News & Articles Sporting, Day 1: Pitsos dominates the first day
The first day of the 2022 Historic Rally Acropolis for the Sporting category turned into a «one crew show». Konstantinos Pitsos and Stelios Karapapazis (Ford Sierra Cosworth 4×4/E4) were the fastest in all six special stages of the first leg of the race and are preparing for the five special stages on Sunday with a difference of more than 2′.30″ from the next crew.
In second place in the overall sporting classification after Saturday’s six special stages are Panagiotis Paradisis – Kostas Poimenidis (Ford Escort Mk2 RS/D3), who tried to follow the pace of the leaders.
We had a change in the third place of the general classification in the afternoon loop of special stegas, as Spyros Petridis – Apostolos Pallas (Toyota Corolla AE 86/E2), took advantage of the lost time of Alexandros Halivelakis – Athanasios Papandreou (Ford Escort MKII RS2000/D3) in the fifth special stage and initially passed third. However, in the night special “Karoutes” Halivelakis – Papageorgiou were impressive and regained third place.
At this year’s Acropolis Historic Rally, despite the admittedly excellent work done on the Special Stages, several crews were forced to retire due to various mechanical problems – hoping to return on Sunday under Rally 2 status.
Konstantinos Kapourelakos – Georgia Zampeli (BMW 320 E21) and Pantelis Antonopoulos – Maira Kallitsi (Ford Escort Mk2 RS2000) retired after the end of the first SS due to mechanical problems. The second SS was interrupted for 8′ after an accident of Dimitris Vazakas – Nikos Tsadaris (Toyota Starlet KP60), who had to abandon the rally.
In the third SS of the morning leg, Chrysostomos Karellis – Leonidas Machairas (Peugeot 205 Rallye), Alexandros Papandreou – Dimitris Rizopoulos (Toyota Starlet KP61) and Yannis Kalaitzian – Margianna Kalogirotou (VW Golf GTi 16V) retired due to mechanical problems. Athanasios Athanassoulas – Vassilis Basioukas (Toyota Starlet KP61) had an exit at the first kilometre of the special “Thebes”.
Panagiotis Koutsikos – Nikos Petropoulos (Toyota Starlet KP 60/D1) retired on the liaison after the third special, while Angelos Zivas – Konstantinos Synetos (Toyota Corolla TE 37/C2) were unlucky in the afternoon leg, who retired due to a problem with the gasket.
Karanikolas – Kakavas are leading in “Rally Legends” category
Epaminondas Karanikolas – Giorgos Kakavas (Ford Escort RS Cosworth) completed Saturday’s leg of the Historic Rally Acropolis with yet another fastest time. Making “6 out of 6” on the first day of the race, the young crew leads the overall standings in the “Rally Legends” category with a time of 1 hour 03:46.02, having dominated all five special stages of Saturday’s leg.
Second overall are Theodoros Kalamaras – Vasiliki Psarakou (Citroen Saxo VTS) more than 13′.30″ behind the leaders, while the top three are completed by Ioannis Papazisis – Konstantinos Pediaditakis (Mazda 323 Familia).
Standings by class
Β2
1. Karolos Lambrou – Yannis Kollias (Renault Alpine A110)
Β4
1. Konstantinos Pitsos – Stylianos Karapapazis (Ford Sierra Cosworth 4X4)
2. Evangelos Birlirakis – Kostas Kofinas (BMW 2002 Ti)
C1
1. Konstantinos Argyriou – Stamatis Laskos (Toyota Corolla KE 25)
C2
1. Dimitris Amaxopoulos – Hara Moraiti (Toyota Corolla KE 30)
2. Nikos Parapera – Konstantinos Mylonas (Toyota Celica TA 22)
C3
1. Andreas Papageorgiou – Georgios Papageorgiou (Volvo 142 S)
D2
1. Alexandros Christodoulou – Athanasios Samaras (VW Golf GTi
D3
1. Panagiotis Paradisis – Kostas Poimenidis (Ford Escort MKII RS)
2. Alexandros Halivelakis – Athanasios Papageorgiou (Ford Escort MKII RS 2000)
3. George Paradisis – Michalis Frangou (Ford Escort MKII RS 2000)
E1
1. Grigoris Pierroutsakos – Alexandros Mataliotakis (Peugeot 205 Rallye)
2. Michalis Nomikos – Konstantinos Trovas (Toyota Starlet KP 60)
3. Montecristo – Valia Markaki (Toyota Starlet KP 60)
Ε2
1. Spyridon Petridis – Apostolos Pallas (Toyota Corolla AE 86))
2. Konstantinos Tzemos -Dionysis Koloturos (Toyota Corolla AE 86)
3. Georgios Kasidopoulos – Vangelis Panaritis (Toyota Starlet EP 71)
E3
1. Konstantinos Papadimitriou – Anastasios Papadopoulos (Toyota Starlet EP 71)
2. Giorgos Chorianopoulos – Athanasios Samaras (VW Golf GTi)
Ε4
1. Konstantinos Pitsos – Stylianos Karapapazis (Ford Sierra Cosworth 4X4)
