EKO Acropolis Rally 2021 enters its final stretch with the preparation of an organizing committee and teams having peaked! The deadline for registrations expired on the evening of Monday 9 August and next Friday 13 August the final list of entries that we will enjoy on the Greek special routes 9-12 September will be published. But who will they be?
Rally1
In the big league Toyota leading the league will line up Ogier, Evans, Rovanpera and Katsuta. Hyundai that follows will contrast Tanak, Neuville and Sordo. In M-Sport we will have two drivers with Greensmith and one of fourmaux – Suninen in the 2nd Fiesta WRC. Our theory is that Fourmaux will fight with Suninen competing in Rally2.
In the Rally1 category we will have two more entries. The reason for Loubet with Hyundai and of course for Jordan Serderides who for our national race will leave the Skoda Fabia Rally2 and jump to fiesta WRC. In fact, this will be the third time the Greek driver will be behind the wheel of such a car as he counts two more races, in Germany and Australia in 2018.
Rally2
The category with our well-known R5 specification cars (now Rally2) is expected to collect the most entries. Some drivers will count in the WRC2 ranking and some in WRC3. But everyone, even individuals, will count on the general category called RC2.
With Skoda Fabia, Mikkelsen, M. Bulacia, Kajetanovic, Lindholm and Ingram are expected to compete. With Citroen C3 Ostberg and Rossel and with Volkswagen Polo the Gryazin. Of course the big news comes from Hyundai's camp with the new i20 N Rally2 debuting on the dirt with Oliver Solberg and Jari Huttunen. Several more, equally well-known and competent drivers, will fill out the category. However, we have not been able to have anything official, so we do not want to get involved with an unnecessary nomenclature.
The Greeks
From a Greek point of view, the return of Acropolis Rally prompted several names with history, who were absent from the Greek scene in recent years, to make their reappearance! Hatzitsopanis-Petropoulos are coming back with a latest generation Ford Fiesta Rally2, while Athanasoulas-Zakhaeus is equally promising. In fact, according to our information, they will surprise and compete with a brand new Hyundai i20 N Rally2, similar to that of Solberg and Huttunen. To them we add Kehagia-Tsausoglou, in the third race of the combination with their own Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo, Chalkia-Vigo with Ford Fiesta R5, in their first joint race, and Vasilis and Giannis Velanis. The latter may have been training in the first two races of the Panhellenic Rally Championship with Skoda Fabia R5, but in Acropolis they will use a more modern Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo.
Another entry is that of Roustemi-Nikolopoulos with the Citroen DS3 R5, who want to leave behind the misfortunes of this year's races of the PPR and show their speed. Very interesting participation is that of Plagos-Renti with Citroen C3 R5 in the reappearance of the driver on a dirt surface after 2008. P. Eliopoulos jumps from Mitsubishi Evo IX to Skoda Fabia R5 and will have N. Inzoglou in the right seat. S. Galerakis, after his successful debut at the Corinth Rally, will again be behind Skoda Fabia R5 with K. Soukuli by his side. The list of "Greek Rally2", although we have not confirmed it at 100%, we believe that it will still include Spano-Gotovo with Skoda Fabia R5 and Mano-Costa Stefani in an equally resonant reappearance which will take place with Hyundai i20 R5.
The Greek entries do not end here, with Ziova-Kuzioni collaborating for the first time in a new standard four-wheel-drive Ford Fiesta Rally3. Finally, in the two-wheel drive in the very difficult battle will be thrown the Karanikolas-Vasilakis with Ford Fiesta Rally4, Lefkaditis-Kontos with Peugeot 208 Rally 4 and the Theoharopoulos-Kotsalis with Ford Fiesta R2.
The Cypriots
Several will be the participations from Cyprus which not only in Acropolis but also in other matches of the PPR appear by upgrading our own institution. Tsouloftas-Ilias with Volkswagen Polo have already won the first two Greek races and in Acropolis they come to "chase" foreigners in RC2. The three-time champions of Cyprus, Galatariotis-Ioannou, will compete in the same car. The group of Rally2 entries is expected to be completed by Panteli-Christodoulou with Citroen DS3 R5 and Young-Kyriakou with Hyundai i20 R5. As far as the two-wheel drive is concerned, we will have an alliance as Louis Papageorgiou will have the Greek Vasilis Kougia as his co-driver at the Peugeot 208 Rally4.
Absences
But there are also drivers who, while following several WRC races, will not come to the EKO Acropolis Rally 2021. Most important of all, Lappi, who seems to have achieved the goal of returning to Toyota. A driver who would surely chase the top in RC2. Ciamin, Heikkilä, Kaur, Kristensson and Brynildsen will also not participate for various reasons. From a Greek point of view we would all like but ultimately we will not see the champions of Greece, Giannis Papadimitriou (2020, 1999) and Socrates Tsolakidis (2017, 2003).
These are the most confirmed entries of EKO Acropolis Rally 2021 according to our report. I'm sure there will be several more, and some will be resonant! It is a given that the ceiling of 60 entries set by the Organising Committee will be reached. But we will learn them all with all solemnity on Friday 13 August when they will be announced by the organization of the match.
