ATHENS, 25 June 2005 — Citroen’s world champion Sebastien Loeb made a strong start to his bid for a record fifth win in a row yesterday by taking the overnight lead in the Acropolis Rally.
The Frenchman had two stage wins and led Peugeot rival Marcus Gronholm, who also won two stages, by 6.1 seconds.
Loeb’s Spanish team mate Carlos Sainz claimed his first stage win since coming out of retirement in the last rally in Turkey as a temporary replacement for Francois Duval. He ended the day third, 14 seconds behind the leader.
Three more Finns made up the top six. Toni Gardemeister in his Ford is fourth overall while Mikko Hirvonen, also in a Ford, and Harri Rovanpera lie fifth and sixth respectively.
Loeb’s main rival, Subaru’s former champion Petter Solberg, was dogged by driveshaft problems and is now more than three minutes behind.
Championship leader Loeb’s late surge came after he had to run first on the rough gravel roads in the morning.
He was fifth in the opening stage of the day, well off the pace of stage-winner Gronholm, and 14th in the second stage which went to Hirvonen.
However, he came back well with victory in the third and followed up with a second win on the final stage on the same stretch of course between Elatia and Zeli.
“This morning wasn’t fantastic. I don’t know if it was coming from our settings, my driving or the very dirty road conditions,” said Loeb, who won the opening superspecial stage at the Olympic Stadium in Athens on Thursday.
“Our tyre choice was good and I didn’t suffer too much from the heat. Of course I struggled a bit opening the road. The second loop was better for us.
“Tomorrow will be a day full of fights.”
Sainz was the crowd pleaser of the day, taking the second 11.84 km Rengini stage by 0.7 seconds from Loeb.
“The road conditions were ideal. I was very confident except on SS2 (stage two) when my settings were a bit too ‘soft’,” he said. “If you compare with the start in Turkey, I feel more on the pace.”
Gronholm began the day with a win in the opening Eleftherohori stage and repeated it on the same section later in the afternoon.
