Sebastien Loeb extended his World Rally Championship lead to 31 points as he clinched his fourth win from this year’s six rallies in Greece.
Loeb’s third Acropolis Rally victory was not an easy one, as he had to overcome both a late puncture and stern challenges from both Ford drivers to secure the win.
Jari-Matti Latvala led early on, before losing time with an overshoot and handling issues. The Finn charged back to get within a second of Loeb again, only for a mistake on Saturday to cause a puncture and brake damage, leaving him four minutes off the lead by the end of the day. Latvala eventually finished third.
Petter Solberg initially lost ground with a tyre choice error, had a scare when he damaged the underside of his car, and then began carving back into Loeb’s lead only to crash out on Sunday’s first stage.
All of that left Loeb two minutes clear of Citroen team-mate Mikko Hirvonen, a sufficient margin to hold the lead even when he had to stop and change a punctured tyre with three stages to go.
Hirvonen lacked the pace to stay with the other frontrunners, so was pleased to complete a Citroen one-two ahead of Latvala.
Mads Ostberg recovered from a trip off the road on Friday to come back to fourth, ahead of a consistent Martin Prokop in 5th.
Arab drivers Saudi Yazeed Al Rahji and Qatari Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari had something to celebrate about as they both finished inside the points, 8th and 10th respectively, while Nasser Al-Attiyah’s mechanical issues put him out of the top 10.
Results after SS22: Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap 1. Sebastien Loeb Citroen 4h42m03.3s 2. Mikko Hirvonen Citroen + 40.0s 3. Jari-Matti Latvala Ford + 3m04.8s 4. Mads Ostberg Adapta Ford + 6m16.4s 5. Martin Prokop Czech Ford + 7m46.5s 6. Thierry Neuville Citroen Junior + 9m41.4s 7. Sebastien Ogier VW Skoda + 12m59.9s 8. Yazeed Al Rahji Yazeed Ford + 20m12.2s 9. Ott Tanak M-Sport Ford + 23m18.9s 10. Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari Seashore Mini + 28m40.5s
– Autosport