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Participating racing crews pose for a group photo at the starting line of the Acropolis Rally 2018 at the foot of Acropolis hill in Athens, Greece, 1 June 2018. (Xinhua/Panagiotis Moschandreou)

ATHENS, June 1 (Xinhua) -- The EKO Acropolis Rally, the 64th edition of Greece's most distinguished motorsport event, started below the remains of the ancient Acropolis citadel in Athens on Friday.

The competition, round 3 of the European Rally Championship, began with a spectacular overturning, fortunately without injuries, when Peugeot 208 R2 of Russian Artur Muradian flipped in the stage.

It was the only inconvenience in the qualifying stage that opened the racing activity, seven kilometers east of Lamia city, 150 kilometers north of Athens.

Finland's JuusoNordgren was 0,021 seconds faster than Russian Alexey Lukyanuk to be first driver to choose his starting position for Saturday's stages.

Greek 2016 champion George Filippides withdrew before the start of the session for personal reasons.

Nicknamed "the Rally of Gods", Acropolis Rally of Greece is one of the toughest on the world rally circuit, since it takes place on the rough and rocky mountain roads around Athens during the hot summer period.

The EKO Rally Acropolis lasts until Sunday June 3 and has a total distance of 867.72 kilometres, of which 237.89 are racing and constitute the 12 Special Race Routes.

The last time a Greek driver won the Acropolis Rally was in 1995.