Acropolis Rally brings the heat as LIVE WRC action hits RACER+

When it comes to challenging for the FIA World Rally Championship, Acropolis Rally Greece is where seasons can unravel – or surge into life.

It’s a brutal mid-season crucible: a cocktail of jagged rocks, soaring heat, and rough gravel that has humbled the world’s best for decades.

And starting this weekend with the iconic “Rally of Gods,” as it’s known, you can catch the high-stakes, high-value climax to the action – Sunday’s rally-closing, bonus points-paying Wolf Power Stage – LIVE on the RACER+ App, with same-day re-airs on the RACER Network.

Wolf Power Stage action from all eight remaining WRC rounds will be LIVE on RACER+. From the high-speed dirt roads of Estonia and Finland, to a fast-paced South American doubleheader in Paraguay and Chile, to the all-asphalt blasts of the Central European Rally and Rally Japan, and finishing with an all-new gravel challenge in Saudi Arabia, it’s all on RACER+ and RACER Network.

But first, we’re heading to sun-baked central Greece…

Usually held in September, this year’s Acropolis moves to late June – a seemingly subtle change that could have big consequences. With ambient temperatures forecast to approach 100°F, the heat will place even greater strain on cars, tires and crews across four grueling days, June 26-29.

As the 2025 season reaches its halfway mark, with Greece the seventh of 14 rounds, Elfyn Evans (pictured at top) leads the standings – but only just. The Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 driver arrives in host city Lamia holding a 19-point advantage, down from 43 just two rounds ago, with a maximum 35 points available this weekend.

That eroding lead is thanks in no small part to the Welshman finishing sixth, then fourth, on the gravel stages of Rally Portugal and Rally Italy Sardinia – which is quite the contrast to two wins and two other podiums in the opening four rounds.

So why the current loss of momentum? It’s because Evans’ “reward” for leading the points is to start first car on the road during the opening leg. On loose-surface rallies such as Portugal and Sardinia, that means the factory GR Yaris driver encounters the worst of the conditions – and becomes an unwitting road sweeper for the cars following him.

With Acropolis Rally Greece promising more of the same – and possibly the roughest event of them all – Evans is set for another frustrating Friday.

And that could be costly.

“We’re going there at a different time of year to usual, so it has the potential to be very hot and demanding for the cars and the tires,” explains Evans. “We also know we’ll face the familiar challenges opening the road on the Friday, when there are a lot of stages run only once.”

Behind Evans, his Toyota Gazoo Racing teammates, Sebastien Ogier and Kalle Rovanpera, are closing in.

Eight-time WRC champ Ogier is running a part-time campaign, but has won three of his four starts so far this year and remains undefeated on gravel.

Just one point further back, Rovanpera is gathering momentum with a win and two podiums from his last three rallies. As a two-time Acropolis winner, and starting third on the road on Friday, the Finn could be the guy to beat.

But don’t rule out Hyundai. The Korean marque delivered a crushing 1-2-3 on last year’s Acropolis, and its trio of factory i20 N Rally1 drivers arrive hungry for more. Reigning WRC champ Thierry Neuville, who won in Greece in 2022 and ’24, Ott Tanak and Adrien Fourmaux are still searching for Hyundai’s first win of the season, but Tanak sits fourth overall in points after three runner-up finishes in the last four rallies, with Neuville fifth and Fourmaux down in seventh after a pair of DNFs.

Thierry Neuville took his Hyundai i20 N Rally1 to an Acropolis win in 2024. Could the reigning WRC champ do it again? Jaanus Ree/Red Bull Content Pool

Back to the Toyota camp, and Takamoto Katsuta also looks set to feature in the podium fight, while Sami Pajari continues his first full Rally1 campaign in another GR Yaris, albeit not registered for WRC manufacturers’ championship points this weekend. The young Finn has consistently shown the pace to challenge for top-five results and continues to impress with each passing round.

Completing the Rally1 runners contending for the overall spots, Josh McErlean, Gragoire Munster, Martins Sesks and local driver Jourdan Serderidis form a four-strong M-Sport Ford Puma Rally1 line-up.

The British-based squad boasts a strong pedigree on Greek gravel, with eight Acropolis wins (1997, 2000–03, 2006–07, 2009) contributing to a total of 13 victories for Ford machinery since the rally’s inception in 1951.

In WRC2, the second tier of international rallying, Acropolis is set to be a pivotal event in the title chase, with the top five drivers in points all entered.

The championship is finely poised as the season reaches it halfway mark with just 28 points covering leader Yohan Rossel (Citroen C3), Oliver Solberg (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2), Roberto Dapra (Skoda Fabia RS), Gus Greenmsith (Skoda Fabia RS) and Jan Solans (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2).

With drivers nominating a maximum of seven scoring rounds, this weekend will mark only the second time this year that the quintet will be eligible to score points at the same round.

Last time out in Sardinia, Rossel missed an opportunity to extend his lead after tire damage followed by a broken steering arm forced the Frenchman to retire from second in class – a round where Solberg wasn’t registered to score points and Greensmith was absent due to his wedding.

Frustratingly for Solberg, the Swede was the first Rally2 car home, but the WRC2 points went to Italy’s Dapra, who claimed a maiden class triumph to move to third in the championship.

Heading to Greece’s rough, tough stages, Rossel and Solberg have two wins apiece this year, with Rossel seven points ahead in the points race. The Frenchman has never finished higher than third in Greece, doing so in 2023 and last year, but Solberg is yet to record an Acropolis finish after a crash ended his 2021 debut and a fuel system issue thwarted his ’23 bid.

The rough Greek roads are set to play a starring role in this weekend’s Acropolis Rally drama.

Acropolis Rally Greece has its ceremonial start in capital city Athens on Thursday evening, before heading north for three challenging legs over three days. The 17 special stages total 215 competitive miles and culminate in Sunday’s rally-ending Wolf Power Stage.

A second run through the 14.52-mile Tarzan test, the Wolf Power Stage is the climax to the WRC’s Greek showdown. Five bonus points are up for grabs for the fastest stage time, counting down to one point for the fifth-fastest driver, as well as 25 points for the overall rally winner and five more for the fastest driver through Super Sunday’s four-stage final leg.

Watch the Wolf Power Stage action from Acropolis Rally Greece LIVE on the RACER+ App on Sunday, June 29 at 6:00-7:30am ET, with same-day airings on the RACER Network at 11:00am and 10:00pm, plus Monday, June 30 at 1:00am ET.

Plus, for a deeper dive into the FIA World Rally Championship, check out the WRC Magazine Show on RACER Network. The latest episode premieres at 10:30pm ET on Thursday, June 26, with re-airs on Friday, June 27 (1:30am ET), Sunday, June 29 (9:30pm ET) and Monday, June 30 (12:30am ET).

• The 2025 WRC action continues on RACER+ and the RACER Network, with LIVE Wolf Power Stage coverage from all remaining rallies on the RACER+ App and same-day airings on the RACER Network. Next up, it’s high-speed gravel action from Rally Estonia (July 20), and the fastest of them all, Rally Finland (Aug. 3). You can find out more about the RACER+ App at racerplus.com.