Regularity News Regularity – Leg 1 – Results
The first day of the Regularity category of the Historic Acropolis Rally proved thrilling, with crews passing through breathtaking locations across the country and battling intensely both in the overall standings and in the individual categories. The rally started from the Panhellenic Exhibition Center of Lamia, and after crossing beautiful routes in the regions of Fthiotida and Evrytania, competitors arrived late on Friday night, May 22, at Lake Plastiras, where they stayed overnight.
At the top of the standings are Ioannis Kyranas and Nikolaos Efstathiou in a Volkswagen Golf from 1990, with 19.3 penalty points. The duo moved into the lead from the third regularity test of the day and managed to withstand the pressure from their rivals, holding onto the lead until the end of the opening leg.
Just 2 penalty points behind are Alexandros Drouliskos and Mathios Mansolas in a Volkswagen Golf from 1991, who climbed positions in every regularity test and will be chasing victory in the third championship round of the season.
Third overall are Ilias Lalousis and Konstantinos Kotsiris with a Peugeot 306 GTI from 1999 on 22 penalty points, and they are expected to fight for victory in a rally that still includes two demanding legs.
Fourth, with 23.4 penalty points, are the experienced Aris Georgosopoulos and Nikos Kontopos in a Volkswagen Golf I, a crew aiming for their second championship victory of the year. They are followed by Iosif Lagakis and Nikitas Tsalikis with a Subaru Legacy, tied on the same number of penalty points (23.4).
Sixth overall are Christos Diamantopoulos and Manolis Dimakareas with a Volkswagen Golf and 24.1 penalty points, ahead of Akis Abastado and Arion Abastado in a Toyota Celica STi with 26 penalty points.
Kyriakos Farmakis and Maria Athanasopoulou experienced problems with their timing instrument and are eighth overall with their Volvo 122S. Meanwhile, Gerasimos Katochianos and Georgios Katochianos lost several positions in the penultimate regularity test of the first leg after encountering cows on the route. The crew of the Ford Escort MKI completed the opening leg in ninth overall position.
The top ten is completed by Manos Palavidis and Maria Palavidi with a Renault 5 GT Turbo. Saturday’s leg is significantly more demanding than Friday’s, with the route passing through stages of unique historical and natural character that had remained absent from the competitive spotlight for decades and now return this year, highlighting a different and authentic side of the Acropolis Rally.
Valuable support to the organizers is being provided by the Region of Attica, the Region of Central Greece, the Region of Thessaly, the Municipality of Lamia, the Municipality of Athens, and the Municipality of Karditsa.
Communication sponsor is Cosmote TV, which in recent years has maintained a strong presence in all major motorsport events in Greece.
