Team GRX's Emil Lindholm and Reeta Hämäläinen cleared the special stages of the last day of the Greek Acropolis Rally without any mistakes. The duo finished fourth in the WRC3-class in the final results of the rally. In the Power Stage, which ended the rally, the Finnish duo clocked the second fastest time of the class and received four extra World Championship points.

 

- We didn't have much else to do than drive the special stages clean and gather experience for the upcoming years of the rally and how these kinds of roads should be driven in general. Flawless weekend. What happened yesterday on the road section is disappointing, Lindholm says.

 

The bad luck entered the picture on the second day of the rally when the Finnish duo was driving to the last special stage of Saturday. Lindholm came across a civilian car on a narrow street on a road section and had to give way to a right side of the road to avoid a crash. In an evasive action Škoda's front wheel hit the curb that lined the street causing the car's steering axle to twist and the right front tire to burst. Lindholm and Hämäläinen were able to change the steering axle and tire but due to maintenance work they were ten minutes late from the start of the special stage 12 and received a time penalty of 1 minute and 40 seconds.

 

- I was driving the empty side of the street. There were parked cars in the oncoming lane, which the local driver unexpectedly started to overtake in our side of the road. To avoid a crash I had to dodge to the right side of the street. It had a curb that broke the steering axle and tires. We got our car repaired and drove through the last special stage but the chances of being on the top of our class vanished there, Lindholm says.

 

The special stages of the rally went as planned for the Finnish duo.

 

- We didn’t have flat tires or any problems with the car. Optimizing the pace for the conditions as a whole was a success. On sections where we were able to drive fast we drove harder and on sections that were in poor condition we drove extremely careful. When you drive three days in demanding conditions and keep your car and tires intact, then this kind of thing happens from all possible places on the road section. We had really bad luck on our side, Lindholm says.

 

Sixteen World Championship points from Greece raised Lindholm to a sixth place in the WRC3 World Championship standings.

 

- When the first five drivers who are on top of the overall standings do not start in the Rally Finland, we will be starting first of the WRC3 class in Jyväskylä and that is actually a good situation, Lindholm reminded.

 

The next round of the World Rally Championship, Secto Automotive Rally Finland, will be driven from 1st to 3rd of October in Jyväskylä.

 

Final results: WRC Acropolis rally Greece, WRC3:

1. Yohan Rossel – Alexandre Coria (FRA) Citroën C3 Rally2 3:39:15.4

2. Kajetan Kajetanowicz – Maciej Szczepaniak (POL) Škoda Fabia Rally2 Evo + 32.8

3. Kris Ingram – Ross Whittock (GBR) Škoda Fabia Rally2 Evo + 58.9

4. Emil Lindholm – Reeta Hämäläinen (FIN) Škoda Fabia Rally2 Evo + 3:04.8