After a seven-year absence, the Acropolis Rally would return to the calendar for the 2021 WRC season. The event would substitute for Rally Chile, which was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The announcement came on the 26th of March, with the rally due to be held in September. It would be the first time the event would be held this late in the year, and would provide its own challenges for the organisers. Rain and mud would be a real headache, especially for the 2021 and 2023 editions.

Following the success of the 2005 Super Special, the Acropolis Rally was moved from Lamia to Athens. This meant that many of the rally’s best stages would not be an integral part of the event for years to come, with the rally using stages around Athens and the Loutraki region.

The dawn of the Group A era was a bummer for most of the hardcore rally fans, as the new cars were slower and a lot less exciting than the Group B monsters had been. As time went on, the cars, and the competition, would become more exciting, and many drivers who are now considered legends of the sport made headlines in the Acropolis Rally.

We continue this series of posts with the 1981-1986 editions of the Acropolis Rally, the Group B era. In this era, the Acropolis started to be less of an endurance rally with 1000km of stages to one that was more accustomed to the norms imposed by the governing body. By 1986 the event would be almost half of what it was in 1980.

The Acropolis Rally is an event that lives in infamy amongst motorsport and rallying fans. First held in 1953, the 2026 edition will mark the event’s 70th running. To honour that instance, I decided to go through all the editions of the Acropolis in the WRC, and see how its route evolved through the years.