Brendan maintains position at Acropolis Rally
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Brendan and Rhianon have finished Day 2 of the Acropolis Rally, round two of the WRC Academy in fourth position. Starting the day in the same position, Brendan was happy to maintain his place on the road to ensure he got through the tricky stages in one piece.
Cooler weather this year has surprised competitors who were expecting the usual Greek temperatures of around 35 degrees Celcius, and rain earlier in the day made the later stages quite slippery for the Academy crews.
Brendan's Ford Fiesta R2 felt a little loose in the rear, but he puts that down to the road conditions as most of the other Academy drivers felt the same way. The car, otherwise, ran perfectly, and Brendan was able to safely guide it to the end of the day without any concerns.
Although the Academy crews only completed five stages today (WRC competitors completed nine), it was a very long day which ended with a 200 kilometre transport section back to the Service Park at Loutraki.
“Everything has gone well today and we are still in fourth," Brendan said. "It would have been nice to move into third position but we haven’t had the pace this afternoon. The last stage had about 30 or 40 hairpins and was very technical so we just made sure we got through it.
"The car feels loose in the rear and I made some set-up changes to try and help but I think it is just the nature of the stages. Tomorrow is a lot rougher so we will just take it as it comes and see what happens.”
Saturday's four stages entail 73 kilometres of competitive driving on roads that will be considerably rougher and rockier than Friday's. Brendan's aim is to have a good clean run and hold his position on the road whilst keeping an eye on those ahead of him. If there's an opportunity to move up the leaderboard, he wants to be in a position to grab it with both hands.
Brendan and Rhianon will start Day 3 of the Acropolis Rally at 9.03am (Greece time) and the WRC Academy podium presentation will take place at 3pm.
Visit Brendan's photo gallery for photos from Rally Acropolis.