WRC – Loeb resists at Latvala in Greece

Sébastien Loeb ends the first day at the top of the Rally from the Acropolis, but the Alsatian only has a slight lead of 6"5 over Jari-Matti Latvala (Ford) at the end of a long fight between the two men in which Petter Solberg (Ford) would like to win. 'interfere. Despite a puncture in SS6 which caused him to lose a handful of seconds, the 2003 world champion caught Mikko Hirvonen in the penultimate special of the day before the latter himself suffered a puncture while leaving the track.

Mads Ostberg (Ford) lost big in the last special after having managed to hold his fifth position for most of the day. The Norwegian got stuck after going slightly off the road and lost more than three minutes to finish eighth, 17 seconds behind Nasser Al-Attiyah (Citroën). His misfortunes directly benefit Evgeny Novikov (Ford) who recovers fifth place despite having encountered engine problems on the penultimate route of the stage.

Martin Prokop (Ford) is inserted between the Czech and the Qatari in seventh position. Sébastien Ogier and Andreas Mikkelsen (Skoda) complete the top ten with their modest Skoda Fabia S2000s. The Frenchman managed to create a one-minute advantage over his teammate. Thierry Neuville fell to eleventh position in the last special, more than a minute behind the Norwegian following a problem with the engine shaft of his DS3 WRC.

The crews will have eight stages on the program tomorrow (four stages completed twice) offering a total of nearly 150km timed. The first car will set off at 7:38 a.m. Paris time.