Acropolis Rally ***Spoiler***

[gti138]

After what looked like a great start for the Pug's Gronholm had a spin and now Solberg is about 30 Sec's out in front. So far Gronholm won SS1 & 3, Rovanpera won SS2 (he's turning out to be a much better choice than Freddy Loix!) and Solberg has won SS4, SS5 & SS6

Seb is in 5th in the Xsara and Sainz has been given a 2:10 penalty for being 13 mins late at a time control and a further 10sec penalty for being 1 min late at another control. Not his day really! At least he's still running!

Interesting to note is that they are trialing some of the "super rally" rules at this years rally. Any cars that retire during the rally can re-start the next day but wont be able to collect any points. Gives the punters a bit more of a spectacle! Next year they WRC will adopt a format similar to what happens here. They will break the event into 3 mini events with points awarded for each day.

 

[XTC]

They will break the event into 3 mini events with points awarded for each day.

I hope not ... while good for the fans, WRC is about being fast, consistant and most of all, lasting the distance against adversity. Those teams will be able to change the whole car after everyday (in under 60 mins too !)

- XTC206 -

 

[XTC]

Gronholm out !

2004 Acropolis Rally, Round 6 of 16 - June 4-6th 2004

- Leg 2 Unofficial Results
- Leg 2 News
- Remaining Event Timetable
- Weather Forecast
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Leg 2 Unofficial Results

1. Solberg / Mills Subaru Impreza WRC2004 3:25:49.5
2.Rovanpera / Pietilainen Peugeot 307 WRC + 28.5
3. Loeb / Elena Citroen Xsara WRC + 37.3
4. Duval / Prevot Ford Focus WRC + 46.9
5. Carlsson / Andersson Peugeot 206 WRC + 4:08.8
6. Panizzi / Panizzi Mitsubishi Lancer WRC + 4:43.2
7. Stohl / Minor Peugeot 206 WRC + 5:50.3
8. Tuohino / Aho Ford Focus WRC + 8:03.3
9. Vovos / Em Ford Focus WRC + 8:31.8
10. Warmbold / Price Ford Focus WRC + 12:27.2

Leg 2 News

Leader Petter Solberg (Subaru) extended his advantage until a brake
problem meant he drove most of the longest test of the rally with only
the handbrake working. He lost 25 seconds but ended with a 58.5sec
lead. The fight for second was tight. Harri Rovanperä (Peugeot) lost
second on stage 11 after he suffered a large cut on the tread of a tyre.
However, he regained it on the next stage and remained there, setting
two fastest times.

Sebastien Loeb (Citroen) benefited from an improved road position to
become the Finn's closest challenger. He is 8.8sec behind. Behind
Duval is private entrant Daniel Carlsson and Gilles Panizzi
(Mitsubishi), the Frenchman losing time with handbrake problems and a
lack of power this morning. Mikko Hirvonen (Subaru) climbed to eighth
before rolling and damaging his car's cooling system on the penultimate
stage. He dropped to 16th. Carlos Sainz (Citroen) recovered to 31st
after yesterday's problems and the Spaniard remains in the manufacturer
points.

Marcus Grönholm (Peugeot), lying fourth, broke his car's left rear
suspension after hitting a rock near the end of the opening stage. He
tried to make repairs but retired shortly after the start of the next
test.

The third and final leg of the Acropolis Rally starts tomorrow at
0630hrs, when cars will leave Lamia parc ferme. Crews will travel north
west of the single service park in Lamia to contest six further rough
gravel stages (a loop of three repeated), and a final 98.50 competitive
kilometres. The winning car is expected to cross the finish ramp at
1453hrs.

Subaru

Ahead of tomorrow's third and final Leg of the Acropolis rally of
Greece, Subaru driver Petter Solberg holds the overall rally lead by a
margin of 28.5 seconds. Over today's seven stages, Solberg drove his
Impreza WRC2004 to three outright stage wins and at one point extended
his lead to 1 minute 23 seconds. Despite losing some of this advantage
with a brake problem and a 30 second time penalty for a minor technical
infringement, Solberg remains ideally positioned ahead of the remaining
98 stage kilometres. 23-year-old Mikko Hirvonen's encouraging
performance on the rally came to an unfortunate end on the penultimate
stage, when his car collided with a large rock in the road.

Petter Solberg / Phil Mills: "Today I've been keeping one eye on the
split times and trying to keep myself out of trouble. On the whole it's
been a very good day but there's still a long way to go before we can
think about a party. I was a bit nervous about the brake problem
earlier, but I'm lucky there was a service straight after and apart from
that things have been perfect. Tomorrow is bound to be a very tough day
- I have butterflies in my stomach just thinking about it. I do like a
good battle and still prefer to push flat-out all the time, rather than
having to be clever about my speed, but it's a strategy I must learn."

Mikko Hirvonen / Jarmo Lehtinen: Obviously I'm very disappointed to have
finished like this, especially as I felt I was making good progress with
my driving, but when I came around the corner there was just nothing I
could do to miss the rock. Still, there have been plenty of good things
to come out of this rally, and looking ahead to Turkey for sure I'll try
to keep the speed, and use the performance of the car to achieve a
better result there.

Peugeot

Peugeot driver Harri Rovanpera has finished leg two of the Acropolis
Rally in second place, and is aiming for a strong finish to the Greek
event tomorrow. Marcus Gronholm was unfortunately forced to retire on
the second stage of the day, following some suspension damage against a
rock.

Marcus Gronhölm / Timo Rautiainen: "It's a big disappointment for me,
and unfortunately it was just my fault," said Marcus. "I slid a bit wide
on a corner at the very end of the stage, and hit a rock with the left
rear wheel. That damaged the lower suspension triangle, and I knew it
would be difficult to carry on – especially as there were three stages
left to run before service. Eventually the differential ran out of oil
and we stopped."

Harri Rovanperä / Risto Pietiläinen: "Today has been very good," said
Harri. "As always, conditions were quite tricky and hot but I tried to
drive as naturally as possible and my times were competitive. The car
has not given us the slightest problem all day, but the cut tyre that we
had in the morning was a bit of a mystery – I don't think I hit
anything. The biggest difficulty on the Acropolis is all the rocks: you
have to be very careful to avoid them."

Citroen

Sébastien Loeb, Daniel Elena and their Xsara WRC have moved up two
places today, rising from fifth to third position. Out of the fight for
the overall win due to yesterday's misadventure, Carlos Sainz and Marc
Marti have fulfilled their double mission with exemplary
conscientiousness : chasing more Manufacturers' points while testing
tyres and other options to give the team more information and hence to
help Sébastien.


Sébastien Loeb / Daniel Elena: "I pushed hard all day, and I will
continue tomorrow,” a determined Seb said during the evening's service
time. “My Xsara is perfect, second place is within reach, and I will do
everything I can to claim it…”

Carlos Sainz / Marc Marti: In sixteenth position according to today's
starting order, Carlos Sainz was also able to take advantage of good
road conditions, which allowed him to adopt a steady pace. With no
illusions concerning his eventual classification, the Spaniard has
placed himself entirely at the team's disposal. "It's quite normal. The
needs of Citroën come first. I know the importance of the Manufacturers'
Championship, and that every point counts in this very close
competition! "

Ford

Ford BP Rallye Sport drivers François Duval and Stéphane Prévot finished
today's second leg of the Acropolis Rally in fourth after a thrilling
three-car battle for second place throughout the day. Their Ford Focus
RS World Rally Car constantly traded seconds and places with Harri
Rovanperä and Sebastien Loeb during a second demanding day of driving
over rocky gravel tracks in the mountains of central Greece. Today
marked the introduction of the experimental 'SupeRally' system, which
allows retired cars to re-start subsequent legs. The system is expected
to be introduced into the championship from 2005 with points awarded on
each leg. However, it will be used until the end of the 2004 season
with no points allocated to those cars that rejoin. Ford BP drivers
Markko Märtin and Michael Park took advantage of its introduction to
carry out some testing on their Castrol-backed Focus RS following
yesterday's retirement. They tested shock absorbers and Michelin's new
TDE hot weather, rough surface tyre, although Märtin admitted it was
hard to motivate himself.

Markko Martin / Michael Park: "It's difficult to raise your game when
there is nothing to fight for," he said. "To set fastest times you have
to be in competition mode. It was also hard to try new parts because in
an ideal test you drive the same road again and again to make
comparisons, which obviously we can't do here on a rally."

Francios Duval / Stefan Prevot: "It was a good, but difficult, morning
for us because some of the stages were new to me," said Duval. "It was
important not to have major problems because there was no opportunity to
repair them. We had no big trouble, although we hit a big stone near
the end of stage 11. We also landed heavily after a jump two stages
later and for the rest of the stage the steering didn't feel right."
The team replaced the steering arms and realigned the geometry in
service."

Mitsubishi

The Mitsubishi Motors Motor Sports crew of Gilles Panizzi/Hervé Panizzi
continue to fight for points in the Acropolis Rally and the Lancer WRC04
duo hold sixth position at the end of the second leg. Team-mates "Dani"
Solà and Xavier Amigo rejoined the event this morning under the new
’SUPERally’ regulations and, while not classified in the overall
results, are gaining vital knowledge of the car and conditions.

Gilles Panizzi / Herve Panizzi: "I have to say I am very happy this
evening", said Gilles at the final service in Lamia. "Look at the car in
front of me; the triple World Championship-winning Peugeot 206. Our car
was born six months ago and today we have set the same times as the 206.
I am very very happy for this and I continue to do the maximum".

Dani Sola / Xavier Amigo: "Maybe eight or nine kilometers into the stage
the gearbox broke and we only had first and second gears. With another
20 kilometers to the end, and the following two stages to run, we
obviously struggled. I am beginning to feel like I have the car in my
hands though and my confidence is growing", added the Spaniard. "I want
more to understand what is going on and why and these regulations are
giving us that opportunity, so I am happy".

Skoda

Skoda Motorsport sent both Armin Schwarz and Toni Gardemeister back into
action for the second day of the Acropolis Rally, using the new
SupeRally system that allows retired crews to rejoin the competition.

Armin Schwarz / Manfred Hiemer: "Being able to carry out testing in a
competition environment is a valuable exercise as it means we get
immediate feedback and the chance to compare times with our rivals. I
learned something new about the Fabia WRC today. In the past, every time
I have driven the Drosohori stage I have had brake problems on the long
descent to the finish at Gravia. This year I had no problem at all – the
brakes on the Fabia give me a lot of confidence.”

Toni Gardemeister / Paavo Lukander: “Both Armin and I have been hurt
badly by our road position today. I am driving as hard as I was
yesterday but the surface is so dirty and slippery that it is costing us
around a second per kilometre. We had no serious problems on this
morning's group of four stages where we had to drive 87kms with no
service and reliability was really important.”
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Remaining Event Timetable

Sunday 6 June: Leg 3 Lamia - Lamia

Start Lamia 06.30
Serv H Lamia (10 mins) 06.30
SS17 Dikastro 1 26.78km 08.01
SS18 Agios Stefanos 1 13.47km 09.00
SS19 Styrfaka 1 9.00km 09.38
Serv I Lamia (3 + 20 mins) 10.13
SS20 Dikastro 2 26.78km 12.14
SS21 Agios Stefanos 2 13.47km 13.13
SS22 Styrfaka 2 9.00km 13.51
Serv J Lamia (3 + 20 mins) 14.26
Finish Lamia 14.53
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Weather Forecast

Forecasters are predicting conditions around 28°C.