Acropolis Rally Day Four
Acropolis Rally Day Four
2012 FIA WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP
ACROPOLIS RALLY
(24 -27 MAY 2012)
27.05.2012
The Citroën Total World Rally Team crew of Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena escaped a late scare in the Acropolis Rally of Greece to claim victory in the sixth round of the FIA World Rally Championship. Team-mates Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen finished second, 40 seconds behind, with Ford’s Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila taking the final podium position.
In the FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers, Loeb now has a 30 point lead over team-mate Hirvonen, and Mads Østberg moves ahead of both Petter Solberg and Latvala. In the Manufacturers’ Championship, maximum points for Citroën gives it a 73 point advantage over Ford.
Today’s route was the shortest and covered two identical loops of two stages, before the closing Power Stage, in which Loeb, Latvala and Hirvonen claimed an additional three, two and one point respectively. The day was set to provide a thrilling showdown between Loeb and Solberg, the rivals just 10.2 seconds adrift at the start of the day. In the opening stage, however, Solberg went off the road and ripped a wheel off, ending all his hopes of challenging for victory. Loeb’s team-mate therefore moved into second, albeit nearly two minutes adrift. In the following stage, Loeb faced his own problems; the Frenchman forced to stop to change a wheel and dropping over 90 seconds in the process. However, his advantage ensured he maintained the lead and the Citroën team-mates were able to ease the pace to the finish in one-two formation. Latvala ran without problem on his come-back rally to take third. Mads Østberg claimed fourth, despite a spin, Martin Prokop fifth and Thierry Neuville had a trouble-free run to sixth. Sébastien Ogier was the lead Volkswagen Motorsport driver in seventh overall, his team-mate Andreas Mikkelsen forced to retire with damaged suspension.
The FIA World Rally Championship crews now head to the Southern Hemisphere for Brother Rally New Zealand (21-24 June).
Acropolis Rally – Provisional Final Results (subject to final scrutineering)
1. Sébastien Loeb/Daniel Elena 2. Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen 3. Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila 4. Mads Østberg/Jonas Andersson 5. Martin Prokop/ Zdeněk Hrůza 6. Thierry Neuville/Nicolas Gilsoul 7. Sébastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia 8. Yazeed Al Rajhi/Michael Orr 9. Ott Tänak/Kuldar Sikk 10. Abdulaziz Alkuwari/Nicola Arena |
Citroën DS3 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 Ford Fiesta RS WRC MINI Cooper Works WRC |
4hr 42 min 03.3sec 4hr 42 min 43.3sec 4hr 45 min 08.1sec 4hr 48 min 19.7sec 4hr 49 min 49.8sec 4hr 51 min 44.7sec 4hr 55 min 03.2sec 5hr 02 min 15.5sec 5hr 05 min 22.2sec 5hr 10 min 43.8sec |
FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers (after 6 of 13 rounds)
Sébastien Loeb (FRA) Mikko Hirvonen (FIN) Mads Østberg (NOR) Petter Solberg (NOR) Jari-Matti Latvala (FIN) Evgeny Novikov (RUS) Martin Prokop (CZE) Nasser Al-Attiyah (QAT) Thierry Neuville (BEL) Sébastien Ogier (FRA) Dani Sordo (ESP) Ott Tänak (EST) Dennis Kuipers (NLD) François Delecour (FRA) Armindo Araújo (PRT) Henning Solberg (NOR) Pierre Campana (FRA) Patrik Sandell (SWE) Yazeed Al Rajhi (SAU) Jari Ketomaa (FIN) Ken Block (USA) Peter Van Merksteijn (NLD) Ricardo Triviño (MEX) Eyvind Brynildsen (NOR) Abdulaziz Alkuwari (QAT) |
119 points 89 points 80 points 73 points 45 points 43 points 36 points 23 points 22 points 22 points 21 points 18 points 8 points 8 points 7 points 6 points 6 points 4 points 4 points 2 points 2 points 1 point 1 point 1 point 1 point |
FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers (after 6 of 13 rounds)
Citroën Total World Rally Team Ford World Rally Team M-Sport Ford World Rally Team Citroën Junior World Rally Team Qatar World Rally Team Adapta World Rally Team MINI WRC Team Brazil World Rally Team |
194 points 121 points 91 points 42 points 37 points 27 points 26 points 10 points |