M-SPORT BATTLES THROUGH BRUTAL ACROPOLIS RALLY GREECE

M-Sport Ford World Rally Team has emerged from one of the most punishing events on the FIA World Rally Championship calendar, as Acropolis Rally Greece once again lived up to its notorious reputation. In a rally that tested crews to their physical and mechanical limits, Mārtiņš Sesks / Renārs Francis and Josh McErlean / Eoin Treacy reached the finish line after an exceptionally challenging weekend.

The rally got underway with a promising sign, as McErlean topped the first pass of shakedown. A ceremonial start in the heart of Athens set the stage for the EKO Super Special Stage, where all four M-Sport Pumas made it through cleanly – the real test still yet to come.

With no midday service and only a remote tyre-fitting zone to support them, Friday delivered punishing conditions under intense heat. Both McErlean and Sesks were dealt early blows, suffering punctures in the opening stage – the Irish crew forced to stop and change theirs mid-stage, losing over two minutes. But the Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy crew would claw back some time lost during the afternoon loop, finishing the day 13th overall.

For Sesks, contesting his first Acropolis Rally, it was a steep learning curve made steeper by the conditions – but he showed promise as he climbed up to ninth overall before a fuel system issue was detected at the end of SS6, forcing his early retirement for the day.

Grégoire Munster and Louis Louka adopted a cautious approach to survive the rock-strewn roads, a strategy that earned them a string of top-ten stage times and a clean run through the morning loop. Putting down more pace in the afternoon, Munster claimed third-fastest on SS6, finding grip while others faltered. He ended the day in an impressive fifth place overall.

Jourdan Serderidis and Fred Miclotte also enjoyed a positive day, completing the punishing leg with consistency and control and persevering in the extreme heat conditions.

Returning to the action on Saturday, Sesks was tasked with opening the road – a major challenge, particularly on Greece’s loose surfaces. He steadily built confidence throughout the day and delivered an encouraging sixth-fastest time on SS11. A positive afternoon followed for the Latvian youngster, who fought his way back into the top 20 by the end of the day.

The remaining M-Sport crews had more challenging Saturdays. McErlean hit a loose section of gravel and struck a rock, damaging the rear-right suspension. With some determined roadside repairs, McErlean and Treacy managed to continue, albeit with a time penalty for late arrival to SS9. Although continuing to feel the effects of the morning’s suspension damage throughout the afternoon loop, they persisted, reaching the end of another gruelling day in the Greek heat in 15th overall.

Munster too had a difficult Saturday, struggling with a handbrake issue in the morning that caused him to drop into sixth position before the midday service. Although the problem recurred during the afternoon loop, Munster drove well around the issue and still was setting top-ten times to hold sixth position into end of day service.

Unfortunately, another fuel system issue was discovered on Munster’s car during evening service which was unable to be rectified, and the team had to make the difficult decision to retire Munster and Louka from the rally.

Serderidis, despite a Herculean effort to drive two of the morning’s stages, chose to retire after SS9 due to illness. He returned to service and was examined by the medical team before formally withdrawing from the rally. 

The objective therefore on Sunday was clear for McErlean and Sesks; get the two cars to the finish line after a demanding weekend. Both crews took a steady approach through the morning stages.

McErlean would then claim a fifth-fastest time on the penultimate stage, before preparing for the final Power Stage where both crews had a clean run, with Sesks missing out on points by only 1.7 seconds, going sixth-fastest.

Both crews completed the weekend, with McErlean ultimately finishing 12th overall and Sesks 15th.

Richard Millener, M-Sport Ford Team Principal, said:

“A really tough weekend for us. We knew Acropolis would be a challenge, but the heat and the rough conditions we saw over the weekend were even more than expected. Some small niggling mechanical issues on Saturday were disappointing for us, shared with a number of punctures meant that our weekend was sadly a tough one. The biggest disappointment was the retirement of Grégoire and Louis after a fantastic drive and approach to the event. This was sadly something that was forced upon the team and outside of our control, so big apologies to those guys. Now we focus again and start again in Estonia in just over two weeks”.

Josh McErlean, 12th overall, said:

“I think it's been a super demanding weekend for everyone; the team, the car, the crew. It’s nice to know you can get through these kinds of events - we hit a massive hurdle yesterday morning when we clipped the rock, but we managed to fix the car and keep it going.

“Today has been pretty ok, we’ve learnt a lot from a driving perspective and hopefully we can have a good test in Finland and prepare properly for the next two rallies.”

Mārtiņš Sesks, 15th overall, said:

“Of course, I think we can find some positives from certain stages, our Power Stage performance wasn’t bad and some of the other stages too. On our first time here we’ve had to be quick learners, and I would say at some points we were quite good. On the points where we weren’t so good, it’s just about having knowledge for future years and at least now we know more about how to prepare for this rally. It needs more detailed preparation compared to other rallies and the experience we’ve gained this week will help that in the future.”

Grégoire Munster, Retired Saturday, said:

“A disappointing end to our experience in Greece, but generally we had some positives to take away. Especially on Friday when there were good conditions, we pushed and managed to get a third-fastest time which shows the potential of the car.

“In other places we managed to be cautious, we had a long-term strategy and finished Friday in fifth and then sixth on Saturday evening, so there were a lot of positives from the weekend. It wasn’t meant to be, but we will come back stronger.”

Published 29 June 2025.