Eyvind Brynildsen will be replacing Marco Bulacia at the 2022 EKO Acropolis Rally Greece next weekend as the Bolivian will be sitting out the rally due to an injury. This will not be the first time the Norwegian is filling in for Bulacia, last time he had to take over was at Arctic Rally Finland in 2021 as visa issues prevented Bulacia from traveling.
The Norwegian who is a two-time national champion and used to be a familiar name in the WRC2 field for some years will be joining the Skoda Motorsport-backed German team Toksport WRT in a Skoda Fabia Rally2 evo together with his co-driver Roger Eilersten. The main Toksport WRT team will be having an all-Norwegian line-up as the current championship points leader Andreas Mikkelsen will be joining the rally as well while the Finn Emil Lindholm and the Russian Nikolay Gryazin will be forming the second squad of Toksport WRT 2.
Bulacia who is forced to withdraw from round 10 of the 2022 campaign, had a massive crash at Rally Van Staden earlier this month which he used as a pre-event test before Ypres Rally in Belgium, however, despite the crash he did manage to complete the Ypres Rally but he felt uncomfortable in the car and decided to sit out in Greece to get recovered for the season remaining.
“First of all I wish Marco all the best in his recovery, I am very humbled and proud to have been given this chance again,” Brynildsen said.
“I have to give a big thanks to Škoda and Toksport for believing in me. They asked if I could come and of course, I said yes – rallying is the best thing you can do with clothes on! I am quite sure they have made a good choice and I will do my best to make them proud. I’ve done the Acropolis three or four times. It’s a rough, long rally and I think Friday will be especially tough with no service through the day, so it will be about finding the balance between being consistent, fast, and avoiding trouble,” he added.
