Rally Greece Day 1: Stobart suffer on opening Acropolis stages

15415 Rally Greece Day 1: Stobart suffer on opening Acropolis stages

FIA World Rally Championship

Acropolis Rally of Greece, 12-14 June 2009

Update after SS3

Stobart suffer on opening Acropolis stages

Stobart VK M-Sport Ford driver Henning Solberg is in a good position to challenge for another strong points finish at the Acropolis Rally of Greece, lying in eighth place overall after the opening two stages. But his Stobart team mate Matthew Wilson is out of day one after his Ford Focus RS WRC was hit by an oil leak on SS2.

Following Thursday’s ceremonial start on the historic Corinth Canal near rally HQ in Loutraki, the 47 rally entrants embarked on a shortened five-stage programme on day one with SS3 Evangelistria cancelled before the start of the event.

The rally started badly for Solberg who suffered from brake problems on the opening stage, finishing over 30 seconds behind the leaders. The Norwegian found a better rhythm on SS2 Thiva to move up to eighth place overall. But disaster struck for Wilson on the second stage as the oil pressure dropped on his car. The Briton and co-driver Scott Martin have retired from day one and the team will make a decision this afternoon on whether he can re-enter under SupeRally conditions tomorrow.

Following the remote service at Itea the crews head high up into the Parnassos mountains this afternoon where they will face one of the classic Acropolis Rally stages, SS4 Bauxites. They will reach an altitude of around 1400 metres on SS5 Drossohori before heading back for a second pass over the Thiva stage.

15424 Rally Greece Day 1: Stobart suffer on opening Acropolis stages

Stobart VK M-Sport Ford driver Henning Solberg said:

“We’ve had a very difficult morning. I haven’t got a good feeling with the car. The first stage was hard work, there were very big rocks on the road and it was a difficult way to start the rally. I was left-foot braking too much on SS1 and overheated the brakes which meant that we dropped some time. There is a long way to go in the rally though. Some people have already had problems this morning so we just have to keep focussed and avoid any problems.”

Leaderboard after SS3

1. J-M Latvala/M Anttila (FIN) Ford Focus RS 35m21.9s

2. D Sordo/M Marti (ESP) Citroën C4 +7.8s

3. M Hirvonen/J Lehtinen(FIN) Ford Focus RS +9.3s

4. M Ostberg/J Andersson (NOR) Subaru Impreza +24.7s
5. S Loeb/D Elena (FRA) Citroën C4 +26.4s

6. E Novikov/D Moscatt (RUS) Citroën C4 +26.8s

7. S Ogier//J Ingrassia (FRA) Citroën C4 +36.2s

8. H Solberg/C Menkerud (NOR) Ford Focus RS +48.6s

9. P Solberg/P Mills (NOR) Citroën Xsara +51.5s

10. C Rautenbach/D Barrit (ZIM) Citroën C4 +1m01.3s

30. M Wilson/S Martin (GB) Ford Focus RS +5m20.1s

Photos: worldrallypics.com