Sebastien Loeb currently holds the lead of the 2012 Acropolis Rally, just 6.5s clear of 2nd placed Jari-Matti Latvala.
Loeb had looked like he was beginning to take control of the event as his Citroen pulled away during the second of three Friday loops. Latvala, though, was in better form through the day’s final three stages, and was able to trim Loeb’s lead down again.
Ford now holds second and third places, with Petter Solberg recovering from his midday damage to reclaim third place from Mikko Hirvonen’s Citroen.
Ostberg’s off-course moment dropped him from sixth to eighth, just ahead of the Skodas of Sebastien Ogier and Andreas Mikkelsen.
Thierry Neuville’s broken driveshaft cost him more than five minutes, with Ott Tanak retiring from seventh, and Evgeny Novikov having to fix both a turbo problem and a loose gear selector.
Novikov still managed to end the day in fifth, with the other dramas lifting Martin Prokop (Czech Ford) and Nasser Al-Attiyah (Qatar Citroen) to sixth and seventh.
Leading positions after SS9: Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap 1. Sebastien Loeb Citroen 2h14m01.3s 2. Jari-Matti Latvala Ford + 6.5s 3. Petter Solberg Ford + 17.7s 4. Mikko Hirvonen Citroen + 49.6s 5. Evgeny Novikov M-Sport Ford + 3m54.9s 6. Martin Prokop Czech Ford + 4m46.7s 7. Nasser Al-Attiyah Qatar Citroen + 4m56.9s 8. Mads Ostberg Adapta Ford + 5m14.6s 9. Sebastien Ogier VW Skoda + 5m27.2s 10. Andreas Mikkelsen VW Skoda + 6m31.0s