Kalle Rovanperä suffered a puncture on the sixth stage of the rally and lost two minutes, dropping several positions in the overall standings.
“The whole day we hit so many rocks and the tires were fine, but now we had a puncture without hitting anything,” Rovanperä said.
Toyota’s other Finnish driver, Sami Pajari, was forced to retire. Pajari stopped on the road section on the way to the sixth stage. The exact reason for his retirement is unclear. His car had reportedly been leaking oil, but Pajari himself did not know the precise cause.
Meanwhile, Hyundai’s Ott Tänak took the rally lead by setting the second-fastest time on the 24-kilometre Stiri stage. Tänak now leads the rally by five seconds over teammate Adrien Fourmaux. Toyota’s Sébastien Ogier dropped to third but is just 10.1 seconds off the lead.
“This stage is cleaning a lot. Maybe there is another guy who is going faster after us,” Tänak noted.
“It’s a great day for us. In the stage there was a lot of loose gravel. But we are happy with our pacenotes and our rhythm,” Fourmaux said.
Toyota’s Elfyn Evans is fourth in the standings, trailing the leader by just over a minute.
One more special stage remains on Friday at the Acropolis Rally. The event concludes on Sunday.
Acropolis Rally standings after SS6/17:
| POS | Driver | Car | Time |
| 1. | Ott Tänak | Hyundai | 1:16:48.2 |
| 2. | Adrien Fourmaux | Hyundai | +5.0 |
| 3. | Sebastien Ogier | Toyota | +10.1 |
| 4. | Elfyn Evans | Toyota | +1:07.5 |
| 5. | Gregoire Munster | Ford | +1:28.0 |
| 6. | Oliver Solberg | Toyota | +2:28.0 |
| 7. | Takamoto Katsuta | Toyota | +2:29.2 |
| 8. | Kalle Rovanperä | Toyota | +2:35.1 |
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
