Acropolis Rally Greece 2022 (8-11 Sep)

**becher** · 11th September 2022, 18:51

Originally Posted by meh

One thing to keep in mind maybe - media is selling (and therefore also creating) scandals. A lot of things are not that dramatic like we can read from media - or you can see HOW and in what context those lines were said.

This is same here, Tänak is not happy about it, but I have not seen any major drama from his side. He is answering questions when those are asked. Hyundai management now need to be sure that Tänak's season will not go that well that he finishes the season less than 7 point behind Rovanperä.

I say again - Neuville deserved the win and congrats! Also Tänak said, that the main problem was he was out of real fight due the differential issues during friday.

One thing is actually interesting - that it was not Moncet who gave orders to Tänak, but some next level guy. We can speculate whatever here, but it would be interesting to know. It also reminds Tänak in Toyota - he talked directly to next level bosses, including Toyoda himself.

Absolutely! Dirtfish is jumping on an opportunity like this to get a few extra clicks and on this forum it is mostly a big scandal because of the partisan nature of humans.

**Danny0405** · 11th September 2022, 19:00

Originally Posted by mknight

Well he surely had road position advantage, but it's at least 2nd time this year (first was Portugal) where he is the fastest MSport besides Loeb for most of the rally, while seemingly being paying for everything.

I guess he only does Catalunya for rest of the year?

As it is now based only on performance I'd swap him with Fourmaux immediatelly.

For NZ, Loubet would sound a better choice indeed; clearly, Fourmaux will have to scale back to bring the car home and gain confidence again whereas it’s the last rally where M-Sport can benefit the road position. So a driver with some confidence would be a better choice.
For the two last tarmac rallies, it’s difficult to let Fourmaux’s potential out because they don’t have anyone else with this tarmac potential (and anyway, Loubet has paid for the Catalunya outing).

**cali** · 11th September 2022, 19:07

Originally Posted by becher

Absolutely! Dirtfish is jumping on an opportunity like this to get a few extra clicks and on this forum it is mostly a big scandal because of the partisan nature of humans.

Where do you see a scandal? People are discussing things on this forum which is the basic principle in forums - discussion!

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**becher** · 11th September 2022, 19:28

Originally Posted by cali

Where do you see a scandal? People are discussing things on this forums which is the basic principle in forums - discussion!

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Some people are discussing it, but Dirtfish clearly is trying to make a scandal out of it and judging by some posts in this thread, some people see it as a scandal.

**hari** · 11th September 2022, 20:00

My pictures from a great Acropolis Rally 2022 - Thursday to Sunday: https://www.ir7.at/content/fotos_bes...llye_2022.html

**steve.mandzij** · 11th September 2022, 20:08

Congratulations to Hyundai, and to Loubet personally for making a very good case in his favor against Fourmaux for that third seat at M-Sport — I was certain his career had finished after his 2C stint last year.

But focusing on Toyota and Kalle, a huge disaster weekend for all three main drivers. Lappi's good pace is probably not enough consolation for a performance unworthy of the team they have been all season.

Whether it was setup problems, reliability problems, the testing new dampers or whatever, JML needs to regroup the team and come back stronger in NZ. Last time Kalle seemed so lost was on Monte Thursday night.

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**Yugo_para_siempre** · 11th September 2022, 20:34

A very beautiful Rally Acropolis, we enjoyed SS6 Livadia and SS8-SS11 Pyrgos in very nice spots.

We managed to enjoy Loeb twice, before his unfortune technical issue.
I am pretty sure that if the car didn't brake he would be in the fight for the win with Hyundais.
At Pyrgos SS8 was clear that he was on a mission like Tanak and Neuville also were. Fantastic drive.
Since he had a time advantage from Friday it would have been be difficult for the Hyundais to catch him.

Regarding Athanassoulas, I think NOT is not fair with him.
On Friday he was 1-1.5"/km from the time of the top drivers with Rally 2 cars. Not only at the stages near his house, but also on the others...
On Saturday's 1st loop he started with a time 1.5"/km at SS8 Pyrgos from the top drivers and continued with 2"/km at the other stages.
On Saturday's 2nd loop he was slower even than his 1st loop and at SS13 Tarzan he had failed power steering for almost all the stage.
The issue with his leg got worse stage by stage, from what we learned.
In my opinion, someone almost 46 years old, with no kms behind the wheel for years, except Acropolis 2021 and 2022.
When his leg was in better condition at the beginning of the rally, he was able to be 1-1.5"/km from the top guys then its enough and shows that this guy had and still has talent...

**dimviii** · 11th September 2022, 20:47

Originally Posted by Yugo_para_siempre

Regarding Athanassoulas, I think NOT is not fair with him.
On Friday he was 1-1.5"/km from the time of the top drivers with Rally 2 cars. Not only at the stages near his house, but also on the others...
On Saturday's 1st loop he started with a time 1.5"/km at SS8 Pyrgos from the top drivers and continued with 2"/km at the other stages.
On Saturday's 2nd loop he was slower even than his 1st loop and at SS13 Tarzan he had failed power steering for almost all the stage.
The issue with his leg got worse stage by stage, from what we learned.
In my opinion, someone almost 46 years old, with no kms behind the wheel for years, except Acropolis 2021 and 2022.
When his leg was in better condition at the beginning of the rally, he was able to be 1-1.5"/km from the top guys then its enough and shows that this guy had and still has talent...

everything you wrote is right.
And if you want my opinion ,yes Tsouloftas is faster regardless Lambros was in bad health condition almost all 3 days.

**Myrvold** · 11th September 2022, 21:22

Originally Posted by mknight

Well he surely had road position advantage

Oh, without doubt. But it's not like I can be picky about what to cheer for

**Yugo_para_siempre** · 11th September 2022, 21:27

Yes, I agree, Tsouloftas is fast and even if Athanassoulas was in good health, it would have been very difficult for him to bit Tsouloftas.

But I do believe that a healthy-fit Athanassoulas, would have been able to be constantly 1-1.5"/km from the top guys.
Moreover if he had more kms behind the wheel, participating with a Rally 2 car in 3-4 local rallies, he would have been able to be less than 1"/km.