Thierry Neuville ended Friday at the front of the EKO Acropolis Rally Greece 2026 with a 9.7‑second advantage over Sébastien Ogier on a day of 129 timed kilometres that claimed tyres, positions in the overall standings and, in some cases, the entire rally before night fell in central Greece.

The cost of sweeping for Toyota

That Ogier was the best Toyota at the end of the day has a direct explanation in the starting order. The five GR YARIS Rally1 cars from the factory team started in the first five road positions as dictated by the regulations for the leading teams, and that in the Acropolis carries a very high cost, because each of them swept loose gravel and stones from the lines before anyone else passed. Elfyn Evans, the championship leader with 151 points, was first on the road and finished seventh after the six special stages, two minutes and eight seconds behind Neuville. "The morning was much worse than we expected, and we already expected it to be bad," said Evans, who acknowledged that the sweeping on the uphill hairpins was particularly severe, with large stones that no other team encountered in the same conditions. Takamoto Katsuta, second in the world championship 20 points behind Evans and second on the road that day, finished sixth, 1:33.2 behind the Belgian, also hit by the same conditions though with less damage than his teammate.

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Ogier started fifth on the road, found a slightly less punished track and built a pace that held throughout the day. He won the fourth stage of the day, stayed out of trouble on the abrasive afternoon stages and finished 9.7 seconds behind the leader, the strongest position any Toyota could have hoped for given the circumstances. Ogier was more direct from inside the team: "On some sections the drivers starting behind us could be quite a bit faster, but overall I think we can be happy."

Fourmaux loses the lead due to a puncture

Adrien Fourmaux came closest to taking the lead from Neuville during the morning. The Frenchman was the fastest of the day on Parnassos Mt. with a 13.8‑second margin over Ogier, and arrived at the Stiri stage with the times in his favour. A right‑front puncture cost him more than thirty seconds on that stage, dropping him from first to fourth, and Neuville absorbed the lead and never gave it up. Fourmaux ended the day in third place, 42.4 seconds behind the Belgian, with a result that could have been better had it not been for that mishap at the worst possible moment. Neuville also had a morning with its own setbacks, losing his front wing at some point on the early stages and admitting he struggled with the aerodynamic balance of the Hyundai i20 N Rally1 on the fast sections, though he managed his tyres well enough to hold the advantage until the end.

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Behind the leading trio, M-Sport Ford capitalised on the chaos in the front group to place two cars in positions that the morning had not anticipated. Josh McErlean finished fourth, 1:10.1 behind, and Mārtiņš Sesks fifth, 1:16.9 back, both benefiting from a more favourable road position and having gone through the day without the setbacks that hit the top teams. Dani Sordo finished eighth, 2:49.5 behind for Hyundai, who, like Evans, suffered the consequences of a puncture on Parnassos Mt. that cost him almost two minutes on that stage.

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Problems for Solberg and Pajari

Oliver Solberg had the worst day of any Toyota driver. A loss of pressure on the first stage of the morning had already dropped him more than a minute behind when he reached the final stage of the day, ran wide on a right‑hand corner, beached the car on the edge of the road and damaged the gearbox while trying to reverse. He finished tenth, more than twelve minutes behind Neuville, although he is expected to restart on Saturday with the car in competitive condition. Sami Pajari, who had been running fourth overall for part of the morning, lost nearly two minutes due to an unexplained loss of power and a forced wheel change, dropping to ninth place.

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What comes on Saturday

With the overall championship standings relatively intact on paper, with Evans first on 151 points, Katsuta second on 131 and Solberg third on 102, Saturday on the Peloponnese peninsula features 108.69 timed kilometres, including two completely new stages and two that have not been used since 2013. Ogier, fifth in the world championship with 90 points, is the best placed driver to come out of Friday in terms of road position, and Neuville, seventh in the championship with 73 points, has a real opportunity to climb positions in the overall standings this weekend.

WRC Overall (Friday) - EKO Acropolis Rally Greece 2026

POS	#	driver/codriver	team	brand	car	time
1	11	Thierry NEUVILLE Martijn WYDAEGHE	Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team	Hyundai	I20 N Rally1	1:26:48.2
2	1	Sébastien OGIER Vincent LANDAIS	Toyota Gazoo Racing Wrt	Toyota	Gr Yaris Rally1	+ 09.7
3	16	Adrien FOURMAUX Alexandre CORIA	Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team	Hyundai	I20 N Rally1	+ 42.4
4	55	Joshua MCERLEAN Eoin TREACY	M-sport Ford World Rally Team	Ford	Puma Rally1	+ 1:10.1
5	22	Mārtinš SESKS Renārs FRANCIS	M-sport Ford World Rally Team	Ford	Puma Rally1	+ 1:16.9
6	18	Takamoto KATSUTA Aaron JOHNSTON	Toyota Gazoo Racing Wrt	Toyota	Gr Yaris Rally1	+ 1:33.2
7	33	Elfyn EVANS Scott MARTIN	Toyota Gazoo Racing Wrt	Toyota	Gr Yaris Rally1	+ 2:08.4
8	6	Daniel SORDO Cándido CARRERA	Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team	Hyundai	I20 N Rally1	+ 2:49.5
9	5	Sami PAJARI Marko SALMINEN	Toyota Gazoo Racing Wrt2	Toyota	Gr Yaris Rally1	+ 3:13.1
10	99	Oliver SOLBERG Elliott EDMONDSON	Toyota Gazoo Racing Wrt	Toyota	Gr Yaris Rally1	+ 12:36.6
11	95	Jon ARMSTRONG Shane BYRNE	M-sport Ford World Rally Team	Ford	Puma Rally1	+ 14:14.6
12	9	Jourdan SERDERIDIS Frédéric MICLOTTE	M-sport Ford World Rally Team	Ford	Puma Rally1	+ 26:05.9
13	26	Andreas MIKKELSEN Jørn LISTERUD	Toksport Wrt	Skoda	Fabia Rs	+ 3:10.6
14	27	Robert VIRVES Jakko VIILO	Toksport Wrt	Skoda	Fabia Rs	+ 3:18.8
15	24	Alejandro CACHÓN Borja ROZADA	Toyota España	Toyota	Gr Yaris	+ 3:42.0
16	29	Jan SOLANS Rodrigo SANJUAN	Ph.ph	Skoda	Fabia Rs	+ 3:51.8
17	23	Roope KORHONEN Anssi VIINIKKA	Rautio Motorsport	Toyota	Gr Yaris	+ 4:25.9
18	40	Pablo SARRAZIN Yannick ROCHE	Pablo Sarrazin	Lancia	Ypsilon Hf	+ 4:39.4
19	20	Yohan ROSSEL Arnaud DUNAND	Lancia Corse Hf	Lancia	Ypsilon Hf	+ 5:32.8
20	21	Léo ROSSEL Guillaume MERCOIRET	2c Junior Team	Lancia	Ypsilon Hf	+ 5:38.5
21	31	Diego DOMÍNGUEZ Rogelio PEÑATE	Diego Domínguez	Toyota	Gr Yaris	+ 5:42.1
22	34	Mattéo CHATILLON Maxence CORNUAU	Mattéo Chatillon	Skoda	Fabia Rs	+ 6:31.4
23	25	Roberto DAPRÀ Luca GUGLIELMETTI	Roberto Daprà	Skoda	Fabia Rs	+ 7:16.7
24	47	Miguel GRANADOS Marc MARTÍ	Miguel Granados	Skoda	Fabia Rs	+ 9:39.1
25	30	Yuki YAMAMOTO James FULTON	Printsport	Toyota	Gr Yaris	+ 9:47.7
26	32	Mille JOHANSSON Johan GRÖNVALL	Mille Johansson	Skoda	Fabia Rs	+ 10:08.3
27	41	Ali TÜRKKAN Oytun ALBAYRAK	Tosfed	Ford	Fiesta Mk Ii	+ 10:19.1
28	45	Conner MARTELL Alessandro GELSOMINO	2c Junior Team	Lancia	Ypsilon Hf	+ 10:37.4
29	49	Ugur SOYLU Mehmet YALÇIN	Gp Garage My Team	Skoda	Fabia Rs	+ 10:58.1
30	60	Luis ARCELUZ Ezequiel QUERALT	Luis Arceluz	Toyota	Gr Yaris	+ 11:43.7
31	61	Ioannis PLAGOS Christos KOUZIONIS	Hellenic Police	Skoda	Fabia Rs	+ 14:03.7
32	63	Efthymios CHALKIAS Marios TSAOUSOGLOU	Efthymios Chalkias	Skoda	Fabia Evo	+ 14:53.7
33	46	Alejandro MAURO Ariday BONILLA	Alejandro Mauro	Skoda	Fabia Rs	+ 15:53.7
34	37	Andrea LAFARJA Germán MAUNE	Andrea Lafarja	Toyota	Gr Yaris	+ 16:42.7
35	44	Epameinondas KARANIKOLAS Georgios KAKAVAS	Epameinondas Karanikolas	Ford	Fiesta Mk Ii	+ 16:51.1
36	62	Gabriele CAMPAGNOLI Nicola ARENA	Gabriele Campagnoli	Hyundai	I20 N	+ 18:19.0
37	51	Cristian DOLOFAN Traian PAVEL	Cristian Dolofan	Citroen	C3	+ 18:29.7
38	42	Alejandro GALANTI Marcelo TOYOTOSHI	Alejandro Galanti	Toyota	Gr Yaris	+ 20:35.8
39	39	Lambros ATHANASSOULAS Konstantinos SOUKOULIS	Lambros Athanassoulas	Hyundai	I20 N	+ 27:34.9
40	38	Martin PROKOP Michal ERNST	Martin Prokop	Skoda	Fabia Rs	+ 37:11.6
41	50	Johannes KEFERBÖCK Ilka MINOR	Johannes Keferböck	Toyota	Gr Yaris	+ 53:00.1
42	36	Romet JÜRGENSON Siim OJA	M-sport Ford World Rally Team	Ford	Fiesta Mk Ii	+ 63:00.2
43	28	Gus GREENSMITH Jonas ANDERSSON	Gus Greensmith	Toyota	Gr Yaris	+ 63:01.5
44	48	Adrien MOSCA Julie AMBLARD	Printsport	Toyota	Gr Yaris	+ 63:06.8
45	43	Panagiotis ROUSTEMIS Christos BAKLORIS	Panagiotis Roustemis	Skoda	Fabia Rs	+ 115:45.8
46	52	Matteo FONTANA Alessandro ARNABOLDI	Matteo Fontana	Ford	Fiesta Rally3	+ 10:41.8
47	53	Tymek ABRAMOWSKI Jakub WRÓBEL	Tymek Abramowski	Ford	Fiesta Rally3	+ 14:39.8
48	58	FLANDY Konstantinos STEFANIS	Flandy	Ford	Fiesta Rally3	+ 16:40.1
49	65	Theodoros KALAMARAS Dimitrios LAMPRAKIS	Theodoros Kalamaras	Ford	Fiesta Rally3	+ 23:02.2
50	57	Grzegorz BONDER Kamil HELLER	Grzegorz Bonder	Ford	Fiesta Rally3	+ 28:10.0
51	64	Georgios DELAPORTAS Ilias PANAGIOTOUNIS	Georgios Delaportas	Ford	Fiesta Rally3	+ 28:38.5
52	59	Nikolaos NTAVARIS Konstantinos MAKRIS	Nikolaos Ntavaris	Ford	Fiesta Rally3	+ 30:38.1
53	56	Nataniel BRUUN Javier MARTÍNEZ	Nataniel Bruun	Ford	Fiesta Rally3	+ 30:38.8
54	67	Petros VASILOPOULOS Panagiotis KOUKLIABIS	Petros Vasilopoulos	Ford	Fiesta	+ 59:42.8
55	66	Dimitris PARELLIS Andreas PAPANDREOU	Dimitris Parellis	Opel	Corsa	+ 78:43.6
56	68	Georgios DODOS Nikolaos INTZOGLOU	Georgios Dodos	Renault	Clio Rs Line	+ 39:46.6