The first marathon day of the Greece Rally 2026 shook up the standings considerably. Stefan Svitko again won both special stages on Tuesday and leads the rally by well over an hour, but behind him a great deal changed. Dennis Schans rode to fourth place on the day and now leads the M1 class, while Kees Box lost his lead among the SSVs to Wil Wouters after a crash.
Most striking of all was what happened to the stage itself. SS4 Rodopi, still listed at 152 kilometres in the timetable, was run over roughly 90 kilometres according to the results. Five competitors who did ride the first stage never made it to the second, among them Stanislav Pavelka, who after two days was still third in the overall standings.
Svitko remains supreme
On his Ducati 450, Svitko was once again the fastest in both stages. He clocked 1:26:09 on SS3 Menikio and 1:30:45 on the shortened SS4 Rodopi, together good for a day time of 2:56:54. Benjamin Harvey-Grounds stayed closer than on day 2, at 6:07 behind. Briton Robert Parry, who did not start the prologue but has been notably quick since, finished third at 15:04.
In the overall standings after three days, Svitko leads with 8:10:52. Harvey-Grounds follows at 1:11:42, with Daniel Rymes third at 1:36:17. After his retirement on SS4, Pavelka dropped from third to 23rd. Vladimír Oboňa, Michal Gazur, Franco Fenati and Andrea Pezzi were also handed a penalty time for both stages.
The first marathon day led through the Menikio mountains to the Nestos valley and then into the Rodopi mountains, along the Bulgarian border. The connecting section in between, listed at 57 kilometres in the timetable, proved to be no ordinary transport leg. Ruud Vollebregt described it as a stretch of around 60 kilometres that ran partly through the forest, with trials-like passages and fallen trees that competitors had to duck under. Competitors spend the night in a camp of eleven cabins on top of the mountain, the Erymanthos Forest Village.
Schans to the top of the M1
Dennis Schans rode his best day so far. The Memo Tours rider posted the fourth-fastest time on the second stage, behind Svitko, Harvey-Grounds and Parry, and finished fourth on the day at 16:18. He now sits thirteenth overall and leads the M1 class.
That class lead came about in part because Marios Gardelis, the fastest M1 rider until Tuesday, received a 42-minute penalty. The results give no reason for it. The Greek consequently fell back to 36th on the day and 22nd overall, behind three Dutchmen. Frank de Mik is second in the M1 class at 20:35 behind Schans, Nico Dekker third at 37:46. Jaap Martens is fifth in the class.
Ruben van der Vlis remains the best-placed Dutchman. The Riding Adventures rider finished eighth on the day and climbed to sixth overall, at 1:53:08 behind Svitko. In the M2 class he is fifth. His gap to Alastair Bramwell, who sits seventh, is thirteen seconds.
Bert Veenje resumed the rally after his retirement on day 2 and finished 27th on the day. Robbert Plarina posted the 31st time and is 29th overall, Henk Nijmeijer finished 38th on the day and is 37th. All eight Dutch motorcyclists are therefore still in the standings; after his penalty time on day 2, Veenje can be found in 46th place.
Box loses the lead after a crash
Among the SSVs, things went wrong for the crew that had led until Tuesday. Kees Box and Kees Box Jr. went off at around 60 kilometres into the second stage. Fortunately both were unhurt and the buggy was not damaged, but it cost a great deal of time: the QFF crew needed 2:57:25 for SS4 and dropped to sixth on the day and fourth overall.
The day win went to Rene and Joyce van Eerd (Van Eerd Racing), who set the fastest SSV time with 3:13:10 after their retirement on day 2. Wil Wouters and Niels van Limpt (Memo Tours Team) were second at 3:47, Kenny de Vries and Jo Lenders (QFF Racing) third at 4:40. Ruud and Patricia Vollebregt followed in fourth, ahead of Giannis Varvakis and Dimitris Kokkinos.
Wouters and Van Limpt now lead the SSV standings with 10:13:09, with De Vries and Lenders at 5:12. Varvakis is third, Box fourth at 1:07:59 and Vollebregt fifth. Van Eerd is sixth. Vollebregt described the day as two short stages, with a tricky navigation point in the first where the buggies had to seek each other out, and fast gravel tracks up the mountain in the second, followed by forest trails and a sliding descent to the finish.
Quads and Rally Challenge
In the quad class, Kenny van Eerd completed the first stage in 2:01:50 but did not make it to SS4. Roy van Eerd started neither stage. Kenny leads the class with 13:04:32, with Roy following at 3:40:15.
In the Rally Challenge, Dave Ouwehand (Riding Adventures, KTM 1290) took the day win in 3:35:12, ahead of teammate Nico Keijzer at 14:35. Irishmen Garrett Cahill and Damien Fitzgerald followed. Lars de Backker needed 2:36:20 on the first stage and did not start the second, leaving him last in the class.
Looking ahead: ‘Marathon B’ to Kavala
Wednesday brings the second part of the marathon, with 301 kilometres on the programme. The day opens with SS5 Lekani-Paggeo over 125 kilometres, from the forest village towards the coast. That is followed by a 63-kilometre connecting section to Kavala with a mandatory four-hour regrouping at the beach, including a chance to swim. In the afternoon the short SS6 Symvolo of 35 kilometres is on the programme, after which competitors head back to Serres via Amfipoli. During the marathon, changing tyres remains prohibited, on penalty of thirty minutes.
Svitko starts first at 8:00, followed by Harvey-Grounds and Parry. Schans is fourth away, Van der Vlis eighth. Kenny van Eerd is the first quad rider; the SSVs begin from 9:01, with Box as the last starter.
