that EP was fastest on the first two splits of SS6, but he lost his pace on the next splits due to the nursing radiator.
Takamoto Katsuta follows EP for 9,6 seconds and generally stayed out of trouble on this loop.
Dani Sordo was fifth overall after SS5 and lost two positions at the end of Stage 6 as dropped ten seconds there due to an overshoot. Moreover, he struggled to push in Stage 4 as he made a mistake with his tyre choice.
Ott Tanak managed to get back at the top ten after his having received a time penalty earlier today due to the fact that he left with a 22-minute delay from the midday tyre fitting zone as he had to repair a water pump issue. However, it must be mentioned that he claimed his first stage win of the rally in SS6.
Watch below the stage times:
Watch below the overall classification after SS6:
Photo Credits: Hyundai
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