The nine-time world rally champion Sébastien Loeb, driving for M-Sport Ford World Rally Team in a Ford Puma Rally1 has now retired from the EKO Acropolis Rally Greece lead due to suffering a alternator belt failure after Saturday´s opening stage.
The Frenchman extended the lead by 19.0 seconds over Hyundai´s Thierry Neuville after the Pyrgos test, Neuville managed to climb the ladder also on that stage going from fourth to second overall. However, the alternator belt failure happened after the flying finish and the stop line which caused Loeb to freewheel the car a couple of meters down the road to be able to check if he could repair it.
He and co-driver Isabelle Galmiche were unfortunately not able to gain access to the faulty belt and could go no further so they had to retire from the rally which led to Neuville now taking over the rally lead.
Another M-Sport driver who was on route to taking a career-best finish is Pierre-Louis Loubet plummeted down from third to ninth place overall as he caught up with a front-left puncture, the stage also saw another victim as the current championship leader Toyota´s Kalle Rovanperä went off the road and sideswiped a tree that caused heavy damage on his Toyota GR Rally1 car.
At the moment it is looking strong for the Korean manufacturer with Neuville leading the rally and teammate Ott Tänak in second with 18.6 seconds down while Toyota´s Esapekka Lappi is in third with 3.9 seconds after Tänak,
