Sebastien Ogier is back in front in the battle for victory on the Acropolis Rally.
Ogier was 6.2s faster than Citroen team-mate Sebastien Loeb through stage 16 to build a lead of 6.1s with two stages remaining.
“We pushed very hard on this one,” said Ogier. “We had a good drive and we were happy with this stage. We will have to drive well in the next one also because six seconds is not enough to win.”
Loeb reported losing time cleaning a line for the drivers running behind in his factory DS3 WRC. He said: “I have done a perfect stage, no mistakes and was flat out everywhere. But road cleaning makes the difference and we have no chance to do anything else.”
Ford driver Mikko Hirvonen maintained his outside hopes of victory by going 1.1s faster than Ogier to close to within 7.4s of second-placed Loeb and 13.5s to Ogier. “We’re getting close and I will try,” said Hirvonen. “We found some more traction with the car, maybe that has made the difference.”
Standings after SS16:
| Pos. | Driver | Car | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | S. OGIER / J. INGRASSIA | Citroën DS3 WRC | 3h54m16.5s |
| 02 | S. LOEB / D. ELENA | Citroën DS3 WRC | +6.1s |
| 03 | M. HIRVONEN / J. LEHTINEN | Ford Fiesta RS WRC | +13.5s |
| 04 | P. SOLBERG / C. PATTERSSON | Citroën DS3 WRC | +32.8s |
| 05 | H. SOLBERG / I. MINOR | Ford Fiesta RS WRC | +5m09.7s |
| 06 | M. WILSON / S. MARTIN | Ford Fiesta RS WRC | +6m34.9s |
| 07 | K. RAIKKONEN / K. LINDSTRÖM | Citroën DS3 WRC | +8m09.1s |
| 08 | J. HANNINEN / M. MARKKULA | Skoda Fabia S2000 | +10m56.6s |
| 09 | J. LATVALA / M. ANTTILA | Ford Fiesta RS WRC | +13m07.0s |
| 10 | D. KUIPERS / F. MICLOTTE | Ford Fiesta RS WRC | +14m33.7s |
| 11 | B. SOUSA / A. COSTA | Ford Fiesta S2000 | +15m33.7s |
| 12 | F. TURÁN / G. ZSIROS | Ford Fiesta S2000 | +16m54.0s |
| 13 | M. ØSTBERG / J. ANDERSSON | Ford Fiesta RS WRC | +17m05.9s |
| 14 | H. GASSNER JR / K. WUSTENHAGEN | Skoda Fabia S2000 | +17m51.8s |
| 15 | M. PROKOP / J. TOMÁNEK | Ford Fiesta S2000 | +19m56.0s |