The rocky stages of the Acropolis Rally in Greece were a true test for the competing specials and their crews. And they showed that British driver Gus Greensmith thrives under pressure. He and his Fabia RS Rally2 special had already won the similarly difficult Safary Rally in Kenya earlier this season, this time taking second place, having to bow out of his rivals only to the sovereign Oliver Solberg.
That runner-up result, however, didn’t come easy. In fact, it made his performance all the more impressive. Greensmith proved he can keep his focus and composure even in the heat of a close battle. After Friday’s opening leg, Greensmith and Andersson were sitting third in the WRC2 standings – just three seconds behind second place.
Greensmith made up for that gap immediately on Saturday’s first stage. Though Polish driver Kajetan Kajetanowicz managed to slip ahead of him during stage 10 (the third of the day), Greensmith struck back in stage 11 and regained second place – a position he held not only through Saturday but all the way to the finish on Sunday. He even had to fend off late pressure from yet another rival of his, the fast-charging Frenchman Yohan Rossel. Greensmith responded decisively, setting the fastest WRC2 times in the final two stages and securing his second-place finish.
Czech driver Martin Prokop also capitalized on his off-road expertise from Dakar Rally, finishing as the second-best Škoda driver with sixth place in WRC2. “This is a bit too much – it would probably be more fun here with a Dakar car,” Prokop joked about the rough conditions. He and co-driver Michal Ernst had been running fourth in WRC2 on Friday, before settling into sixth by mid-Saturday.
Right behind them came Finnish duo Emil Lindholm and Reeta Hämäläinen. The pair ran into early trouble with two punctures on the opening day, dropping them to ninth, but they recovered well to finish seventh. Eighth place went to Estonians Robert Virves and Jakko Viilo, while Finland’s Lauri Joona and Samu Vaaleri rounded out the top ten. Just missing out on a top ten result was the Italian crew of Roberto Daprà and Luca Guglielmetti. In the WRC Masters Cup – reserved for drivers over 50 – Spain’s Miguel Granados took the win in his Škoda, repeating his class victory from Italy. Second place went to Turkey’s Uğur Soylu.
