Rovanperä was still plagued by the same issues as in the morning and remained unhappy with his car.
The Finn lost 6.2 seconds to Hyundai’s Adrien Fourmaux, who set the fastest time on the nearly 20-kilometre Thiva stage.
“My car is so bent up from the morning, it doesn’t even go straight. It’s not easy,” Rovanperä said at the stage end.
Ott Tänak, who posted the second-fastest time, wasn’t in the mood to chat either, despite his solid performance.
“It’s a bit faster stage and the car is easier to handle,” he said briefly when asked about his pace.
But the most visibly frustrated driver was Tänak and Fourmaux’s teammate, Thierry Neuville. The Belgian suffered a puncture and had to stop to change his front right tyre during the stage, losing over two minutes to the benchmark time. At the stage end, Neuville was visibly fuming.
“It was a puncture! We didn’t hit anything! It was a puncture!” he fumed at the interviewer.
Toyota’s Sami Pajari posted only the ninth-fastest time on the stage. As a result, he dropped behind Rovanperä to fifth place overall. Pajari lost a hefty 14.9 seconds to Fourmaux.
Fourmaux improved his overall position with the strong stage time. The Frenchman remains third behind rally leader Toyota’s Sébastien Ogier and teammate Tänak, but his gap to the top has now narrowed to just 11 seconds.
“Good stage for me, it was much more sandy than i expected. It was less rough, but there were some stones on the road and I tried to avoid them. The really difficult stage will be the next one,” Fourmaux commented.
Ogier’s lead shrank slightly. The Frenchman still leads the rally, but only by 2.9 seconds over Tänak. Rovanperä is now 35.2 seconds off the lead, with Pajari 39 seconds behind.
Two more stages remain on Friday at the Acropolis Rally. The rally finishes on Sunday.
Acropolis Rally standings after SS5/17:
| POS | Driver | Car | Time |
| 1. | Sebastien Ogier | Toyota | 1:01:38.3 |
| 2. | Ott Tänak | Hyundai | +2.9 |
| 3. | Adrien Fourmaux | Hyundai | +11.0 |
| 4. | Kalle Rovanperä | Toyota | +35.2 |
| 5. | Sami Pajari | Toyota | +39.0 |
| 6. | Elfyn Evans | Toyota | +49.9 |
| 7. | Gregoire Munster | Ford | +1:24.3 |
| 8. | Takamoto Katsuta | Toyota | +2:23.7 |
Acropolis Rally Itinerary (CET):
Thursday 26 June
07.01 Shakedown: Lygaria (3.62 km)
17.05 SS1: EKO Athens (1.50 km)
Friday 27 June
06.28 SS2: Aghii Theodori 1 (26.76 km)
07.31 SS3: Loutraki (12.90 km)
09.28 SS4: Aghii Theodori 2 (26.76 km)
10.46 Remote service 20 min
13.29 SS5: Thiva (19.58 km)
15.50 SS6: Stiri (24.18 km)
18.31 SS7: Elatia (11.58 km)
Saturday 28 June
07.22 SS8: Pavliani 1 (24.58 km)
09.05 SS9: Karoutes 1 (19.48 km)
10.32 SS10: Inohori 1 (17.66 km)
12.32 Service 45 min
14.22 SS11: Pavliani 2 (24.58 km)
16.05 SS12: Karoutes 2 (19.48 km)
17.32 SS13: Inohori 2 (17.66 km)
Sunday 29 June
07.03 SS14: Smokovo 1 (26.16 km) 08.05 SS15: Tarzan 1 (23.37 km) 10.09 Service 15 min 11.32 SS16: Smokovo 2 (26.16 km) 13.15 SS17: Tarzan 2 (23.37 km) *Power Stage
