Hirvonen in front, Loeb out

Saturday proved even crueler for the competitors than the first stage. While the Citroën drivers, Sébastien Loeb and Dani Sordo, had a good card to play behind Mikko Hirvonen, they had a dark day. Loeb thus retired during the first timed special of the day, Klenia Mycenae, 17,25 kilometers long. He left the road after only eight kilometers on a very fast section. Two stages later, it was the turn of his Spanish teammate to break his wheel against a stone and retire in turn.

« My bad " said Loeb. “ It happened after a right turn at high speed. I was sliding a little too much and I hit a stone with the front left wheel which sent the car into the air. The car rolled five or six times. The car is destroyed. We won't leave tomorrow, the race is over. But we're fine, that's the main thing ", he added.

Taking advantage of these mishaps, Mikko Hirvonen, who led the way all day, then maintained his lead at the top of the standings. Petter Solberg held the pace for a good part of the day before breaking a front suspension element in Ghymno 2. He then lost many minutes and preferred to retire at the end of the day. “Until this incident, I was fighting for victory or for a place on the podium “, he announced. “ After losing more than seven minutes, I found myself in eighth position. I no longer have any hope of getting a good ranking. There is no point in these conditions risking destroying the car. I only have one Xsara and I have to think about the next race in Poland at the end of the month. »

At the end of step 2, it is finally Sébastien Ogier who knew how to do well. The Frenchman is in second position, 1:40.1 behind the leader. The other driver who had a good operation was Jari-Matti Latvala. After making an error on Friday evening which caused him to fall to 11th position, the Finn signed two fastest times in SS7 and SS10 and found himself third overall on the evening of stage 2 (+2:44.2 ).

Finally, Evgeny Novikov once again demonstrated all the talent he possessed by setting the best time in three of the six special stages of the day. The young Russian moved up to fourth position after starting the day 12th. On Sunday, the competitors will complete the final five stages. After having experienced the tracks of the Peloponnese, this time they will tackle the tracks located to the east of Loutraki.