Day 2 mid-day recap in the Acropolis

Posted on May 26, 2012 by Daniel Darrall

The first stage of day 2 on the Rally Acropolis, the 17.41km Klenia Mycenae was where Loeb had the biggest crash of his career 3 years ago.

But no such problems this year for the Frenchman, as he was quickest through the stage. Mikko Hirvonen wasn’t taking any risks this morning, just a comfortable pace to stay out of trouble. Fords Petted Solberg reached stage end with his brakes on fire at the rear due to the heat and said that it was a very rough stage, but again taking no risks.

Petter’s team mate, Latvala was 2.1 seconds faster than Solberg. Held back on rough places, but pushed on the more comfortable sections. Sebastien Loeb 1.1 faster than Latvala. Loeb pushed, because he was worried about conditions of the stage on 2nd run through later in the day.

OA
SL
JML 7.6
PS 20.9
MH 51
EN 4:09.3
Prokop 5;08.3

SS11 Ghymno1, 17km. Latvala fastest by 1s from Hirvonen Solberg +2 seconds, Loeb 3rd fastest. On the following stage, SS12 the scenic Kefalari, Latvala took a massive 4seconds off Loeb. Narrowing the gap between first and 2nd to just 1 second overall. Meaning the fight for the win is on!

On SS13, the last stage before mid day Service. 4th place Hirvonen was at a loss as to the lack of his pace, and lost anther 6 seconds to the leaders. Putting the Fin 1minute 6 seconds away from the lead. Solberg lost a bit of time to the leaders too, but overall, relatively happy with his performance, and ends the Morning loop in 3rd place just 20.1 seconds off the lead and 17.9 seconds away from his team mate Latvala.

It’s a close battle at the top with just 2.2 Seconds separating Latvala and the leader Sebastien Loeb. It’s a tough and rough day for the crews, and could all change this afternoon. Drivers now in Service.

Top 4 Overall Times after first Section of Day 2

1. Sebastien Loeb
2. Jari Matti Latvala +2.2
3. Petter Solberg +20.1
4. Mikko Hirvonen +1:06.1

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Rally Acropolis 2012 – Photos from Day 1

Posted on May 25, 2012 by Daniel Darrall

Photos from day 1 of Rally Acropolis.

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Loeb holds lead after Day 1 in the Acropolis

Posted on May 25, 2012 by Daniel Darrall

There was a lot of road mileage for the crews, over 530km of it on top of the 169km’s of stage mileage, so a lot of driving for the crews. Meaning that they had a remote service in Itea. so any major damage to the cars, such as suspension ect, could not be fixed, as they can only use the parts carried in the cars. After remote service, the action got underway once again with SS5, the 23.17km Bauxites. to quote Rally Radio’s Colin Clark, Rally Acropolis should be known as the rally of a thousand views, as todays stage took place in a very scenic part of Greece.

Photo:D.Darrall

SS5 was much more slippy than the drivers expected. Nothing too dramatic happened. Mikko gained a second on Loeb.  But Seb still led from Latvala overall, but just over a second separated Mikko Hirvonen in 4th, and 3rd place Petter Solberg. But on the following stage, which was described by drivers as muddy and soft, Solberg was flying on the splits, until the last few kilometers when he had a puncture, despite that he still managed 5th fastest, but dropped the Norwegian 1.8 seconds behind Hirvo. After them two stages it was back to remote service for the crews to freshen up a little, before heading back out for the final 3 stages of the day. It was Loeb who set the fastest time on SS6, it was his first fastest stage time of the weekend so far and extended his lead over Latvala to 10.1

SS7, a re-run of the scenic Bauxites stage was slippy once again. The drama was in the form of Ott Tanak and Evgeny Novikov. Tanak crashed off the road after a wrongly placed correction made to his notes on the previous run through this morning, Although he got back onto the road, he had to stop to change a puncture. Evgeny Novikov was suffering due to a misfiring engine. Latvala went fastest again to take half a second from loeb and the battle between Petter and Mikko Hirvonen closed up to within a second. Solberg seemingly a little more happy with the car than he was in the first few stages of the day.

And to show that Solberg was happier and more comfortable with his car, he set the quickest time on SS8, the Elikonas stage. swapping places with Hirvonen for the 3rd time today, and managed to go three tenths quicker than Loeb. Fords Jari Matti Latvala seemed deflated at the end of the stage, having gone 0.4 slower than the leader Sebastien Loeb on the 19km stage. At the stop line the Fin said “I’m disappointed with my time, tried hard, but not getting the results for the effort. Maybe im not as quick as i used to be, im not a young boy anymore.” Despite the fin’s disappointment and possible quote of the rally for his young boy comment, he was still in 2nd place overall and only 10.2 of loebs time.

The final stage of the day saw drama for the younger boys in the top 10. Mads, who was still struggling with that engine, had a small off and beached the car. Loosing a lot of time before finally getting the fans to stop taking photos of him, and help push his car back on to the road. Due to his loss of time getting back on the road, this meant that Neuville in the junior Citroen DS3 WRC car, got stuck in his dust, due to very poor visibility, he went off a few times on corners he couldn’t see, resulting in a broken drive shaft.

Photo:d.darrall

Jari matti Latvala was quickest on the final stage and made some time on Leader Loeb. but Its Super seb that leads the way going into tomorrow. Solberg was 3rd fastest, opening up the gap between him and Hirvonen.

Overall times after Day 1 of Rally Acropolis.

1. Loeb

2. Latvala +6.5

3. Solberg +17.7

4. Hirvonen +46.0

5.Novikov +3:54.9

6. Propkop +4:46.9

7. Al-Attiyah +4:56.9

8. Ostberg +5:14.6

9. Ogier +5:27.2

10. Mikkelsen +6:31.0

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First 2 stages of Day 1 – Greece 2012

Posted on May 25, 2012 by Daniel Darrall

Day 1 Friday 170km, 8 stages. 2 remote services, about survival for the drivers.

Latvala extends his lead over Loeb by 3.2 on SS2. Hirvonen remains 3rd. Solberg moves from 5th to 4th but at stage end said that the Car doesnt feel good, big difference in how the car feels, doesn’t feel right in Right hand corners. Evgeny also moved ahead of Ostberg to 5th. Ostberg unhappy with the feeling and handling of the car drops to 6th overall.

On SS3 The top guys apart from Novikov on mixed compounds of tyres, Soft and hard. Mada Ostberg comes through with front left puncture. Mikko Hirvonen also with puncture, tyre alliterated, like Mads it happened in the last 2 – 3 Km’s of the stage, despite the puncture, The Fin somehow setting the 4th fastest time. Novikov comes through 7.2 sec slower than Hirvo. But Sebastien Loeb was on a charge in the last part of the stage, an pulled out 3.5seconds over his team mate Mikko. Then it was the Fords to come through. Rally leader Jari Matti Latvala comes through the stage, getting quicker towards the end to match the times of Loeb and is 0.1 seconds faster than the Frenchman at the finish. petter 0.2 behind Latvala, but putting him 3rd fastest, petter still struggling with the handling of the car.

Overall times

Latvala Leads
2nd Loeb +3.3
3rd Hirvonen +14.3
4th Solberg +17.5
5th Novikov +37.1
6th Ostberg +49.3
7th Tanak +1:15.1

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