Rovanpera won the opening stage of the Greece Rally
Kalle Rovanpera won the opening stage of Rally Greece and consolidated her lead in the championship.
The Toyota driver set the pace on the 1.48 km tarmac stage, held in front of a crowd gathered around the port of Athens.
The stage was the first competitive stage for WRC teams after organizers were forced to cancel the shakedown stage in the host city of Lamia due to the effects of Storm Daniel.
Heavy rain and storms have caused flooding across Greece, but organizers are confident the rally can go on safely.
Rovanpera took too little time to accelerate in the opening stage of the rally zammoment and was 0.3 seconds faster than his closest rival, Hyundai's Esapekka Lappi. zammoment recorded.
Rovanpera, who will start first in Friday's stages, said: "I have to hope that the conditions are better for me than they normally are on dry ground."
"I want to have a good rally after the disappointment in Finland and we have to fight for that." said.
Hyundai's Thierry Neuville was third fastest, a tenth slower than his teammate, but remains confident about his chances.
Neuville: “Long time in the car zam"I haven't felt this good in a while, so I can't wait."
“We've had great pace in the last two events, that's for sure, and there's more to come.” said.
Dani Sordo was 0.5 seconds behind Rovanpera, making it three Hyundais in the top four.
Ott Tanak took fifth place, 0.6 seconds faster than eight-time world champion Sebastian Ogier, who was making his first WRC start since winning the Safari Rally in June, and was the leader among the M-Sport-Ford drivers.
Ogier's Toyota teammate Takamoto Katsuta also recorded the same time and shared sixth place.
M-Sport's Pierre-Louis Loubet was seventh, while Rovanpera's biggest rival in the championship, Elfyn Evans, was only 12th fastest. zamHe was able to get the moment and was 2.8 seconds behind.
Evans finished the stage behind WRC2 racers Andreas Mikkelsen, Nikolay Gryazin and Marco Bulacia.
"We'll have to see what's possible – I don't think anyone knows what's ahead of them, so we'll just have to deal with it as we see it," Evans said ahead of Friday's stages.
The rally will head 200km north-west on Friday, with teams competing on five 102km gravel stages.
