Lindholm wins in Greece
Let’s start from the beginning: Emil Lindholm is contesting his second Acropolis and he immediately put last year’s experience to good use. He scored a series of fastest times on the rugged gravel roads north of Athens. On the stages, Lindholm and Andreas Mikkelsen were closely matched. A cut above the remaining field Lindholm arrived back to service in Lamia 30.5sec clear of another team-mate Nikolay Gryazin.
Next morning, having earned a safe lead over the field on Friday, Lindholm chose a clever approach to the rally’s longest day. Although he didn’t win any of the eight gruelling stages, he made no mistakes. He carried a 44.6sec advantage into Sunday’s finale and holds eighth overall whilst also leading the WRC2 Junior contingent. Andreas Mikkelsen also pushed his Toksport WRT Skoda Fabia to the limits. He won all but one stage on saturday.
“We had a good day,” said Lindholm. “The stages were so long and with so many corners, but we will try to keep the same rhythm and have fun.”
Lindholm took a surprise win on his last outing in Finland after Teemu Suninen was disqualified due to a technical infringement. He admitted the champagne tasted much sweeter this time around.
“We won this rally on our pace and I am so happy, honestly,” he beamed. “I knew when we came here that it could be a good rally for us, but there are always question marks and lots of risks. We really managed it well and I am very grateful to the team for providing us with a car which could survive in these conditions,” he added.
