The final leg of the Acropolis Rally saw no surprises or twists, despite the fearsome reputation of the four stages that made up the end of the Greek event. The last 100 kilometres did not alter the leaderboard, with Marcus Gronholm too far behind Carlos Sainz to stand any hope of catching the Citroen driver. Instead Marcus sensibly chose to make sure of the points for fourth place. Markko Martin had no problems, but he is still looking for a way to find confidence in his 307 WRC.

Marcus Gronholm: “There was nothing we could do today; the only thing that could happen is that we made a mistake and went off. So I thought it was best just to bring the car home and make sure of the points. The roads were very rough and extremely dusty. It’s been a disappointing rally as we were leading for most of the first day and we would have had a chance to challenge for the win. Looking on the positive side, the performance of the car is better and this is what we have to concentrate on for the future.”

Markko Martin: “This has been a strange rally for us: we have had no real problems but we have struggled a bit to find the proper feeling in the car. On the whole our tyre choices have been fine and we have had no mechanical problems at all. We have been able to continue our record of finishing every rally so far this year, and with more time I hope to find a better feeling in the car.”

Jean-Pierre Nicolas: “The result does not quite tell the whole story, as this was our best rally since the start of the year in terms of pure performance. Marcus and the 307 WRC were fighting with Sebastien Loeb until a problem on leg two with a jubilee clip worth about two Euros. Now we have lost the lead of the constructors championship just as we pass the half-way point of the season. But there is still everything to play for. The difficult rallies are behind us, and we expect some strong performances at the next round of the championship, in Argentina.”

S.S 16 17 18 19MARCUS 3rd  4th  3rd  2nd MARKKO 9th  10th  9th  10th

Final Classification  :

1. Loeb  Citroën 4h12’53’’72. Gardemeister Ford  à 1’36’’23. Sainz  Citroën à 2’11’’14. Grönholm  Peugeot à 2’56’’45. Hirvonen  Ford  à 3’13’’26. Rovanperä  Mitsubishi à 3’44’’47. Galli  Mitsubishi à 5’19’’68. Märtin  Peugeot à 5’37’’5

Worldchampionship :

Drivers

1.Loeb  65pts2. Solberg  42pts3.Gardemeister 39pts4. Märtin  39pts5. Grönholm  37pts6. Rovanperä  16pts

Manufacturers

1. Citroën  84pts2. Peugeot  79pts3. Ford   57pts4. Subaru  47pts5. Mitsubishi  37pts6. Skoda    8pts