Sebastien Ogier Highlights Tyres and Route After Acropolis Rally 2026 Win

Sebastien Ogier identified tyre durability and route structure as the key lessons from Acropolis Rally 2026 after the Toyota driver secured victory in Greece.

Ogier admitted the Acropolis Rally remained one of the most brutal events on the WRC calendar, but stressed that everyone knew exactly what to expect before the rally began. Greece’s rough roads again made tyre management a decisive factor throughout the weekend.

Tyre supplier Hankook arrived with improved preparation after introducing an updated gravel tyre following requests from drivers and teams. The revised product featured a thicker tread in an effort to improve durability in Greece’s notoriously punishing conditions.

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Ogier welcomed Hankook’s response, but said the improvement was still not enough for the level of roughness encountered on the Acropolis Rally. He argued that an event like Greece requires a more specific product if crews are expected to survive the conditions consistently.

“I don’t want to be too hard on Hankook because they did make some improvements coming into this rally. But for the roughness of Greece, it’s definitely not enough. This is the kind of rally where you need a specific product if you want to survive these conditions,” Ogier said.

This year’s Acropolis Rally also featured major route changes, including several new stages and an overall itinerary of more than 1,500 kilometres. Ogier felt the revised format was largely successful, particularly because more stages were run only once, reducing the level of road deterioration.

However, the eight-time world champion highlighted the long road sections as an area organisers still need to improve. He also described the opening ferry transfer as a different experience, although he admitted the movement from the crossing could still be felt on the first stage.

Ogier added that running fewer repeated stages helped limit road degradation, but did not remove the disadvantage faced by the championship leader when opening the road. He said running first on gravel remains a major handicap, an issue he has long campaigned against within the WRC context.