Athens (AFP)

The new generation is taking power in the World Rally Championship (WRC): Finland's Kalle Rovanperä (Toyota), only 20 years old, is only 70 km away from victory in the Rallye de la Acropolis.

Harri's son, 111 WRC starts for a single victory (Sweden 2001) and 15 podiums, is ideally placed to win the 9th round of the 2021 season and add it to his record at the very first, in July in Estonia. , just to put his father in the rearview mirror.

Kalle had already been very strong on Friday, to take the lead after SS3 and not let go.

But his margin was tiny: 3 sec 7/10 on Tänak and 3 sec 9/10 on Ogier, eight world titles between them.

He succeeded in a demonstration Saturday morning and multiplied by ten the gap on his two rivals, housed in the same boat.

He was obviously "in the zone", as Formula 1 drivers sometimes say after a successful qualifying lap.

And he made only one small mistake, a small deviation of course without consequence, at the end of the morning.

"I was lucky", smiled the young Finn after having come close to disaster by putting a wheel in a ditch of SS10, where he closed his "masterclass" with a 6th scratch time.

Either 50% success (6 out of 12) before attacking the last loop, Sunday morning.

"He deserves the nickname Flying Finn (Flying Finn)", smiled the Toyota team principal, ex-driver Jari-Matti Latvala, who won here the last edition of an Acropolis rally on the calendar. worldwide, in 2013.

- Ogier advances to the title -

With a comfortable lead, the young Finn then managed the last two specials of the day to the best of his ability, leaving the honor to Ogier of setting the best time in SS11, imitated by Tänak in SS12.

"It was a good day, we are in the plan, and if we manage to validate this podium Sunday, we will take a big step towards the title", summarized Ogier on his return to the service park.

The Gapençais will only take part in a few rallies in 2022. He dreams of racing the 24 Hours of Le Mans in a Toyota.

The Toyota Yaris, driven by Frenchman Sébastien Ogier, during the Acropolis Rally, September 11, 2021 at Pavliani Aris Messinis AFP

The seven-time French world champion arrived in Athens with 38 points ahead of Elfyn Evans (Toyota) and Thierry Neuville (Hyundai), both victims of major mechanical problems on Friday.

They left on Saturday to move up the rankings, the Welshman from 17th to 7th place, the Belgian from 26th to 10th place.

The Toyota Yaris, driven by Welshman Elfyn Evans, during the Acropolis Rally, September 10, 2021 at Agioi Theodoroi Valerie Gache AFP

For them, even more than for Rovanperä, Tänak and Ogier, the (infernal) leading trio, the closing Power Stage (SS15) will be crucial, with its five bonus points for the winner, to limit the damage and preserve a semblance of suspense.

As for the immediate pursuers of the leading trio, they were dropped: Dani Sordo (Hyundai), 4th at two minutes, must score points for the constructors' championship, and Adrien Fourmaux (Ford), 5th at three minutes, wants to complete his apprenticeship of the very high level avoiding errors.

Rovanperä will be 30 seconds ahead of Tänak and 40 over Ogier when they start the last three specials on Sunday morning, i.e. 70 km timed.

He is well on his way to writing a new page in the history of the WRC if he wins his second rally in two months, at only 20 years old, on the track of an event dubbed the "rally of the Gods" in the great times.

© 2021 AFP