News & Articles Historic Acropolis Rally 2023 – Leg 2: Safe lead for McCormack-Mitchell!
Martin McCormack-Barney Mitchell won all stages of Leg 2 in the Historic Acropolis Rally increasing the gap over their rivals. On Saturday, the crews competed in 6 Special Stages, as they passed Parnassos and Prosilio twice, Bauxites once, and finished the second leg with night stage Karoutes.
With heavy rain making its appearance on the first stage of the day, McCormack-Mitchell pushed and won all stages of Leg 2, driving a Ford Escort RS 1800 MKII. The British crew is ready to celebrate on Sunday its first win in Greece, being almost five minutes ahead of their rivals. A broken driveshaft on Saturday’s opening Special Stage slowed down Italians Valter Pierangioli-Sauro Farnocchia, who lost time. The Ford Sierra RS Cosworth 4×4 duo then dropped off the pace and held on to second place, a crew that is not eligible to collect points for the European Historic Rally Championship. The British Ernie and Karen Graham in a Ford Escort MKII maintained their third position, without being threatened by Oldrich Kovarik jnr-Marek Kapic who are following them. The crew of the Skoda Favorit 136 L has a problem-free rally up to now, impresses with its performance over the two days, and moved up one place in the classification taking advantage of the retirement of the previously fourth, Alexandros Halivelakis-Thanos Papageorgiou. Although they were the first Greeks until Friday night, they retired in the first stage of Leg 2, as the axle of the Ford Escort RS2000 MKII broke.
Marios Stafylopatis-Giorgos Hatzirigas climbed six positions in the ranking and are first among the Greek crews. Driving the Ford Escort RS2000 MKII, the crew struggled on Parnassos, but then picked up the pace and finished on Leg 2 in fifth place. The Frenchmen EHRC regulars, Eric Guignard-David Meffre, although they faced problems with the engine of the white Renault 5 Turbo, managed to climb four places in the classification and are lying now sixth overall. One place further back in the national ranking are Giorgos Paradeisis-Ploutarchos Stergiou in the white Ford Escort RS2000 MKII and on Sunday there will be a good fight between then and Konstantinos Argyriou-Stamatis Laskos in a Toyota Starlet EP71 who are 8 seconds behind them, in their third time in Historic Acropolis Rally. Seventh overall are Konstantinos Papadimitriou-Manos Sigalas who drive a Toyota Starlet EP71. They are followed by the leaders of the championship standings, Dimitris Amaxopoulos-Hara Moraiti who pushed hard on Saturday in their Toyota Corolla. Dimitris Pavlos Melas-Stathis Vardaxis (Porsche 911 Carrera RS 3.0) lost time in the opening race due to the rainstorm, while Alexandros Roustemis-Grigoris Andrianopoulos struggled on Saturday, losing positions in the general classification in the Ford Sierra RS. Cosworth. A mechanical problem they encountered at Bauxites cost Giorgos Delaportas-Evangelos Panaritis time. The Volkswagen Golf II GTi set some good times in the night stage, finishing fifth overall.
In Category 4 of the European Historic Rally Championship Ernie and Karen Graham continue to lead, ahead of Oldrich Kovarik jnr-Marek Kapic. In Category 3 of EHRC, rally leaders Martin McCormack-Barney Mitchell are on the top, with Eric Guignard-David Meffre and Siegfried Mayr-Renate Mayr driving a Volvo 240 behind them. In Category 2, Italians Paolo Pasutti-Giovanni Battista Campeis are the only ones taking part in an impressive Porsche 911, while the Skoda Octavia Super, driven by Oldrich Kovarik snr-Petr Dufek, is the only car counting in Category 1 of the championship.
In general classification, in Category 2, the Greek crew of Amaxopoulos-Moraiti is leading, ahead of Pasutti-Campeis and Melas-Vardaxis. In Category 3, McCormack-Mitchell are leading, followed by Stafylopatis-Chatzirigas and the Frenchmen Guignard-Meffre. Italians Pierangioli-Farnocchia lead in Class 4, ahead of championship-leading combinations Graham-Graham and Kovarik jnr-Kapic.
Alexandros Christodoulou-Athanassios Samaras returned under super rally regulations in their Lancia 037 Rally, however they did not manage to complete the dat due to a broken driveshaft and will come back on Sunday. Although they finished in all the Special Stages of the second leg, they failed to reach the evening Service, Panagiotis Paradeisis-Mihalis Fragou retired again due to a problem in the differential of their Ford Escort MKII.
On Sunday, the program includes the last 4 Special Stages of the Historic Acropolis Rally, with a total length of 44 kilometers. The end of the event will take place at 14:37 in the European Capital of Culture for 2023, Elefsina, and at 19:30 the Awards Ceremony of the rally and the Gala of the European Historic Rally Championship will take place again in Elefsina.
Sponsors of the event are the Municipality of Elefsina, Elefsina, the European Capital of Culture for 2023, Superfast Ferries, SP Tableware, Seajets and Cosmote TV.
On the official website of the rally (historicacropolis.gr) and on the Virtual Notice Board (https://webapp.sportity.com/channel/2023historicSPO) you can find all the information of the Historic Acropolis Rally, while on the social networks of the organization you can be informed about all the latest news during the rally.
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