News & Articles Pitsos and Karapapazis triumph at the Historic Acropolis Rally 2022

Konstantinos Pitsos and his co-driver Stelios Karapapazis (Ford Sierra Cosworth 4X4) are the triumphant winners of this year’s Historic Rally Acropolis, returning to the top 11 years after their win in the Gravel HAR of 2011.

Setting the fastest time in all 11 special stages of the race, the crew reached the finish line first, climbing to the highest step of the podium of the race. At the same time they were also winners in E4 class.

Panagiotis Paradisis – Kostas Poimenidis (Ford Escort MKII RS) finished the Historic Rally Acropolis 2022 in second place in the overall standings. The experienced crew drove had a swift tempo on all 11 stages, winning meanwhile the D3 class.

The podium of the Sporting general classification was completed by Giorgos Paradisis – Michalis Frangou (Ford Escort MKII RS2000), winning a battle for the podium that reserved quite a few surprises. They completed the “1-2-3” for the “blue ovals” on the podium of the Historic Acropolis Rally 2022, climbing to the second step of the D3 podium.

Fourth overall were Konstantinos Tzemos -Dionysis Kolotouros (Toyota Corolla AE 86), who took the victory in E2. They were followed by Grigoris Pierroutsakos – Alexandros Mataliotakis (Peugeot 205 Rallye), who also won E1 class. In E3 the winners were Konstantinos Papadimitriou – Anastasios Papadopoulos (Toyota Starlet EP 71), who were 6th overall.

In C1 class the victory went to Konstantinos Argyriou – Stamatis Laskos (Toyota Corolla KE 25), in C2 class to Dimitris Amaxopoulos – Hara Moraiti (Toyota Corolla KE 30), while in B4 class to Evangelos Birlirakis – Kostas Kofinas (BMW 2002 Ti).

“Subversive” leg with many surprises
The start of the second day of the race was adventurous, as Alexandros Christodoulou – Athanasios Samaras (VW Golf GTi) encountered a mechanical problem on the first special stage of the programme, in Amfissa, resulting in their car being engulfed in flames and completely destroyed. As a consequence, the special was interrupted, but continued a few minutes later with the passage of the last few crews.

In the battle for third, a problem with their car forced Alexandros Halivelakis – Athanasios Papageorgiou (Ford Escort MKII RS2000) to lose about 17 minutes in the special “Stromi”, resulting in losing the third place of the general classification to George Papardisis – Michalis Fragou (Ford Escort MKII RS2000), who also took advantage of the abandonment of Spyros Petridis – Apostolos Pallas (Toyota Corolla AE 86).

An easy win for Karavikolas – Kakavas in “Acropolis Rally Legends”
In the newly created category “Acropolis Rally Legends”, Epaminondas Karanikolas – Giorgos Kakavas (Ford Escort RS Cosworth) did not encounter any problems during the weekend, drove fast and spectacular their Ford Escort RS Cosworth, and won the victory, prevailing in all 11 special stages of the Historic Acropolis Rally.

Second in the “Acropolis Rally Legends” were Ioannis Papazisis – Konstantinos Pediaditakis (Mazda 323), who picked up the pace on Sunday’s leg and passed Theodoros Kalamaras – Vasiliki Psarakis (Citroen Saxo VTS), who finished in third place. Kyriakos Vytogiannis – Yannis Katsikas (Subaru Impreza 555) completed the top four of the category.

The Regularity race went smoothly. The 43 crews and the 13 motorcyclists enjoyed an excellent race, in the context of the FIA ​​Trophy for Regularity Rallies 2022, which was won by Christos Hatzikonstantinou – Manolis Dimakareas with a VW Golf 2 of 1985, in front of Dimitris Kalogeras-Christos Diamantopoulos (Porsche 911 SC / 1982) and Themistoklis Kontaratos – Ioulios Iatridis (VW Golf 2 GTi / 1989). The winner on the motorcycles was George Mamasis with a wonderful BSA WM20 of 1941, while the podium was completed by George Tsalamatas with the same motorcycle and Alexandros Diamantopoulos with a 1979 Yamaha XT500.

Classification by class
Β4
1. 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 Paraperas – Konstantinos Mylonas (Toyota Celica TA 22)

D3
1. Panagiotis Paradisis – Kostas Poimenidis (Ford Escort MKII RS)
2. George Paradisis – Michalis Fragou (Ford Escort MKII RS 2000)
2. Themis Chalkias – Andreas Vigos (Nissan Violet GT)

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. Konstantinos Tzemos -Dionysis Koloturos (Toyota Corolla AE 86)
2. Georgios Kasidopoulos – Vangelis Panaritis (Toyota Starlet EP 71)
3. Vassilis Chalkias – Kostas Kontos (Nissan Pulsar)

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)

Acropolis Rally Legends
1. Epaminondas Karanikolas – Giorgos Kakavas (Ford Escort RS Cosworth)
2. Ioannis Papazisis – Konstantinos Pediaditakis (Mazdfa Familia 323)
3. Theodoros Kalamaras – Vasiliki Psaraki (Citroen Saxo VTS)
4. Kyriakos Vtoutogiannis – Yannis Katsikas (Subaru Impreza 555)

Historic Acropolis Regularity Rally
1. Christos Hatzikonstantinou – Manolis Dimakareas (VW Golf 2 / 1985)
2. Dimitris Kalogeras – Christos Diamantopoulos (Porsche 911 SC / 1982)
3. Themistoklis Kontaratos – Ioulios Iatridis (VW Golf 2 GTi / 1989)
Motorcycles
1. George Mamasis (BSA WM20 / 1941)
2. George Tsalamatas (BSA WM20 / 1944)
3. Alexandros Diamantopoulos (Yamaha XT500 / 1979)