The second day started from Koumaritsi, a new special stage where time gap (0,7``) between the first two, Loeb and Gronholm, was about to become more exciting.
In SS Pavliani I, the Citroen French pilot doubled his difference from Gronholm (12,5``), while he was the fastest in both SS 10 Stromi I, and SS 11, Amfissa I. The result? The fight that everyone waited for, seemed to be drifting apart as the crews were heading towards Lamia`s first service.
In the second loop, Loeb acted as in the morning: he won every SS of the day (8 out of 8 in total). Gronholm faced problems with his driveshaft during the liaison towards Pavliani and thus he lost the pace and arrived 4th in Lamia at the end of the leg.
Second today climbed Gardemeister, after a long battle against Sainz that left the Spaniard 3rd, 7,7`` behind the Finnish Ford driver. Hirvonen – despite gearbox problems - finished the leg 5th overall, beating Rovanpera (6th). Galli (7th) was very fast today and managed to control Martin (8th) who drove consistently all day.
In the JWRC, Andersson led easily Aava as yesterday (both Suzuki Ignis drivers), though Betti abandoned the leg but is still 8th. The third Suzuki driver, Wilks, impressively finished 3rd the leg and is determined to chase Aava tomorrow.
Tomorrow, the third and final leg of the rally starts from Lamia at 7:10. The first car gets into the stage Dikastro (SS16) at 8:13 and there are three more different stages and one service park before the finish in Lamia. One of the stages, Pyrgos (SS18), is brand new and the longest of the whole event (34,8 Kms), so despite the easy lead that Loeb secured today, the 3rd leg is expected to be pretty exciting.
As Loeb says “with no pressure it`s easier to make a mistake." The third leg has 4 stages of 98 Kms long. The rally finish will take place at Lamia Exhibition Center at 14:25.


Tags: greece, stage, acropolis, loeb, citroen,