ACROPOLIS RALLY DAY 2
After a long and difficult day, Sébastien Loeb / Daniel Elena and Sébastien Ogier / Julien Ingrassia are in thelead of the Acropolis Rally after closing the gap that separated them from Petter Solberg / Chris Pattersonon the opening day of the rally. The Citroën Total World Rally Team crews are separated by only 2.2s, whichpromises another final day full of suspense during the hird and last leg of the Greek round of the FIA World Rally Championship!
The second leg of the Acropolis Rally was the same distance as the previous day and began midmorning.After a quick stop in the Loutraki service park, the crews tackled a series of three longstages in the Peloponnese.
Sébastien Ogier was fourth overall at the end of the first day, and the Frenchman took advantageof his favourable starting position on the road to put on a stunning performance. In the first stageof the day, he overtook Mikko Hirvonen and his team-mate Sébastien Loeb, and the Citroën TotalWorld Rally Team driver ate into the gap separating him from the leader, Petter Solberg. When hecame back to the service park he was only 5.4s behind the Norwegian. “I already drove thesestages in 2009 and I liked them much more than yesterday’s ones,” he explained. “I felt moreconfident and I was able to push a lot harder. I thought that it would be much more difficult toclose the gap to Petter, but we pulled back a second per kilometer. We’re back in the running forvictory.”
Loeb too was still in the hunt for victory, as he was in third place 15 seconds behind: “The waywe’ve closed the gap to Petter shows just how penalizing cleaning can be for the driver first out onthe road. I know what I’m talking about, and I too had to cope with this handicap in certainportions.”
After a 30-minute halt the crews went through the stages a second time. In stifling heat of around40°, men and machines were put to a severe test. In SS10, Ogier took the lead from Solberg, andLoeb overtook the Norwegian in the next stage. The two Citroën Total World Rally Team DS3WRCs rejoined the service park in the first two places separated by 15.4s.
“The day’s not over yet as we still have a stage left to do - at night, what’s more!” said Ogier. “It’snot something we’re used to, and I don’t really know what to expect. I’m going to try and increasemy lead over Seb. I reckon I need around twenty seconds to be able to tackle the third day in aconfident frame of mind.”Loeb set the quickest time in Nea Politia while Ogier was quickly enveloped in a cloud of dust.“Despite a problem with the split times system in Ogier’s car, we realized that he wouldn’t have thelead he wanted at the end of this stage,” explained Olivier Quesnel, the Citroên Racing TeamPrincipal. “We gave him a target time to slot in just behind Loeb who decided to push to themaximum.”
The Citroën Total World Rally Team drivers, separated by 2.2s, will battle for victory in the thirdand final leg as will Petter Solberg and Mikko Hirvonen who are only some twenty seconds behindthe two Frenchmen.
FiguresSébastien Loeb / Daniel Elena Sébastien Ogier / Julien IngrassiaSS7: Klenia Mycenae 1 (17,41 km) 2nd +6’’0 3rd +40’’3 1st 2nd +39’’9SS8: Ghymno 1 (26,28 km) 2nd +2’’7 3rd +22’’9 1st 2nd +19’’8SS9: Kefalari 1 (18,40 km) 3rd +6’’4 3rd +15’’0 1st 2nd +5’’4SS10: Klenia Mycenae 2 (17,41 km) 3rd +6’’4 3rd +13’’4 2nd +2’’6 1stSS11: Ghymno 2 (26,28 km) 1st 2nd +11’’3 2nd +2’’1 1stSS12: Kefalari 2 (18,40 km) 2nd +3’’8 2nd +15’’1 1st 1stSS13: Nea Politia (17,71 km) 1st 1st 4th + 17.3s 2nd + 2.2sFastest times in the stagesDay 1 – SS1 to 4: Petter Solberg (Citroën DS3) – SS5: Sébastien Ogier (Citroën DS3) – SS6: SébastienLoeb (Citroën DS3).Day2 – SS7 to 9: Ogier – SS10: Jari-Matti Latvala (Ford Fiesta) – SS11: Loeb – SS12: Ogier – SS13: Loeb.Best performers: Ogier, 5 fastest times– P. Solberg, 4 – Loeb, 3 – Latvala, 1.Leaders: SS1 to 9: P. Solberg – SS12: Ogier – SS13: Loeb
Overall classification Day 21 P. Solberg / C. Patterson Citroën DS3 WRC 3h 20m 27.6s2 S. Loeb / D. Elena Citroën DS3 WRC + 2 .2s3 M. Hirvonen / J. Lehtinen Ford Fiesta RS WRC + 20.9s4 S. Ogier / J. Ingrassia Citroën DS3 WRC + 22.4s5 H. Solberg / I. Minor Ford Fiesta RS WRC + 3m 58.9s6 M. Wilson / S. Martin Ford Fiesta RS WRC + 5m 30.2s7 O. Tanak / K. Sikk Ford Fiesta S2000 +6m 55.4s8 JM. Latvala / M. Anttila Ford Fiesta RS WRC + 121m2. 2255..77ss9 J. Haninen / MA. Markkula Skoda Fabia S2000 + 13m 16.3s10 K. Räikkönen / K. Lindström Citroën DS3 WRC + 15.35.7s
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