The five championship contenders in the World Rally Championship continue to face issues on the challenging gravel roads of Greece. Tänak, who started Saturday 21.8 seconds ahead of Sordo, experienced a series of misfortunes on the opening stage of the day.
The Estonian driver had to pull over and change a punctured right rear tire just five kilometers into the stage. Tänak and co-driver Martin Järveoja lost only 1 minute 21.6 seconds, but they still lost the lead.
To make matters worse, Tänak’s right front tire also punctured ten kilometers later, resulting in a loss of 4 minutes 6.4 seconds by the end of the stage and dropping him from the lead to fourth place.
Tänak’s double tire failure handed the lead to Sordo, who now had a 7.2-second advantage. Thierry Neuville took advantage of Tänak’s issues to move into second place, while Sébastien Ogier moved up to third.
Sordo expressed his dissatisfaction with taking the lead under these circumstances, stating: “Being in the lead is nice, but I don’t like it this way. I would prefer to lead by winning stages, not because of others’ problems. I took no risks and will continue to focus on my goal.”
