The weekend’s seventh round of the World Rally Championship has seen defending champion Sébastien Loeb (Citroen) re-take the lead in the driver standings after convincingly winning the BP Ultimate Acropolis Rally in Greece.

Enduring three days of heat and torturous conditions, the Frenchman continually extended the lead he established at the mid-point of the three-day rally, finishing over a minute ahead of Subaru’s Petter Solberg and co-driver Phil Mills in the new Subaru Impreza WRC2008.  Third went to previous points’ leader Mikko Hirvonen and co-driver Jarmo Lehtinen.

Searing heat tested the cars’ crew as much as the componentry, but it was the rocky roads of Greece that lived up to their car breaker title.  With all drivers experiencing their share of troubles during the 339km event, the torturous conditions affected Loeb and co-driver Daniel Elena the least.

“A tough long weekend; the stages were really really rough; it was difficult for the cars and tyres,” said Loeb, recording his 41st WRC victory, shared with co-driver Daniel Elena.  “This year Acropolis was tougher than last year but we found the car was very strong with no problems so we could finish the rally.”

Leading the standings by one point, Loeb says the downside will be starting first on the road at the next round: “I am happy to be leading for sure, I hope I will keep it a bit longer than last time I had it, but Turkey we will be first on the road.  That will be really difficult for us.”

Almost a year since Solberg last appeared on the podium, he says credit for success with the brand new hatch Impreza goes to the Subaru World Rally Team: “… We had been quite nervous before the rally – there had been a lot of hard work behind the scenes from mechanics and engineers.  Obviously I had a strategy in the rally to get the car to the finish – this time it was just to keep very consistent, not do anything crazy.  They were very very tough roads and of course you always hope but it was much better than expected.”

Adding to Subaru’s accolades, Chris Atkinson claimed the first ever stage win for the new Impreza after retiring on the Saturday with electrical failure.  However his run was short lived when the Impreza suffered suspension damage on Sunday’s second test.

A nation steeped in sporting history, birthplace to the Olympics and democracy, the rally started on the Thursday evening from the Acropolis.  A demanding twenty stages spread over three days used rock based roads carved in to the hillsides north and west of host city Athens.  Based from the military location of Tatoi adjacent to the Olympic village, the 60 car field was cut to half for the final run around the 4.6km Super Special stage.

As much as the roads took their toll on competitors, a large number of spectator cars were also casualties of the event.  Taking to access roads intersecting the speed tests, the rougher conditions sidelined many who were out to follow the progress of their heroes.

Equally as wounded, the Production-World Rally Championship field saw Austria’s Andreas Aigner emerge as the new leader after Ralliart New Zealand entry Juho Hanninen retired with mechanical failure late on the Saturday.  Setting a string of stage winning times, Hanninen thought his rally was all over when the tow-truck carrying his car out of the stage slipped from the road edge and went over the bank.  Saved by a small stand of trees, the truck and car sat perilously until a crane could be located.  Recovered at 1am in the morning, Hanninen started the final day to finish eighth.

Hanninen slips to third place in the standings with his next event in his home country of Finland.

The eighth of fifteen rounds on the 2008 calendar is in two weeks, moving the teams north west for the Rally of Turkey.

New Zealand is 11th on the calendar: 28th – 31st August 2008.

2008 BP Ultimate Acropolis Rally – results overall (top-ten)

1.  S Loeb/D Elena (FRA) - Citroen C4 3hr 54min 54.7sec

2.  P Solberg/P Mills (NOR) - Subaru Impreza +1m09.5

3.  M Hirvonen/J Lehtinen (FIN) - Ford Focus RS +1m56.1

4.  U Aava/K Sikk (EST) - Citroen C4 +4m19.7

5.  D Sordo/M Marti (ESP) - Citroen C4 +4m49.4

6.  M Wilson/S Martin (GBR) - Ford Focus RS +6m11.3

7.  J-M Latvala/M Anttila (FIN) - Ford Focus RS +6m47.5

8.  H Solberg/C Menkerud (NOR) - Ford Focus RS +9m14.0

9.  T Gardemeister/T Tuominen (FIN) - Suzuki SX4 +10m13.8

10 C Rautenbach/D Senior (ZIM) - Citroen C4 +13m29.1

World Rally Championship driver points (top-six) after round seven

1.  Sébastien Loeb - 50pts                   

2.  Mikko Hirvonen - 49pts                  

3.  Chris Atkinson - 31pts                  

4.  Jari-Matti Latvala - 26pts                  

5.  Dani Sordo - 25pts                  

6.  Petter Solberg - 17pts                  

World Rally Championship Manufacturer points after round seven

1.  BP Ford Abu Dhabi - 81pts

2.  Citroen Total - 79pts

3.  Subaru - 50pts

4.  Stobart VK M-Sport - 37pts

5.  Munchi's Ford - 16pts

6.  Suzuki - 10pts