After a stunning superspecial stage run Thursday night (1 June) where Kronos Total Citroen World Rally Team's Sebastien Loeb claimed an early rally lead, the first proper rally stage of the first Leg saw BP-Ford World Rally Team's Marcus Gronholm capture the quickest time and the overall rally lead by 4.4 seconds over Loeb.
Subaru World Rally Team's Petter Solberg, who suffered a disappointing superspecial stage, 13th quickest in Olympic Stadium, finished the first stage of the first Leg with the second quickest time, 0.8 seconds behind Gronholm. Loeb captured the third fastest time on the stage, but managed to maintain second overall by 1.6 seconds over Solberg.
Fresh from his best ever FIA World Rally Championship result in Rally d'Italia Sardegna, Mikko Hirvonen captured fourth fastest on the day's opening stage. Hirvonen was 8.8 seconds behind his BP-Ford team-mate Gronholm and held fourth overall leading into the second stage of the day.
Chris Atkinson, who suffered a disappointing end to the Sardinian event when he went off-road on the final stage of the rally, finished the stage with the fifth quickest time, 9.3 seconds behind Gronholm.
Francois Duval, who returned to action with a First Motorsport Skoda Fabia, finished the stage with the sixth quickest time. Duval was the quickest Fabia through the opening contest and held fifth overall.
Toni Gardemeister, who is contesting his first ever WRC event in a Citroen Xsara, finished the stage with the seventh fastest time. The Finn stated that he felt comfortable at the end of the stage and was confident leading into the day's remaining stages.
Xavier Pons finished the stage with the eighth quickest time, 11.3 seconds off Gronholm's pace and 0.2 seconds behind Gardemeister. Pons held eighth overall leading into the third stage of the event.
The first damage done on the rough Greek terrain came three kilometres from the end of the stage when Henning Solberg suffered a puncture which caused him to finish well behind - 19.2 seconds - Gronholm's pace.
copyright ISC Ltd, London 2006 photo Acropolis Rallye copyright
The eighth round of the 2006 FIA World Rally Championship began today with the first running of the superspecial stage in Athens' Olympic Stadium. Massive jumps by Sebastien Loeb and Mikko Hirvonen were overshadowed only by the massive crowd that filled the stadium for the start of the Greek event.
Kronos Total Cit weiter >>
Subaru World Rally Team's Petter Solberg began his BP Ultimate Acropolis Rally by posting the quickest time during today's Shakedown. The drivers drove a 4.2 kilometre test in the foothills of Parnitha. Solberg finished with a time of three minutes 21.7 seconds, followed by Kronos Total Citroen World Rally Team's Sebas weiter >>
Subaru World Rally Team's Petter Solberg will reach a milestone this weekend in the BP Ultimate Acropolis Rally when he will start his 100th FIA World Rally Championship rally. The Norwegian has captured 13 victories, 17 podium finishes and the 2003 drivers' world title. Solberg - who is 31 - will be the younges weiter >>
Die Rallye Griechenland im Überblick Die Rallye Griechenland aus Sicht von BFGoodrich Das erwarten die Partnerteams von BFGoodrich So verlief die Rallye Griechenland 2005 Statistisches WM-Zwischenstand
BFGoodrich Partner woll weiter >>
Beginning with the BP Ultimate Acropolis Rally of Greece, Andreas Aigner will have a new co-driver. Timo Gottschalk is to be replaced in the Red Bull Skoda by Germany's Klaus Wicha for the remainder of the season. Aigner and Wicha have competed together before, in this season's Rallye Automobile Monte C weiter >>
The mix of rough, twisty mountain stages, blistering heat and choking dust makes the BP Ultimate Acropolis Rally the toughest on the calendar. Cars have to be built extra-sturdy to cope with the surprisingly fast, but rock-strewn stages, while drivers and co-drivers have to be at peak physical fitness to cope with the pounding terrain and temperatures in the cockpit that top 50C. weiter >>
Former Ford and Skoda driver Toni Gardemeister will again miss an event this season that he was scheduled to enter. So far this season, Gardemeister has participated in only one event, Rallye Automobile Monte Carlo, where he finished with the final podium position. The Rallye de France-Tour de Corse will be the second event he will be forced to miss in a already unpredictable sea weiter >>
Karlsruhe (26.6.2005) – Der Mann ist weiterhin nicht zu stoppen: Citroën-Pilot Sebastién Loeb ließ seinen Kontrahenten erneut keine Chance und entschied auch die WM-Rallye Akropolis für sich. Der Titelverteidiger aus dem Elsaß sicherte sich damit beim achten von 16 Saisonläufen den sechsten Sieg und weiter >>
Reigning champion and current title favourite Sebastien Loeb re-wrote another page in the World Rally Championship's history books in a typically hot and incident-filled Acropolis Rally, winning by over a minute and a half to score a record-breaking fifth win in a row and a record-equalling sixth wi weiter >>
Young Finnish Ford privateer Mikko Hirvonen produced another sparkling time to win the final stage of the 2005 Acropolis Rally, as Citroen's reigning world champion Sebastien Loeb secured a record-breaking fifth rally win in a row. Hirvonen's pace earned him a superb fifth place overall, ahead of four factory cars.
Hirvonen was 5.4 seconds quicker over the 17.55km Perivol weiter >>
Ford privateer Mikko Hirvonen took his second win of the Acropolis Rally with a storming fastest time on the 34.58km Pyrgos stage to ensure his chances of hanging onto fifth place overall after a determined attack from factory Mitsubishi driver Harri Rovanpera. Citroen's Sebastien Loeb was second quickest and still set to win overall.
Hirvonen beat Loeb through the stage weiter >>
Ford's Toni Gardemeister took his first stage win of the Acropolis Rally as the final leg of the rough and rocky event got under way this morning. Rally leader and defending world champion Sebastien Loeb shows no real sign of easing off yet, however. The Citroen ace was second quickest and just 0.1s slower than Ford's team leader.
Gardemeister bolstered his advantage over weiter >>
Ford's Toni Gardemeister took his first stage win of the Acropolis Rally as the final leg of the rough and rocky event got under way this morning. Rally leader and defending world champion Sebastien Loeb shows no real sign of easing off yet, however. The Citroen ace was second quickest and just 0.1s slower than Ford's team leader.
Gardemeister bolstered his advantage over weiter >>
Reigning champion Sebastien Loeb says he's delighted with the way things are going on this weekend's Acropolis Rally after a trouble-free day in which he extended his lead over his nearest rival to 1m26s. The French Citroen ace topped the times on all eight of today's stages, and benefited from prob weiter >>
Ford's Toni Gardemeister is delighted to be in a strong second place at the end of the second leg of the Acropolis Rally, having moved up from fourth overnight, but he knows he'll have to be at his best on tomorrow's final leg if he is to hang onto the slot. Citroen's Carlos Sainz is just 7.7 seconds behind in third.
Gardemeister started the leg in fourth place and was st weiter >>
Double world champion Carlos Sainz looks content to settle for third on the Acropolis Rally, though he has not yet given up hope of relieving Toni Gardemeister of second over the four stages that form the final leg. Six points to back the seemingly inevitable win for team-mate Sebastien Loeb would satisfy both Sainz and Citroen.
The Spaniard began the day in third place o weiter >>
Reigning world champion Sebastien Loeb continued to increase his lead on the Acropolis Rally with a win on the second stage of the second leg. The Citroen star beat Peugeot's Marcus Gronholm through the stage by just under six seconds as the two former world champions left the rest floundering in their wakes.
Loeb's winning margin on the 24.45km Pavliani 1 stage of 5.7 se weiter >>
Reigning world champion Sebastien Loeb began today's second leg of the Acropolis Rally with a win on the short 7.71km Koumaritsi 1 stage to add just under a second to his overall lead over Peugeot's Marcus Gronholm. The Finn was second fastest on the stage behind Loeb's Citroen to consolidate his hol weiter >>
Title leader Sebastien Loeb made his big move on the final stage of the first leg of the Acropolis Rally, winning it by a full 13.4 seconds and taking the lead for the first time. Citroen's defending champion goes into the overnight halt with a 6.1s lead over Peugeot's Marcus Gronholm and the prospect weiter >>
Double champion Carlos Sainz took his first stage win since returning from retirement to move up to third place overall on the Acropolis Rally. It was a Citroen one-two on the second run through the 11.84km Rengini test, with Sebastien Loeb within a second of his team-mate and moving into second overall behind Peugeot's Marcus Gronholm.
Sainz completed the stage just 0.7 weiter >>
Peugeot's Marcus Gronholm regained the lead of the Acropolis Rally with fastest time on the first stage of today's second loop, the repeat run through the 18.44km Eleftherohori test. The Finn's predecessor in the lead, fellow countryman Mikko Hirvonen, was only eighth best in his privateer Fo weiter >>
Ford privateer Mikko Hirvonen followed up his win on the Acropolis Rally's third stage with the third best time on SS4, which earned the young Finnish privateer and his 2003-spec Ford Focus the overall rally lead. Citroen's Sebastien Loeb was fastest on the 32.55km stage from Elatia to Zeli to keep his Citroen in contention overall.
Loeb and team-mate Carlos Sainz were cl weiter >>
Finnish Ford privateer Mikko Hirvonen scored a shock win on the Acropolis Rally's third stage and moved into second overall in a repeat of the former works Subaru ace's Rally Italia Sardinia performance. Subaru's Petter Solberg bounced back to form with second best time, while Peugeot's Marcus Gronholm still leads the rally.
Hirvonen completed the first run through the 11 weiter >>
Peugeot's Marcus Gronholm topped the times on the first full stage of the Acropolis Rally to move into the rally lead. Reigning champion and title favourite Sebastien Loeb, who won yesterday's event-opening run around the 2.4km indoor superspecial in the Olympic stadium in Athens, was only fourth quickest and has dropped to third overall.
Second fastest was Ford's Toni Ga weiter >>
Reigning champion and current title favourite Sebastien Loeb gave his chances of taking a record-breaking fifth-win in a row on this weekend's Acropolis Rally a major boost by topping the times on the opening test of the event - the 2.4-kilometre run around the indoor superspecial in the Olympic sta weiter >>
Subaru star Petter Solberg has boosted his chances of ending Sebastien Loeb's run of success by topping the final shakedown for this weekend's Acropolis Rally in Greece. The Norwegian's 2m21.3s fastest time on the 4.1-kilometre Magnisia stage was 0.7s faster than the best of double world champi weiter >>
World Rally Championship title rivals Petter Solberg and Sebastien Loeb are gearing up for a fierce scrap on this weekend's Acropolis Rally, in what could be the most crucial round of the title fight so far. The Norwegian is keen to end Loeb's streak of four wins on the trot and close the Frenchman's 1 weiter >>
Skoda team boss Joan Sureda has said that the 60-second penalty that driver Janne Tuohino will have for the start of this weekend's Acropolis Rally won't hamper his chances of finishing in the top six on the Greek gravel event, and is worth the defecit as the Finn picked up three valuable points for the struggling team in Cyprus.
Tuohino used the new-for-2005 rally restar weiter >>
Citroen star Sebastien Loeb has admitted that he's pleased that team-mate Francois Duval will rejoin the French outfit from next month's Rally Argentina. Duval was dropped by Citroen after a poor start to the year, while double world champion Carlos Sainz was lured out of retirement to fill his place weiter >>
Mitsubishi's emerging gravel star, Gigi Galli, is confident that a lack of experience of this weekend's Acropolis Rally in Greece won't hamper his chances of repeating the podium-scoring potential he showed in Turkey. The Italian briefly led the most recent round of the World Rally Championship after topping the time on an early stage.
Mitsubishi has been going through so weiter >>
Works Ford drivers Toni Gardemeister and Roman Kresta are hoping for a dry Acropolis Rally in Greece this weekend after being given free reign by team boss Malcolm Wilson to push for a strong finish from the off. Gardemeister currently lies fifth in the drivers' standings, while Ford is third in the manufacturers' points.
Wilson has reiterated this week that he's keen for weiter >>
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