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| 2008 Acropolis Rally : WRC Round 7 of 15 : 30th May - 1st June In this issue: 1. Leg 2 Unofficial Leaderboard 2. Leg 2 News 4. Leg 2 Team by Team News 5. Remaining Event Schedule 1. Unofficial Leaderboard 1. S Loeb/D Elena FRA Citroen C4 2hr 48min 11.1sec 2. P Solberg/P Mills NOR Subaru Impreza 2hr 48min 39.8sec 3. H Solberg/C Menkerud NOR Ford Focus RS 2hr 49min 16.4sec 4. M Hirvonen/J Lehtinen FIN Ford Focus RS 2hr 51min 12.3sec 5. U Aava/K Sikk EST Citroen C4 2hr 52min 22.7sec 6. M Wilson/S Martin GBR Ford Focus RS 2hr 52min 33.9sec 7. D Sordo/M Marti ESP Citroen C4 2hr 53min 44.7sec 8. J-M Latvala/M Anttila FIN Ford Focus RS 2hr 57min 02.4sec 9. C Rautenbach/D Senior ZIM Citroen C4 2hr 57min 09.1sec 10 T Gardemeister/T Tuominen FIN Suzuki SX4 2hr 57min 24.1sec 2. Leg News Few drivers escaped without problems, including leader Sébastien Loeb (Citroen). The Frenchman lost the lead to team-mate Dani Sordo after puncturing on the second stage. He regained it this afternoon when Sordo lost six minutes with punctures of his own, sliding to seventh. Petter Solberg (Subaru) holds second just 28.7sec behind Loeb, ahead of brother Henning (Ford). Urmo Aava (Citroen) lies fifth behind Hirvonen, despite losing 2min 30osec with a puncture this morning and Stobart driver Matthew Wilson (Ford) is sixth. Chris Atkinson (Subaru) retired before the second stage with an electrical problem. Munchi's Aris Vovos (Ford) retired on the same test with a steering problem and Stobart driver Gigi Galli (Ford) failed to start the opening stage this afternoon with hydraulic troubles. Per-Gunnar Andersson (Suzuki) retired at the end of stage 11 with broken rear suspension and team-mate Toni Gardemeister dropped four minutes this afternoon with turbo troubles. The final day offers another 102.32km of gruelling competition. After starting at 05.50, drivers tackle two identical loops of three stages north-west of Athens before a second pass over the Tatoi super special stage on the edge of the service park. The finish takes place there at 15.03. 4. Team by Team News BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team http://ford.rallye-info.com/teams.asp?sid=2 BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team endured another difficult time during today's second leg of the Acropolis Rally of Greece, but both cars remain in points positions after a gruelling and dramatic day's competition. On a day when mere survival became drivers' primary ambition over the rock-strewn gravel tracks, Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen lie fourth in their Ford Focus RS World Rally Car with team-mates Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila eighth in a similar Focus RS. Competitors feared today's speed tests west of Athens could be car breakers and so they proved. The three special stages were already rough in the morning's first pass. Their condition deteriorated after the passage of almost 60 cars and rocks littered the tracks for the repeat run this afternoon, providing the sternest challenge for cars' suspensions. With shade temperatures again topping 30ºC, the mix of rough roads and extreme heat provided the toughest conditions yet for Pirelli's Scorpion tyres. Hirvonen was eager to forget last night's suspension troubles which dropped him to seventh. He started in style winning the opening 32.16km test, the longest and most feared of today's six stages, covering 119.12km. However, the 27-year-old Finn damaged his car's suspension and brakes in the next test and dropped 2min 30sec in the final two stages of the loop to fall to eighth. #3 : Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen: "It was my mistake," he admitted. "In a slow corner I slid wide and the car hit a bank. It seemed harmless but the impact broke the rear right brake disc. I isolated the brakes on that corner of the car and started the next stage with just three brakes. But 4km after the start the suspension broke and I finished the stage with virtually no brakes. I think the suspension must have been damaged in the previous stage but I didn't notice anything." The team replaced the rear differential and the suspension on all four corners in service before Hirvonen steered clear of trouble this afternoon to climb back to fourth, winning two more stages. "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. The stages are in better condition and my aim is simply to finish, not to attack," he said. #4 : Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila: Team-mate Latvala restarted in sixth after suspension problems last night. The 23-year-old Finn enjoyed a superb morning, winning one test and finishing second in the other two to climb to fourth, just 47.4sec off the lead. However, a turbo problem forced him to drive all three afternoon stages with no boost pressure. He lost about 8min to drop back to eighth overall. "I was at the start of the first stage this afternoon with the car in launch control mode when I heard a noise like pressure being released," he said. "The boost pipe from the turbo had burst and I had to drive all three stages with no boost. I tried to fix it after the first stage but it blew off again. I was unlucky but this rally hasn't been kind to me and I hope the next round in Turkey will be better. My aim tomorrow is to set good stage times and build my confidence to go there in two weeks. "I felt confident with the whole package this morning - me, the car and the tyres. The roads were rougher than yesterday so I drove sensibly to avoid punctures. I knew others were having problems so I drove steadily and more softly in the braking areas so as not to take risks," he added. #19 : Khalid Al Qassimi/Michael Orr: Abu Dhabi's Khalid Al Qassimi and Michael Orr lie 11th in another Focus RS, despite stalling at the start of stage 10 and spinning later in the test. "This is, alongside Sweden, the toughest rally I have done in the WRC, but for different reasons. Sweden was new terrain for me and a new test for my technique and ability. Acropolis is a test of both man and machine and to survive in this rally you have to stay focused and have a bit of luck with the car - hopefully mine is all being saved for tomorrow. These stages take so much out of you - it's as punishing on the drivers as it is on the cars. You have to make on-the-spot decisions about whether you want to push or back off," said Al Qassimi. Citroen Total World Rally Team http://citroen.rallye-info.com/teams.asp?sid=1 The second day of the 2008 Acropolis Rally, round seven of this year's World Rally Championship, proved every bit as punishing as many had feared. Although Citroën Total wasn't spared problems, it did have the satisfaction of seeing Sébastien Loeb/Daniel Elena and their C4 WRC end the day in front after a superb display of intelligent tyre management. Team-mates Dani Sordo/Marc Martí are seventh, while Urmo Aava/Kuldar Sikk and Conrad Rautenbach/David Senior are fifth and ninth respectively in their PH-Sport/Citroën Sport Technologies-run C4 WRCs. The second loop turned out to be exceptionally difficult and produced a cascade of retirements and mechanical problems. The Citroën camp didn't come out of the afternoon entirely unscathed… #1 : Sebastien Loeb/Daniel Elena: Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena agreed wholeheartedly with that analysis. "What a morning," commented Seb as he climbed out of his C4 at the lunchtime service halt. "We saw it all: after a bout of road-sweeping on SS8, which didn't offer any grip at all, we went on to pick up a rear-left puncture on the following stage simply keeping to the middle of the road! A right-hand corner and… 'pffft', a flat tyre! It was only on SS10 that we didn't have any unpleasant surprises." "Given how incredibly punishing the stages are, the fact that we could only use one type of tyre called for some careful tyre management over today's second loop," explained the defending World Champion this evening, his face still marked by the day's toil. "After my experience here last year, it didn't take me long to grasp that the most important thing was to reach the finish on four wheels! We came through it OK, but we had to look after our tyres every inch of the way. We are still in the lead, so that means we face still more 'road-sweeping' tomorrow. Given that our advantage over the crews in second and third places isn't that big, this rally isn't at all over yet!" #2 : Daniel Sordo/Marc Marti: The morning's story was different, however, for Dani Sordo and Marc Martí who inherited top spot after Seb's puncture. "It was tough in places trying to find the ideal pace, but it's nice to be leading," recognised the Spaniard. "It's OK to push hard over the smoother portions, but you've got to decide how best to deal with the rougher parts. Do you drive flat out and run the risk of puncturing and damaging the car, or do you lift… and lose time? It's not easy to find the ideal compromise between the two, but it went well this morning. We'll see how it goes this afternoon…" "We hardly had any rubber left on our tyres going into the final stage," related Dani, "but we managed to make it back to service. We'll see tomorrow what tactics to adopt to perhaps try to score more points." Subaru World Rally Team http://subaru.rallye-info.com/teams.asp?sid=5 The Impreza WRC2008 gave a taste today of what is to come for the Subaru World Rally Team as Petter Solberg and Phil Mills delivered a solid performance to finish second overall, and a mere 28.7 seconds from the lead. It is the great step forward the team have been working so hard to achieve on the new car's debut rally. It was a very strong start for both Impreza WRC2008s this morning. An exuberant Solberg and Mills were fastest for most of the opening stage, and Atkinson and Prévot were second fastest only to their team-mates at the mid-point. #5 : Petter Solberg/Phil Mills: Solberg's fast yet measured pace paid dividends as the Norwegian stayed strong until the end, chasing down Citroen's Dani Sordo all afternoon to grab second in the final stage. "It's been an incredible day. Second is not bad, not bad at all!" Solberg said. "There have been big expectations, and this is so important for me, but even more important for Subaru, the team and all the fans. There is more to come, and I wasn't taking any risks today, but this car will win definitely. That's for sure! We'll take it step by step as it is a long day tomorrow and anything can happen. My brother is third also - it's not very often that two brothers are on the podium!" #6 : Chris Atkinson/Stephane Prevot: Team-mates Chris Atkinson and Stéphane Prévot were less fortunate than the joyous younger sibling, although it was neither rocks nor tyres that spelled their end. After matching the times of the front-runners during the day's opener, it was to be the smallest of teething problems that befell the Impreza. Atkinson was unable to start his car before the second test of the day with a simple electrical problem with the starter motor. He and Prévot tried desperately but were unable to continue the remaining stages. The duo will restart tomorrow morning for the final day of competition. "It's disappointing to retire of course, but we now use tomorrow to do more testing" commented Chris Atkinson. "It'll be rough so we have to look after the car, but we'll be pushing for sure." Stobart VK M-Sport Ford World Rally Team http://ford.rallye-info.com/teams.asp?sid=2 With one day remaining in this year's Acropolis Rally of Greece, Henning Solberg/Cato Menkerud sit pretty for the Stobart VK M-Sport Ford rally team occupying a podium position in third. Team-mates Matthew Wilson/Scott Martin have also had an incredible day moving from their overnight position of 12th to sixth overall. After retiring from yesterday's leg Gigi Galli/Giovanni Bernacchini kicked off with a bang this morning achieving two fastest stage times out of a possible three. Unfortunately a hydraulic concern this afternoon forced him to retire and Galli will continue tomorrow under SupeRally regulations still with a chance to score manufacturer points for his Stobart team. Solberg drove a superb and intelligent day preserving his Pirelli Scorpion tyres well as he posted top-five stage times throughout the day. The only problem was an engine issue when it cut out on both stage 9 and 10 and then again a few times post-service. Fortunately this did not greatly affect the performance or times set by the Norwegian but the issue will be checked by his technicians in service tonight before his final dash for the podium tomorrow. Wilson's advance of six places on his overnight position sees him just 11.2 seconds behind fifth placed Urmo Aava. The 21-year-old set a multitude of top-10 stage times including a fifth fastest on stage 12. Unfortunately the last stage of this morning's loop was not the best for the Brit who spun on a fast section of the 10.8 kilometre test then picked up a puncture four kilometres from the end. #7 : Henning Solberg/Cato Menkerud: "I'm in third, can you believe it? I was very excited on the last stage and was praying my car would make it through with no problem. It's been a fantastic day for me and the conditions we faced on those three stages were the worst I have seen for a while. We had a small problem with the engine which dropped us some time and played with my concentration but to end the day on the podium is a great result and hopefully we can maintain this through tomorrow." #8 : Gigi Galli/Giovanni Bernacchini: "We started off this morning losing some time by getting caught in Rautenbach's dust but the car and tyres felt really good so we pushed in the next two stages and it was great to set two fastest stage times. However on the way to the first stage after service I heard a bang and felt some vibration in the car. We lost hydraulic pressure which meant no gear changes and no diffs so I decided it was too unsafe to attempt these three stages and I didn't want to damage the car even more with Turkey only two weeks away." #16 : Matthew Wilson/Scott Martin: "My plan today was to finish without any problem and drive to the conditions and I knew if we stayed out of trouble we would move up the leaderboard. In the long stage it was obvious people were having problems so we backed off and made sure we finished without any damage. We did have some problems with two slow punctures and a spin but fortunately didn't drop much time because of this. I haven't been the fastest today but making up six places in six stages proves we were the most consistent. This has been a pretty good day." Suzuki World Rally Team http://suzuki.rallye-info.com/teams.asp?sid=12 It has been a day of mixed fortunes for the Suzuki World Rally Team. At one stage, both SX4 WRCs of P-G Andersson and Toni Gardemeister were inside the top 10, with Andersson was running sixth after an agonisingly tough second run through the Agii Theodori test. The second day of this Acropolis Rally had been billed as one of the toughest of the year so far. It certainly lived up to that, with cars succumbing to the searing heat and exceptionally twisty and rocky roads. Andersson failed to finish the day after his SX4 WRC hit suspension trouble in the day¹s penultimate test. Gardemeister battled on to ensure Suzuki retained a presence inside the top 10 as this harshest of rallies moved into the final day. #11 : Toni Gardemeister/Tomi Tuominen: The day was tough. After we had made some good progress with the engine this morning, we had a problem in the afternoon which took some of the power away, but we¹re here and ready to push on to the finish tomorrow. #12 : Per-Gunnar Andersson/Jonas Andersson: I was really pleased with this morning. The car was running well, and I was able to push a little bit. This afternoon¹s suspension problems were a real shame. We¹d come through the longest and roughest stage sixth overall and things were looking really good. It just shows what a tough event this one is. But we will be back on track again tomorrow. 5. Remaing Event Schedule Sunday 1 June: Day 3 Athens - Athens Serv F Tatoi (15 mins) 05.50 SS14 Avlonas 1 20.00km 06.48 SS15 Assopia 1 17.87km 07.27 SS16 Aghia Sotira 1 15.20km 08.30 Serv G Tatoi (30 mins) 09.59 SS17 Avlonas 2 20.00km 11.12 SS18 Assopia 2 17.87km 11.51 SS19 Aghia Sotira 2 15.20km 12.54 SS20 SSS Tatoi 2 4.60km 14.30 Serv H Tatoi (10 mins) 14.45 Finish Tatoi 15.03 |