Sebastien Loeb and his co-driver Daniel Elena won the 2008 Acropolis Rally of Greece on Sunday to move into the lead of the Drivers' World Championship. The Total-Citroen team pair had no problems through the last day of the event, and crossed the finish ramp in Athens with an overall lead of 1min 9sec.
Today's victory is Loeb's second on the Greek round of the WRC series - which he last won in 2005 - and his fifth from the seven rallies of the season so far. Another maximum score in the drivers' contest moves Loeb one point ahead of the pre-rally leader Mikko Hirvonen, and closer to his goal of a fifth consecutive World Title
Petter Solberg of the Subaru World Rally Team finished second - his best result since Rally Portugal in 2007 - and was delighted with the pace of his new Impreza World Rally Car on its competitive debut.
Third place went to Mikko Hirvonen of the BP-Ford Abu-Dhabi World Rally Team. Despite slipping to second in the drivers' contest, The Ford Focus RS driver said the result was better than he though possible on Saturday.
Estonian Urmo Aava was fourth in his privately entered Citroen C4 WRC, and delighted to get the best WRC result of his career. Dani Sordo was fifth in the second Total-Citroen C4. Matthew Wilson of the Stobart VK M-Sport Ford team was sixth and collected three drivers' points.
The man who led the rally on the opening day, Jari-Matti Latvala, finished seventh after a series of problems on Saturday's stages. Henning Solberg ended eighth in another Stobart VK M-Sport Ford Focus. The Norwegian had started the day third, but was dogged by an engine problem, which eventually dropped him out of podium contention.
photo:SWRT
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| Petter Solberg driving the new Subaru Impreza to 2nd place. |
Petter Solberg of the Subaru World Rally Team finished second - his best result since Rally Portugal in 2007 - and was delighted with the pace of his new Impreza World Rally Car on its competitive debut.
Third place went to Mikko Hirvonen of the BP-Ford Abu-Dhabi World Rally Team. Despite slipping to second in the drivers' contest, The Ford Focus RS driver said the result was better than he though possible on Saturday.
Estonian Urmo Aava was fourth in his privately entered Citroen C4 WRC, and delighted to get the best WRC result of his career. Dani Sordo was fifth in the second Total-Citroen C4. Matthew Wilson of the Stobart VK M-Sport Ford team was sixth and collected three drivers' points.
The man who led the rally on the opening day, Jari-Matti Latvala, finished seventh after a series of problems on Saturday's stages. Henning Solberg ended eighth in another Stobart VK M-Sport Ford Focus. The Norwegian had started the day third, but was dogged by an engine problem, which eventually dropped him out of podium contention.
photo:SWRT