juwra.com | Rallies - Acropolis

As rough and hot rallies on Eastern Mediterranean are abundant these days, it is easy to forget that before inclusion of Cyprus and Turkey there was only one, the original, the Acropolis Rally. One of the rallies that has yet to adopt the name of the country in official name of the event, Acropolis is truly one of the classic events in the series.

Greece is cradle of western civilization, home to some of the greatest philosophers mankind has known. The rally itself is complete opposite of these academic values, rough and demanding. At times stages have been described even worse than those of Safari Rally and since that event was dropped, Acropolis has inherited the questionable fame of being roughest rally on WRC calendar.

In the old days, rally used to start from the foot of Acropolis hill in Athens where famous Parthenon Temple resides and from where the name of the rally derives. That has now been abandoned as stages are in central Greece and long liaison for the sake of ceremonial start was deemed unnecessary. Hellenic heritage runs strong nevertheless, giving the event special flavour.

Due to demanding nature of the stages, for a long event was a thinking man's rally. Introduction of puncture-proof tyres in late 1980's have changed the approach and speeds on rough greek roads have increased. Curiously enough it is Colin McRae who has five wins to his name though he is not regarded as a model of self-restraint, a archtype best suited to Acropolis rally.

1973:	Therier, Jean-Luc	Renault-Alpine A110 1800	69.06 km/h
1975:	Rohrl, Walter	Opel Ascona	62.08 km/h
1976:	Kallstrom, Harry	Datsun Violet	82.10 km/h
1977:	Waldegard, Bjorn	Ford Escort RS1800	80.25 km/h
1978:	Rohrl, Walter	Fiat 131 Abarth	73.31 km/h
1979:	Waldegard, Bjorn	Ford Escort RS1800	69.44 km/h
1980:	Vatanen, Ari	Ford Escort RS1800	73.01 km/h
1981:	Vatanen, Ari	Ford Escort RS1800	72.13 km/h
1982:	Mouton, Michele	Audi quattro	74.94 km/h
1983:	Rohrl, Walter	Lancia Rally 037	74.67 km/h
1984:	Blomqvist, Stig	Audi quattro A2	74.47 km/h
1985:	Salonen, Timo	Peugeot 205 Turbo 16	78.45 km/h
1986:	Kankkunen, Juha	Peugeot 205 Turbo 16 E2	78.01 km/h
1987:	Alen, Markku	Lancia Delta HF 4WD	72.34 km/h
1988:	Biasion, Massimo	Lancia Delta Integrale	74.62 km/h
1989:	Biasion, Massimo	Lancia Delta Integrale	78.30 km/h
1990:	Sainz, Carlos	Toyota Celica GT-4 (ST165)	77.04 km/h
1991:	Kankkunen, Juha	Lancia Delta HF Integrale 16v	80.14 km/h
1992:	Auriol, Didier	Lancia Delta HF Integrale	78.32 km/h
1993:	Biasion, Massimo	Ford Escort RS Cosworth	78.93 km/h
1994:	Sainz, Carlos	Subaru Impreza 555	76.17 km/h
1996:	McRae, Colin	Subaru Impreza 555	77.58 km/h
1997:	Sainz, Carlos	Ford Escort WRC	81.55 km/h
1998:	McRae, Colin	Subaru Impreza WRC98	82.87 km/h
1999:	Burns, Richard	Subaru Impreza WRC99	86.33 km/h
2000:	McRae, Colin	Ford Focus WRC 00	78.87 km/h
2001:	McRae, Colin	Ford Focus RS WRC 01	82.46 km/h
2002:	McRae, Colin	Ford Focus RS WRC 02	83.85 km/h
2003:	Martin, Markko	Ford Focus RS WRC 03	81.12 km/h
2004:	Solberg, Petter	Subaru Impreza WRC2004	81.07 km/h
2005:	Loeb, Sebastien	Citroen Xsara WRC	82.94 km/h
2006:	Gronholm, Marcus	Ford Focus RS WRC 06	90.24 km/h
2007:	Gronholm, Marcus	Ford Focus RS WRC 06	87.48 km/h
2008:	Loeb, Sebastien	Citroen C4 WRC	84.68 km/h
2009:	Hirvonen, Mikko	Ford Focus RS WRC 09	81.94 km/h
2011:	Ogier, Sebastien	Citroen DS3 WRC	85.51 km/h
2012:	Loeb, Sebastien	Citroen DS3 WRC	87.10 km/h
2013:	Latvala, Jari-Matti	Volkswagen Polo R WRC	87.16 km/h
2021:	Rovanpera, Kalle	Toyota Yaris WRC	84.12 km/h
2022:	Neuville, Thierry	Hyundai i20 N Rally1	84.69 km/h
2023:	Rovanpera, Kalle	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	90.16 km/h
2024:	Neuville, Thierry	Hyundai i20 N Rally1	84.00 km/h