NEWS ARTICLE
2008 Acropolis Rally, Greece
Day One
The first stage of the Acropolis Rally saw Jari-Matti Latvala take advantage of his running order slot and post the fastest time 5.2 seconds faster than Dani Sordo and in joint third was Sebastien Loeb and Mikko Hirvonen. On this stage Sordo reported that he his engine was overheating, which meant his time was all the more impressive.
The second stage saw Loeb claim a somewhat surprise fastest time despite running second on the road. Sordo was once more second fastest although only by 0.3 seconds behind while Latvala was a further 4 seconds back. After having good runs on both the Jordanian and Italian rounds Gigi Galli retired on stage 2 after clipping a rock and the impact broke the front right track control arm in the suspension, which also resulted in damaging the driveshaft, which came out of the gearbox.
Stage 3 and Latvala again was fastest from Loeb but it was only by 2.7 seconds. Sordo was 5 seconds slower, Petter Solberg continued an encouraging start in the new Impreza only a further 5.8 behind Sordo and was followed by championship leader Hirvonen only 0.4 seconds back from the Norwegian. On the fourth stage it was Loeb from Sordo by 1.3 seconds and Hirvonen was third only 3.3 behind Sordo. Latvala had a disappointing run and lost 10.8 seconds after a front left puncture. The fifth stage saw the Citroens dominate with Loeb leading Sordo by 3.9 seconds. Latvala was third 4.5 seconds off the lead.
Stage 6 saw Loeb top the timesheets while Latvala was second 1.7 seconds back then Sordo 8.3 back from his team mate. The final stage, although the shortest of the day was to provide drama, with both Hirvonen and Latvala hitting the same rock which cost them 50 seconds and a minute respectively. The winner of the stage was Estonian Urmo Aava in a privately entered Citroen C4.
The reaction of Hirvonen was that “It was so rough and the damage could have happened anywhere. Just before the finish, I braked going into a corner and the front right compression strut broke. We tried to fix it after the finish but I had to drive slowly through the final stage” Latvala stated “I was doing about 150kph when I hit it and the impact damaged the rear right suspension. I didn't see the rock until I hit it. It was a very rough stage and the rock wasn't in my pace notes. ”
Petter Solberg was glowing after the first day of competitive action for the new Impreza, stating “The car has so much potential! I am happy with the way today has gone, and it is so important for the team to be third on a very special day for us. We have had no problems all day, which is very good. The car is good to drive, and the team has worked so hard to get it here so it is great to be third.”
End of Day One
| 1 Sebastien Loeb | Citroen C4 | 1h 21m 34.8s |
| 2 Dani Sordo | Citroen C4 | + 15.7s |
| 3 Petter Solberg | Subaru Impreza | + 59.1s |
4 Henning Solberg |
Ford Focus | + 1m 6.0s |
| 5 Urmo Aava | Citroen C4 | + 1m 15.5s |
| 6 Jari-Matti Latvala | Ford Focus | + 1m 18.9s |
| 7 Mikko Hirvonen | Ford Focus | + 1m 36.4s |
| 8 Chris Atkinson | Subaru Impreza | + 1m 36.8s |
| 9 Per-Gunnar Andersson | Suzuki SX4 | + 2m 23.8s |
| Federico Villagra | Ford Focus | + 2m 29.3s |
Day Two
The second day of the rock strewn roads of Greece once more challenged the crews and they covered over 115 kilometres of competitive action. The first stage provided a question. Was this the start to a Ford fightback as Hirvonen went fastest from Latvala by 1.8 seconds. Loeb, hampered with being first on the road, dropped 16 seconds while Sordo was only 9.5 back from Hirvonen. Petter Solberg was third 4.6 seconds back.
Stage 9 and the roads bit back, this time on Loeb, who picked up a puncture that cost him the lead and which gave Sordo had a gap of nearly 20 seconds. Gigi Galli returned to the fray under Super Rally rules and went fastest ahead of Latvala by 3 tenths of a second. Chris Atkinson retired before the start of the second stage of the day with an electrical problem that affected his starter motor. Hirvonen damaged his suspension on this test, which lost him more time and by the end of these stages in the loop it had cost him two and a half minutes.
Stage 10 saw Galli claim his second fastest time in a row although only 0.4 seconds ahead of Loeb. Sordo was fifth fastest but conceded three seconds to his team-mate. Latvala was third. Galli did not restart the afternoon after hydraulic problems.
Having had brake and suspension problems fixed at service it was Hirvonen who went fastest by 3.2 seconds ahead of Petter Solberg. Per-Gunnar Andersson retired at the end of this stage with a broken rear suspension – a disappointing end for the Suzuki driver.
Stage 12, the penultimate stage of the day saw Urmo Aava claim fastest time after losing 2 and a half minutes this morning with a puncture. On this stage Sordo dropped to second place having had two punctures which promoted his team mate Loeb to first overall by 12.6 seconds.
The final stage of the day, stage 13 saw Sordo have yet more problems with tyres and dropped from second to seventh. Fastest on the test was Hirvonen ahead of Loeb by 4.4 seconds. Latvala dropped over a minute and added to the time losses he already incurred saw him end the day in eighth after losing around eight minutes in total.
Hirvonen reflected on the day that “My position could have been much worse because I've never driven a rally this rough. I saved the car and tyres this afternoon to come home in one piece. I'm sure everyone will take it easier tomorrow and not take risks.”
Petter Solberg was the main beneficiary climbing up to second place in the brand new Impreza “There have been big expectations, and this is so important for me, but even more important for Subaru, the team and all the fans. We'll take it step by step as it is a long day tomorrow and anything can happen.”
End of Day Two
| 1 Sebastien Loeb | Citroen C4 | 2h 48m 11.1s |
| 2 Petter Solberg | Subaru Impreza | + 28.7s |
| 3 Henning Solberg | Ford Focus | + 1m 5.3s |
| 4 Mikko Hirvonen | Ford Focus | + 3m 1.2s |
| 5 Urmo Aava | Citroen C4 | + 4m 11.6s |
| 6 Matthew Wilson | Ford Focus | + 4m 22.8s |
| 7 Dani Sordo | Citroen C4 | + 5m 33.6s |
| 8 Jari-Matti Latvala | Ford Focus | + 8m 51.3s |
| 9 Conrad Rautenbach | Citroen C4 | + 8m 58.3s |
| 10 Toni Gardemeister | Suzuki SX4 | + 9m 13.0s |
Day Three
Day 3 of the Acropolis Rally saw the first fastest time for the new Impreza but it was Chris Atkinson who set the time. He went fastest by 6.4 seconds from Latvala and third place on the stage went to Loeb 7.5 seconds slower.
Stage 15 - Latvala recorded the fastest time by 6.9 seconds from Galli and third was Hirvonen 8.7 seconds back. Stage 16 saw Galli topping the timesheets with Latvala second only 1.5 seconds back and then Hirvonen 5.3 seconds back. Henning Solberg was having problems with electrical problems, which meant the engine was cutting out intermittently.
It was on stage 17 that Henning Solberg’s problems dropped him behind Hirvonen and overall the Norwegian dropped out of the points scoring positions. Fastest through the stage was Galli, again ahead of Latvala and Sordo.
Stages 18 and 19 were both won by Latvala. On the first he had a gap of over 10 seconds back to Sordo and 12.6 ahead of his team-mate Hirvonen. On 19 the gap was 9.3 seconds to the privateer Urmo Aava who was continuing his impressive run.
The final stage of a gruelling Acropolis Rally was won by Sordo only 0.2 seconds ahead of Hirvonen and Mads Ostberg who was only 1.1 seconds back. The final result saw Loeb claim the win after staying out of trouble on the last day which meant that he now has chalked up 41 wins.
He reflected “It was a tough and long weekend but in the circumstances it was almost a perfect rally, It's been hard for all of us driving in such rough conditions. It wasn't just a question of going fast; instead it was all about knowing where to push and where to slow down” Loeb now leads the championship by a point from Hirvonen and Citroen have closed the gap to Ford to only two points in the manufacturers championship.
The drive from Petter Solberg gained him second place on the maiden competitive run of the new Impreza and he stated “Ah! This is just incredible! I am so, so pleased. I can't put it into words. It is so good to be back here again, and so important. I'm so happy for the team who've put in so much work to get this car ready”
Third was reward for a challenging run for Hirvonen “It's a nice surprise to be on the podium. It would have been difficult to beat Sébastien here but without our problems it would have been a good fight.”
Urmo Aava achieved his best result and was understandably delighted “This has been the best rally of my life. I have taken two stage wins and lots of third and fourth fastest times.” Dani Sordo commented on his fifth place that “I'm happy with fifth because it didn't look likely yesterday. It's important for Citroen in the manufacturers' championship. I have a good feeling in the car now, and I'm feeling confident ahead of the next rally in Turkey”
The general consensus and feedback from the drivers and teams, was best summed up by Matthew Wilson when he stated that “I really had to use my head here; the conditions today were so rough they were almost unbelievable. From what I've heard this was just like the Acropolis was years ago - a real car breaker”
Final standings
| 1 Sebastien Loeb | Citroen C4 | 3h 54m 54.7s |
| 2 Petter Solberg | Subaru Impreza | + 1m 9.5s |
| 3 Mikko Hirvonen | Ford Focus | + 1m 56.1s |
| 4 Urmo Aava | Citroen C4 | + 4m 19.7s |
| 5 Dani Sordo | Citroen C4 | + 4m 49.4s |
| 6 Matthew Wilson | Ford Focus | + 6m 11.3s |
| 7 Jari-Matti Latvala | Ford Focus | + 6m 47.5s |
| 8 Henning Solberg | Ford Focus | + 9m 14.0s |
| 9 Toni Gardemeister | Suzuki SX4 | + 10m 13.8s |
| 10 Conrad Rautenbach | Citroen C4 | + 13m 29.1s |
All results subject to FIA approval.
Thanks to Ford, Citroen and Subaru World Rally Teams for the pictures
Ciarán McBride