Sebastien Loeb and co-driver Daniel Elena have won the Acropolis Rally for a third time following a faultless display in their Citroen DS3 WRC.
After seeing off determined challenges from Jari-Matti Latvala and Petter Solberg, Loeb was able to win with ease, despite a late scare when he and Elena had to stop to change a puncture tyre on stage 20.
Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen made it a Citroen one-two with Latvala and co-driver Miikka Anttila claiming the final podium spot for the factory Ford team.
It was Loeb’s fourth victory in this season’s FIA World Rally Championship powered by Nokia.
SS22: Loeb tops Power Stage
Sebastien Loeb secured his third Acropolis Rally victory by winning the event-closing Power Stage to claim three bonus points and extend his lead of the FIA World Rally Championship powered by Nokia.
Citroen ace Loeb was 0.6s faster than Jari-Matti Latvala through the 3.97-kilometre test near Loutraki with Mikko Hirvonen clinching the final bonus point in third place.
“I’m really happy,” said Loeb. “It has been so long and so difficult this rally and we have been fighting really hard. To get all the points in the Power Stage is really good also.”
Ford driver Latvala said: “I really tried and pushed and used all the road as much as possible. I went a little bit wide but I tried to keep the speed going on but it wasn’t enough to win.”
Mads Ostberg was fourth quickest, 0.002s faster than Ott Tanak, in a similar Fiesta, with Thierry Neuville sixth fastest and Martin Prokop seventh to secure fifth overall in his Czech Ford National Team Fiesta.
Valeriy Gorban was 16th fastest to win the Production Car World Rally Championship category for the first time.
| Pos. | Driver | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | S. LOEB | 4h42m03.3s |
| 2. | M. HIRVONEN | +40.0 |
| 3. | J. LATVALA | +3:04.8 |
| 4. | M. ØSTBERG | +6:16.4 |
| 5. | M. PROKOP | +7:46.5 |
| 6. | T. NEUVILLE | +9:41.4 |
| 7. | S. OGIER | +12:59.9 |
| 8. | Y. AL RAJHI | +20:12.2 |
| 9. | O. TÄNAK | +23:18.9 |
| 10. | A. ALKUWARI | +28:40.5 |
| 11. | A. ARAÚJO | +30:28.6 |
| 12. | S. PAVLIDES | +33:51.6 |
| 13. | Y. PROTASOV | +39:41.9 |
| 14. | V. GORBAN | +40:54.3 |
| 15. | S. AKSA | +44:11.8 |
| 16. | R. TRIVINO | +47:58.6 |
| 17. | P. NOBRE | +59:10.2 |
| 18. | O. TAMRAZOV | +1:04:53.4 |
| 19. | B. GUERRA | +1:09:11.0 |
| 20. | R. SUNGKAR | +1:09:19.6 |