[Acropolis Rally Report] Hirvonen Wins, Loeb Rolls

A drama filled weekend at the Acropolis Rally in Greece has seen Ford’s Mikko Hirvonen significantly slash Sebastien Loeb’s lead in the World Rally Championship, after the Frenchman rolled his Citroen heavily on day two.

Hirvonen won the seventh round of the WRC, the toughest encounter on this year’s 12-event calendar, by 1min 12.9sec in his Ford Focus RS World Rally Car, with Citroen Junior star Sebastien Ogier second, ahead of Hirvonen’s Ford colleague Jari-Matti Latvala.

Between them Hirvonen and Latvala led from start to finish of the three-day event to secure Ford’s seventh win in 10 seasons in Greece. It was also the 40th world rally win for M-Sport, Ford’s partner in the WRC and the British-based preparation company which runs the programme. It completed a perfect weekend for Team Director Malcolm Wilson, who received an OBE in The Queen’s Birthday Honours list on Saturday.

The result, the team’s second consecutive victory following Latvala’s success in Italy last month, rejuvenated its challenge in both championships. Ford is now just 15 points from the lead in the manufacturers’ standings and second-placed Hirvonen has closed the gap in the drivers’ championship to just seven points behind Sebastien Loeb, who retired on Saturday and scored no points in Greece.

Rock-strewn and abrasive gravel roads west of Athens, in addition to blistering temperatures which topped 36ºC, ensured this year’s event lived up to its gruelling reputation. It was a rally of attrition and a long string of frontrunners fell by the wayside during the 15 speed tests covering 341.01km (two of the 17 tests were cancelled).

Latvala led from the start before falling to 11th when he slid into a ditch on the last special stage of the opening day. Hirvonen was promoted into the top spot but was fearful of running first in the start order yesterday, sweeping the gravel from the road surface to offer cleaner and faster conditions to his pursuers. However, as others struggled, Hirvonen stretched his lead and Latvala charged back to third.

“I drove a clever rally and my plan worked perfectly, with no mistakes and no punctures,” said 28-year-old Hirvonen.

“I knew that if we finished the rally without problems then we would be high in the order and that was the case. The key to success was to stay on the road and be cautious rather than drive flat out all the way. The car was amazing all weekend, especially the last stage which was so rough. I was fortunate to have such a large lead that I was able to drive steadily.”

“We’re back in the championship fight and the final five rallies of the year will be exciting. The next two events, in Poland and Finland, are on fast gravel roads which should suit me,” he added.

Second placed Ogier claimed the first podium result for the fledgling Citroen Junior Team. “It was just a perfect weekend for us, and this second place comes at a good time,” Ogier said. “Our strategy was the key to this result, we learned a lot from completing it with very few problems and it’s a great reward for the team who have put in so much effort since the start of the season.”

Third placed Latvala admitted he was relieved to climb back onto the podium: “I thought I had lost everything on Friday evening. A place on the podium was never in my dreams but others made mistakes and their cars broke and that’s exactly what I achieved,” said the 24-year-old Finn.

Behind the leading trio a multitude of dramas and mishaps beset the field. The Citroen’s of Loeb and Dani Sordo should have been right in contention, but Loeb made an uncharacteristic error during the second day of competition, misjudging a corner and rolling heavily off the road, destroying his C4 WRCar.

Sordo stepped up his attack only to slam into a hidden rock on the inside of a corner, destroying his front suspension. Amazingly Henning Solberg hit the exact same rock, the impact almost veering his car off the road into the stranded Sordo, Solberg’s Ford coming to a stop only centimetres short.

Solberg’s younger brother Petter had been pressuring Hirvonen late on day two before he too damaged his front suspension on a rock. Petter’s privately run Citroen Xsara WRC limped through the final stage with the broken strut poking through the bonnet, but was forced to retire when his team realised they didn’t have enough parts to mend the damage.

“It’s not giving up – it’s just that there’s too much damage,” Solberg said.

In the PWRC standing local Skoda driver Lambros Athanassoulas overcame engine concerns at the end of day two to snatch victory from Nasser Al-Attiyah’s Subaru ahead of the Mitsubishi of Armindo Araujo.

Rally Poland returns to the championship for the first time since 1973 as round eight of the series. The fast gravel event is based in Mikolajki and takes place 25-28 June.

Final Placings
1. Mikko Hirvonen (Ford Focus WRC08) 4h09m42.5s
2. Sebastien Ogier (Citroen C4 WRC) +1m12.9s
3. Jari-Matti Latvala (Ford Focus WRC08) +1m45.0s
4. Federico Villagra (Ford Focus WRC08) +3m48.3s
5. Conrad Rautenbach (Citroen C4 WRC) +3m59.8s
6. Khalid Al Qassimi (Ford Focus WRC08) +7m04.3s
7. Mads Ostberg (Subaru Impreza WRC2008) +12m24.9s
8. Lambros Athanassoulas (Skoda Fabia S2000) +12m47.6s
9. Nasser Al-Attiyah (Subaru Impreza WRX) +13m09.9s
10. Armindo Araujo (Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution) +15m04.5s