Thierry Neuville’s FIA World Rally Championship title hopes were bolstered on Saturday as he emerged from the carnage of another punishing day at EKO Acropolis Rally Greece with a commanding lead.

The Belgian, who entered this penultimate day third, climbed to the top as his Hyundai i20 N team-mates Ott Tänak and Dani Sordo were both struck by misfortune in what has proven to be the season's most brutal rally so far.

Tänak had led by 21.8sec after Friday’s gruelling leg, but Greece’s unforgiving terrain took its toll early on Saturday. Forced to stop twice within 10 kilometres to change wheels, the Estonian’s challenge fell apart as he dropped four minutes and plummeted to fourth.

Sordo, making his first top-level appearance since June’s Rally Italia Sardegna, briefly inherited the lead. But, like so many before him, he was undone by the rugged Greek roads. A collision with a rock caused a rear tyre blowout which cost around 50sec and tore away his advantage in an instant.

But Neuville, whose Friday had been marred by a misfiring engine, managed to survive the carnage. Carefully pacing himself and conserving his Pirelli tyres, he steered clear of disaster to end the day with a lead of 54.9sec over Sordo. Sébastien Ogier, Neuville’s closest championship challenger, clung to third, 1min 19.9sec adrift of the lead in his Toyota GR Yaris.

With 18 points provisionally secured, Neuville and co-driver Martijn Wydaeghe are on course to extend their championship lead, which stood at 27 points over Ogier at the start of the rally.

"There's another day left, so at the moment there is no conclusion yet," Neuville insisted. "We need to see where we end up tomorrow, that's the only thing that counts.

"So far we have had a very good management of our rally and, despite some issues on Friday, nothing major happened. From the beginning, our approach was to be careful with the car when it was needed and we somehow got through. I tried to adapt my driving style a bit in the ruts and not put the car too sideways with the risk of hitting stones - that's the only thing you can do.

Sordo’s blowout obliterated the rear bodywork on his Hyundai, and, with no midday service, he and co-driver Cándido Carrera were forced to patch up the car as best they could. The Spaniards even resorted to wearing ski goggles to keep the dust out as they fought to retain second place.

Ogier, who won three of the day’s six stages, could only reflect on what might have been. After leading early on Friday, his rally was derailed by a turbocharger failure that cost him more than two minutes. His Toyota team-mate Elfyn Evans has fared far worse at this 10th round of the season; stricken by similar turbo issues on day one, the Welshman’s title hopes took a devastating blow when he rolled his car on SS11 and was forced to retire.

Tänak trailed Ogier by almost two minutes in fourth overall while M-Sport Ford Puma youngster Grégoire Munster’s crash on SS9 allowed WRC2 crews to fill out the remainder of the leaderboard. 

Pajari pounces on WRC2 rival Virves 

Flying Finn Sami Pajari surged ahead of overnight leader Robert Virves, claiming the WRC2 lead on Saturday.

Virves held a slim 1.5sec advantage entering this penultimate leg and, after nearly 50km of competitive action this morning, the gap had only increased to 3.9sec.

However, it was Pajari's commanding run through Aghii Theodori (SS10) that proved pivotal. On a softer road surface compared to the earlier stages, the Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 star outpaced Virves by 16.4sec, propelling himself into the lead.

A puncture on the repeat pass through Aghii Theodori further prevented any hopes of a comeback from Virves and, by the day's close, the Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 driver found himself trailing Pajari by 27.8sec.

Meanwhile, Yohan Rossel, who lost over two minutes to a wheel change whilst leading on Friday, mounted an impressive comeback. The Citroën C3 Rally2 ace fought his way up to third, clocking four fastest times across the day to finish 26.4sec behind Virves.

Pajari also led the WRC2 Challenger category while Armin Kremer extended his lead in the WRC Masters Cup, with the German driver poised to wrap up the title on Sunday assuming he maintains position.  

Junior WRC glory within touch for Jürgenson despite late scare

Estonia's Romet Jürgenson is just three stages away from FIA Junior WRC glory after overcoming a late scare to end the day in second position.

The 24-year-old started the Junior WRC season’s penultimate day in second position behind Norbert Maior, but already moved ahead of the Romanian on the opening stage in the all-M-Sport Poland-prepared Ford Fiesta Rally3 category.

It was a position Jürgenson looked destined to remain in going into Sunday, only for disaster to strike on the last gravel stage of the day – the second running of Aghii Theodori – when a stop to change a wheel saw him lose more than three minutes.

This left the door wide open for his closest title rival Taylor Gill, who had previously encountered a similar issue on Friday before climbing back from 10th to third. However, the FIA Rally Star winner from Australia could not capitalise, arriving to the stop line of Aghii Theodori 2 crabbing badly with a damaged control arm and his championship hopes in tatters with more than 16 minutes lost to Jürgenson.

The pairing were not the only drivers to suffer setbacks on the legendary stages and, remarkably, Jürgenson still reached the end of the day in second, albeit over two minutes behind Maior.

Victory here for Maior will mark a major milestone in the reigning Junior ERC champion’s career, but even taking into account the double points on offer at this final round of the season, lifting the Junior WRC trophy remains a mathematical longshot.

Despite suffering setbacks for a second consecutive day, Ali Türkkan looked to be best-positioned to benefit should Jürgenson slip up. For the second time in this rally, the Turkish driver was forced to pull over with wheel issues, losing more than three minutes on the morning run of Aghii Theodori.

The rally concludes on Sunday where crews face three more stages totalling 54.05km against the clock.