At the end of the opening day of the 55th Acropolis Rally of Greece, Sébastien Loeb (Citroën Total) heads the field in a close battle at the top of the leaderboard. Team-mate Dani Sordo is second and third is held by Subaru’s Petter Solberg after a dramatic last minute change at the top of the leaderboard.
The Acropolis Rally is one of the oldest events in the FIA World Rally Championship and is notoriously tough, with rock-strewn roads and high temperatures posing a significant challenge. Championship leader Mikko Hirvonen (BP Ford) had the unenviable task of running first on the road and while the Finn tried to minimise time loss, sweeping the roads clean of loose gravel hampered his charge and those behind – on a cleaner and faster driving line – benefited. He held fourth after the penultimate stage but rear suspension damage dropped him to seventh after the super special stage.
While Loeb is leading, the Frenchman has had to fight hard to overhaul his rivals. He has climbed from third and only took the lead after the fourth stage when Latvala experienced a problem with the front left tyre. This not only lost Latvala the lead but saw him fall to third behind Sordo. However, in the penultimate stage, Latvala once again overhauled Sordo but then he too suffered suspension damage and fell back to sixth after limping around the super special stage.
Petter Solberg heads Subaru’s charge in the all-new 2008 Impreza WRC. He and brother Henning (Stobart Ford) have been battling for position and while both have had a trouble-free day, Petter has been refining the car settings on the debut competitive outing of the 2008 Impreza. He ultimately climbed up the leaderboard when the Ford drivers hit problems and he takes third, just 6.9 seconds ahead of brother Henning. Urmo Aava (Citroën C4) moves into fifth, just 9.5 seconds adrift and only 3.4 seconds ahead of Latvala. Chris Atkinson (Subaru) rounds off the top eight, just four-tenths of a second behind Hirvonen. His only problem during the day was a lack of power in one stage and a puncture.
The only leading retirement from the day was Gigi Galli (Stobart Ford). The Italian was forced out in the second stage after hitting a rock and breaking the suspension.
Acropolis Rally of Greece - Results after Day 1
| 1 | Sébastien Loeb/Daniel Elena | Citroën C4 WRC | 1 hr 21 min 34.8sec |
| 2 | Dani Sordo/Marc Marti | Citroën C4 WRC | 1 hr 21 min 50.5sec |
| 3 | Petter Solberg/Phil Mills | Subaru Impreza WRC | 1 hr 22 min 33.9sec |
| 4 | Henning Solberg/Cato Menkerud | Ford Focus RS WRC | 1 hr 22 min 40.8sec |
| 5 | Urmo Aava/Kuldar Sikk | Citroën C4 WRC | 1 hr 22 min 50.3sec |
| 6 | Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila | Ford Focus RS WRC | 1 hr 22 min 53.7sec |
| 7 | Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen | Ford Focus RS WRC | 1 hr 23 min 11.2sec |
| 8 | Chris Atkinson/Stéphane Prévot | Subaru Impreza WRC | 1 hr 23 min 11.6sec |