The Acropolis Rally is one of the toughest in the series, a car breaker and tire killer, and this year was no exception. With 330 competitive kilometers based around the city of Athens, it's one of the hottest and fiercest rallies of the season. The Pirelli Scorpion tire fared okay, but certainly took a beating, and drivers had to conserve their tires between stages to make it through until the next service. Some had to press on with no tread at all, or even drive on the rim. Read on...
There was a difference of 4 minutes across the top 3 positions, with Sebastien Loeb beating them all. However, the biggest news was the initiation of the next-generation Subaru Impreza, called the WRC2008, to one of the most grueling of all rallies. Petter Solberg showed them all that the car was up to the challenge, finishing 2nd. Chris Atkinson was doing well in 3rd until electrical problems caused his car to not restart on the way back to service, and then on Day 3, a crash off the side of the road ended his rally. Petter and Subaru are more than happy with how the new car performed and are hoping for a big result in next week's rally in Turkey.
The likes of Mikko Hirvonen and Jari Matti Latvala suffered suspension problems on the first day, sliding them back to 9th and 10th. Mikko managed to climb back up into the top five, but Jari-Matti had lost too much time and he ended up in 8th. It would have been a Solberg 2-3, but older brother Hennig had electrical problems and his driver-side door failed to latch half way through the third day.
And last but not least, Gigi Galli won the Colin McRae Award for the rally this weekend, clocking the best average speed of the weekend of just above 100Km/hr over 3 days.
Up next: Rally Turkey, June 15th!
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