Tanak wins Acropolis Rally to end Hyundai WRC drought

Ott Tanak overcame late drama to seal a commanding victory at Acropolis Rally Greece on Sunday and re-ignite his FIA World Rally Championship title challenge.

The Estonian driver (above) had been the class of the field all weekend in his Hyundai i20 N Rally1 and looked set to complete a clean final day, winning two of Sunday’s four rough gravel stages. But a transmission issue struck on the rally-closing Wolf Power Stage, leaving Tanak and co-driver Martin Jarveoja to crawl to the finish.

Despite that late scare, Tanak had built enough of a margin to hang on and secure his and Hyundai’s first victory since the 2024 Central European Rally – some nine rallies ago – by 32.8s and end Toyota’s 2025 unbeaten run in the process.

“I was very worried, to be honest," said Tanak. “In the last stage, third gear got very noisy and I realized that it had broken. Soon, the whole gearbox got very noisy and we didn't have much confidence that we would finish the stage and get back here. It was definitely far too much stress to win a rally.

The result moves the 2019 WRC champ to just 12 points behind championship leader Elfyn Evans, with Evans’ Toyota teammate Sebastien Ogier sitting between the pair, two points ahead of Tanak.

With his home round in Estonia followed by the ultra-fast stages of Finland next on the calendar, Tanak enters a pivotal stretch of the season on familiar ground.

Ogier, who led early in the rally, settled for second – his fifth podium in as many starts this season. The eight-time WRC champ, who’s elected to run a limited campaign this season and set to skip the next round, bolted brand-new, soft-compound tires to his GR Yaris Rally1 for the final pair of stages and snatched the bonus points-earning Wolf Power Stage win.

“I think we’ve had a super strong weekend,” Ogier said. “But there wasn’t much we could do about Ott – he was really flying.”

Adrien Fourmaux celebrated his second podium with Hyundai in third after recovering from Saturday suspension damage. It was a much-needed result for the Frenchman, who hadn’t scored points since his fifth-place finish in April’s Rally Canary Islands, three events ago.

Championship leader Evans took fourth place in his GR Yaris, despite starting first on the rough-gravel stages on Friday and playing unwitting road-sweeper for the cars behind. A solid haul of points – including fourth in the Wolf Power Stage – helped minimize the damage to his title lead. And while he’ll start first again on Estonia’s opening leg, the amount of loose gravel should be less on the event’s fast, smooth stages.

Hyundai’s reigning WRC champ, Thierry Neuville, salvaged fifth overall after Friday punctures derailed his early podium push. A damaged damper and a mysterious technical issue – which forced the Belgian to stop and restart his car in the penultimate stage – further compounded a frustrating weekend.

Gregoire Munster had been running just behind Neuville before the M-Sport Ford team opted to retire his Puma Rally1 during Saturday evening service due to a fuel-related technical issue.

Outside of the overall top 10, Toyota duo Kalle Rovanpera and Takamoto Katsuta both returned under restart rules following Saturday retirements. But Rovanpera’s hopes of scoring Super Sunday points were dashed by a wheel change on his GR Yaris in the morning’s second stage, while Katsuta was forced to stop and change a wheel in the Wolf Power Stage.

In WRC2, the second tier of international rallying, Oliver Solberg eased to victory after a dominant weekend, but the real action unfolded behind him.

The Swede’s commanding 53.8s win in his Printsport Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 was enough to overhaul Yohan Rossel at the top of the WRC2 standings. The only question coming into the final leg was by how many points.

Rossel, recovering from Friday mechanical and tire issues, began Sunday’s four-stage finale in fourth overall in class, 5.1s adrift of third-placed Kajetan Kajetanowicz.

The Frenchman, who’d promised he’d be on a charge, wasted no time in making a move. He went 14.9s quicker than anyone on the opening test in his Citroen C3, leapfrogging Kajetanowicz’s GR Yaris Rally2 then setting his sights on second-placed Gus Greensmith, with just 5.5s separating them heading into the Wolf Power Stage.

But Greensmith had other ideas. A committed final run saw the Skoda Fabia RS driver post the fastest time by 9.6s, slamming the door on Rossel’s charge and securing second place by a 15.2s margin.

Rossel’s third-place finish keeps him firmly in the title fight, although he now trails Solberg by five points and will not contest Rally Estonia as one of his seven point-scoring rounds.

Next up, the WRC begins its “Baltic swing” in Estonia, July 17-20, where high speeds and massive home support await Ott Tanak as the fight for the drivers’ title begins to heat up. Catch more 2025 WRC action on RACER+ and the RACER Network. There’s LIVE Wolf Power Stage coverage from all remaining rallies on the RACER+ App, plus same-day airings on the RACER Network. From the high-speed dirt roads of Estonia and Finland, to a fast-paced South American double-header in Paraguay and Chile, to the all-asphalt blasts of Central European Rally and Rally Japan, and finishing with an all-new gravel challenge in Saudi Arabia, it’s all on RACER+ and RACER Network.

WRC Acropolis Rally Greece, final positions after Sunday/Leg Three, SS17

1 Ott Tanak/Martin Jarveoja (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) 4h12m20.1s

2 Sebastien Ogier/Vincent Landais (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +32.8s 

3 Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +3m09.8s

4 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +3m31.1s

5 Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +8m59.5s

6 Oliver Solberg/Elliott Edmondson (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 – WRC2 winner) +10m34.7s

7 Gus Greensmith/Jonas Andersson (Skoda Fabia RS – WRC2) +11m28.5s

8 Yohan Rossel/Arnaud Dunand (Citroen C3 – WRC2) +11m43.7s

9 Kajetan Kajetanowicz/Maciej Szczepaniak (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 – WRC2) +12m56.7s

10 Alejandro Cachon/Borja Rozada (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 – WRC2) +14m19.9s

WRC Drivers’ Championship after 7 of 14 rounds

1 Evans 150 points

2 Ogier 141

3 Tanak 138

4 Kalle Rovanpera 117

5 Neuville 96

6 Katsuta 63

WRC Manufacturers’ Championship after 7 of 14 rounds

1 Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT 358 points   

2 Hyundai Word Rally Team 293   

3 M-Sport Ford 97

4 Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT2 57

Catch more 2025 WRC action on RACER+ and the RACER Network. There’s LIVE Wolf Power Stage coverage from all remaining rallies on the RACER+ App, plus same-day airings on the RACER Network.

From the high-speed dirt roads of Estonia and Finland, to a fast-paced South American doubleheader in Paraguay and Chile, to the all-asphalt blasts of Central European Rally and Rally Japan, and finishing with an all-new gravel challenge in Saudi Arabia, it’s all on RACER+ and RACER Network.