This year’s Acropolis Rally, 10th round of the World Rally Championship, has been characterized by teams and crews, including Manos and Kostas Stefanis, as the roughest in recent years.
Based on the above-mentioned verdict, the Traction Rally Team crew started today’s first and longest rally day -which included 3 special stages held twice (Ano Pavliani – 22,47 km., Daphne – 21,67 km., Tarzan – 23,37 km.) with a total length of 135,02 rally kilometers,- with the main purpose of returning at the final service of Lamia, without significant problems.
This was largely achieved, as Manos and Kostas Stefanis protected the Ford Fiesta Rally3 in the toughest parts of the special stages, by compromising absolute speed so as to avoid risks that could cause damage.
Having started the day from the service park of Lamia, the teams’ duo headed to SS1 (Ano Pavliani), which was cancelled for the majority of the crews, following the exit of a rally car, that was blocking the road.
Subsequently, the schedule consisted of SS2 (Dafni) and SS3 (Tarzan), where Manos and Kostas adjusted their pace accordingly, always with the goal of avoiding problems.
After the midday service, during which minor changes were made to the setup of the Ford Fiesta Rally3 prepared and technically maintained by M-Sport Poland, the situation did not change much.
Manos and Kostas Stefanis were very careful at SS4 (Ano Pavliani 2), which apart from the rough terrain in some parts and the dust that remained on the road, had the additional difficulty of not being run by them on the first pass.
Similarly, on the second pass from SS5 (Dafni 2), visibility was also reduced due to the dust remaining on the road, so a more conservative approach in terms of pace was preferred.
At the end of the day, Manos and Kostas Stefanis returned to their beloved Tarzan (SS6) for one more pass, without facing any major problems.
In this way, they finished the first day in 50th position of the overall classification. Moreover, they are in the 16th position in WRC3, while they are also 9th among the Greek crews.
Of course, the difficulties of the Acropolis Rally do not stop here, as the second day is expected to be even more difficult. The 116,23 sporting kilometres of the 6 special stages (Rengini – 28,67 km, Thiva – 20,95 km, Aghii Theodoroi X 2 – 25,87 km, Loutraki – 12,90 km, SSS – 1,97 km) may not seem too many, but the crews will be on the road for more than 16 hours, covering a total of 695,64 km.
In addition, the program consists of the two longest special stages of the event (Rengini and Aghii Theodoroi) but the most demanding element, however, lies in the fact that there is no intermediate service, but only a 15-minute Tyre Fitting Zone in Loutraki, where tyre changes and repairs are allowed only with components and tools that will have been fitted to the race cars in the morning.
As everyone can imagine, the Acropolis Rally continues with unabated intensity and is expected to be even tougher for both people and machines.
The participation of Manos and Kostas Stefanis is sponsored by Coral S.A. – Shell Licensee.
Quotes
Manos Stefanis: “During recce, we understood that the vast majority of the special stages consists of very rough parts, where it is very easy to cause damage to the car, or a puncture. Knowing that the road surface was becoming increasingly rough with the passing of the cars ahead of us, the most logical choice was to sacrifice speed in favor of reliability, which I believe we achieved. The Ford Fiesta Rally3 was very reliable and we didn’t encounter any significant problems. Tomorrow, we have an even more difficult day ahead of us, from which we will try to come out unscathed, just as we did today.”
Kostas Stefanis: “As I said before the start, this year’s Acropolis Rally reminds me of the 70s. In these cases, there is no room for ‘heroics’, since the numerous stones or the ruts formed by the passes can cause a lot of problems. In this context, we took a conservative approach, both to stay out of trouble and to familiarise ourselves with the Ford Fiesta Rally3 even more. I think that the first day went quite well, as we didn’t encounter any particular problems and we are now preparing for tomorrow’s “mammoth” day, which is expected to be even more physically and mentally demanding, as we will be on the road for more than 16 hours.”
Photos: Rallypixels
