Thierry Neuville has given Hyundai an immediate Acropolis Rally Greece marker after edging Sebastien Ogier by 0.1 seconds in Thursday morning shakedown.
The Belgian stopped the clock at 2m13.4s on his third pass of the 3.34km Loutraki test, with Ogier second for Toyota and Adrien Fourmaux third in the sister Hyundai, two seconds off the benchmark.
It is only a warm-up, but the timing matters. The WRC now begins a seven-rally gravel run, and Hyundai needs Greece to become more than a damage-limitation weekend after Toyota controlled much of the first half of the season.
Hyundai gets the road-position signal it needed
Neuville’s pace came on a rally he has won twice, including in 2022 and 2024. Hyundai has also won three of the last four Acropolis editions, giving the i20 N Rally1 genuine pedigree on the championship’s roughest gravel terrain.
The official WRC route carries 17 stages and 323.31 competitive kilometres from 25-28 June, with headquarters moved to Loutraki and roughly three quarters of the competitive distance new for 2026.
That makes Friday critical. Championship leader Elfyn Evans, only 10th in shakedown, opens the road on the longest leg of the rally and has already warned of loose rocks and puncture risk.
Neuville still has to convert a single shakedown time into full-stage pressure, but Hyundai’s message before the Athens super special is plain: its gravel recovery starts now.
