By RSL Staff –
May 26, 2012Posted in: Featured, News, WRC
Sébastien Loeb may have maintained his advantage at the head of the Acropolis Rally leaderboard, however the Frenchman is under attack from Petter Solberg and the pair overnight just 10.2 seconds adrift of one another. Mikko Hirvonen is now third, having benefitted when Jari-Matti Latvala sustained a puncture and plummeted from second to fourth, wrecking his hopes of challenging for victory.
Today’s leg took in two identical loops of four stages covering 149.56 competitive kilometres and was judged by all to be the toughest day of the event. Rain this afternoon also added to the challenge and most were simply relieved to return to the rally base in Loutraki this evening.
Loeb started the day with a 6.5 second advantage over Latvala but immediately came under fire and the Finn managed to close the gap to just one second after three stages. However, two stages later Latvala sustained a puncture and was forced to stop and change the wheel, dropping him more than three minutes. He retains a lonely fourth overnight. Solberg immediately took up the challenge for Ford and the Norwegian set a string of three fastest times to narrow the gap to 10.2 seconds this evening, setting the scene for an epic battle over tomorrow’s closing five stages.
Behind fourth-placed Latvala, Mads Østberg has moved from eighth to fifth after a trouble-free run today, while Martin Prokop maintains sixth and Thierry Neuville has moved into seventh. Sébastien Ogier lost the power steering this afternoon but holds eighth with team-mate Andreas Mikkelsen 10th.
WRC Acropolis Rally 2012 – Provisional Results at the end of Saturday
1. Sébastien Loeb/Daniel Elena
2. Petter Solberg/Chris Patterson
3. Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen
4. Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila
5. Mads Østberg/Jonas Andersson
6. Martin Prokop/Zdenek Hruza
7. Thierry Neuville/Nicolas Gilsoul
8. Sébastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia
9. Yazeed Al Rajhi/Michael Orr
10. Andreas Mikkelsen/Ola Floene |
Citroën DS3 WRC
Ford Fiesta RS WRC
Citroën DS3 WRC
Ford Fiesta RS WRC
Ford Fiesta RS WRC
Ford Fiesta RS WRC
Citroën DS3 WRC
Skoda Fabia S2000
Ford Fiesta S2000
Skoda Fabia S2000 |
3hr 56 min 13.0sec
3hr 56 min 23.2sec
3hr 58 min 04.9sec
4hr 00 min 57.6sec
4hr 03 min 52.7sec
4hr 04 min 21.6sec
4hr 06 min 52.4sec
4hr 08 min 30.9sec
4hr 15 min 05.3sec
4hr 18 min 21.6sec |
Related posts:
- WRC Rally de Portugal 2012 – Day 1 Overview
- WRC Acropolis Rally 2012 – Days 1 & 2 Overview
- WRC Rally Mexico 2012 – Day 3 Overview
- WRC Acropolis Rally of Greece 2011 – Day 2
- WRC Rally Mexico 2012 – Day 2 Overview
- WRC Rally de Portugal 2012 – Day 2 Overview
- WRC Rally Mexico 2012 – Day 1 Overview
- WRC Rally de Portugal 2012 – Day 3 Overview
- WRC Rally Argentina 2012 – Day 2 Overview
- WRC Rally Argentina 2012 – Day 1 Overview
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