Kruse on Rovanperä's title chance: "Has the upper hand, but no advantage to start first"

Last year Rovanperä won the Greek WC rally after an impressive weekend where his margin of victory over Ott Tänak was 40 seconds in the end.

Last year's victory in the Akropolis Rally was the Finn's second WRC victory in his career.

A year later, he has seven WRC victories to his credit and now has the chance to secure the drivers' championship despite three races remaining.

However, the 21-year-old does not have the decision completely in his own hands, and winning the championship already now is definitely not an easy task.

The main challenger, and the one who can crush Rovanperä's title hunt, is the champion from 2019, Ott Tänak.

Rovanperä has a lead of 72 points in the drivers' championship.

To secure the WC title already on Sunday, he needs to drive home at least 18 points more than Tänak, who won the last two races.

A victory in the rally gives 25 points, a second place 18 and a third place 15 points.

The top ten placed overall get points, but the competition structure in the Akropolis rally makes the title hunt even more challenging.

- The first day of the Akropolis Rally is very special for several reasons: Tough, challenging roads and no service in the middle of the day.

Six stages on Friday, five of which are unique.

They are run only once, which means that Rovanperä, as the championship leader and the first car on the stage, has to drive in loose gravel and poor grip for a total of about nine miles during the first stage, says Kruse and clarifies:

- For every car that drives, the road is cleared and there is better grip.

Rovanperä has a huge disadvantage with so many miles where he has to "track".

This obviously makes his chances of winning more difficult, at the same time the one he has to beat (Tänak) is right behind and he is also driving in difficult conditions.

Loeb back

Nine-time world champion Sébastien Loeb is back in the M-Sport Ford for his fourth World Cup start of the year.

He has won the Acropolis Rally three times.

- I am extremely excited to see if the champion Loeb can succeed again in being in the top and fighting at the top, as he has been in his three previous starts this year.

The team has had major setbacks in recent months with mainly some crashes but also technical problems.

The question is now, can Loeb do the car justice?

Oliver Solberg is missing

Oliver Solberg does not start in Greece, instead it is Dani Sordo's turn in the car they share.

Sordo has been on the podium in both of his WC starts this year.

He was third in both Portugal and Sardinia at the beginning of June.

Oliver Solberg and map reader Elliott Edmondson are both on site and have driven the recce before the rally, valuable experience for the future.

The rally begins Thursday evening with a super special at the Olympic Stadium in Athens.

A total of 16 special sections over a total of 303.30 kilometers await.

- This is a classic, very hard and tough rally which this year seems even more varied regarding the balance between bad parts and technical and fast.

It will be an eventful rally where several drivers are under pressure for various reasons.

For example, Evans, who is chasing his first win of the season.

Breen is looking for revenge after three crashes in a row, Neuville is aiming for compensation after losing the lead in the home rally last time and the top fight for the WC title between Rovanperä and Tänak, says Kruse.