The Citroëns in ambush behind Hirvonen

The first day of the Acropolis did not fail the reputation of the rally the most brittle of the year. If it generally spared the drivers of the Citroën team, on the other hand at Ford or within the Citroën Junior Team, there was damage.

As expected, the first part of the day was difficult for Sébastien Loeb who, due to his position as overall leader, had to sweep the road all day Friday. The first stages highlighted Jari-Matti Latvala's ability to channel his enthusiasm to achieve interesting times. Thus, after two special stages, the Finn had around ten seconds ahead of his teammate Mikko Hirvonen and more than 25 seconds over the world champion, Loeb. Only Dani Sordo was able to keep up with the Sardinia Rally winner's pace as he was only 7.8 sec behind. after SS2 where he set the best time.

After SS3 was cancelled, the drivers returned to the road towards the north where the Bauxites special took place. Around Itea, another prominent driver during the previous rally appeared in the person of Evgeny Novikov. The young Russian signed the first scratch time of his career, after achieving his best result (5th) in Italy. Sébastien Ogier was responsible for hoisting his C4 WRC at the top of the timesheet during SS5 and helped to keep the colors of the double chevron brand flying high on the Greek tracks.

And the leaders in all this? Sébastien Loeb struggled as best he could all day to finally give up 21.1 sec. to the leader at the end of the stage. Dani Sordo, his teammate, finished SS6 freewheeling, leaving it to Mikko Hirvonen to take the leading position. An unfavorable position on Saturday since he will have to open the road all day. Finally, the big loser of the day is Jari-Matti Latvala. The Finn landed on a hairpin during the final special and lost more than 3:30. Novikov was also a victim of the rough terrain and punctured both rear tires during SS5. He finds himself 12th on Friday evening, 3:48 behind Hirvonen. Behind Loeb, third, we find Petter Solberg who occupies fourth place ahead of Henning Solberg, Sébastien Ogier, Federico Villagra and Khalid Al Qassimi.

Tomorrow the pilots will cross the Corinth Canal for a day on the slopes of the Peloponnese. There is no doubt that we should witness other twists and turns such as those seen on Friday.