Loutraki, June 14, 2009
Summary
In white & blue
The 56th Acropolis Rally has been a salvation for Ford, who saw its drivers finishing at the 1st and 3rd position. That was the 13th victory for the team in the Acropolis’ history. This year’s event has also been full of emotion for the Greek fans of rallying, as a result of Lambros Athanassoulas–Nikos Zakheos victory in the PWRC. In general, the Rally has ended as one of the most fascinating of the last few years.
The base of the Rally has moved -once again- this year to the Loutraki area, which has proved to be a perfect match to the Acropolis’ character, as it has been formed throughout its long history. The new special stages demanded speed, brains and strategy, and really left the word “prediction” out of the winning equation. The second Day of the Rally -in the area of Corinth- has been the most crucial; Citroen WRT’s drivers both retired during the Day, and Mikko Hirvonen took the lead. From then on, he kept a steady pace until the end, finishing 1st in front of “Club Hotel Casino Loutraki”. Ford’s second driver, Jari-Matti Latvala, didn’t manage to avoid making mistakes on the first Day, while he was 1st in the classification. However, he took advantage of his opponents’ bad moments and managed to finish 3rd overall, scoring precious points for his team, who made a comeback at the race for the title. Sebastien Ogier may have finished 2nd, but he was not nominated to score points for the Manufacturers’ Championship. This year’s Acropolis proved to be just perfect for those who stayed away of trouble, like Federico Villagra and Conrad Rautenbach, who fought each other for the 4th place; with the Argentinean driver winning the fight . Khalid Al Qassimi and Mads Ostberg also made no major mistakes and finished ahead of faster, but more unlucky crews.
The heat of the battle has been much more in the PWRC. Everybody’s eyes were on the Greeks Lambros Athanassoulas–Nikos Zakheos, who chased their dream driving a Skoda Fabia S2000; and made it true! They hadn’t driven a racing car since 2008 Acropolis Rally and till just a few days before this year’s event. Nevertheless, they stood up against their opponents, the PWRC’s best crews. Scoring top times from the start, they made no mistakes driving under pressure and they made it to the top by the end of Day 1. They faced bad luck in Day 2, when a problem at the electrics of the engine cost them some time, but they attacked during Day 3 and scored a clear victory over the Championship leader, Nasser Al-Attiyah, who was in need of title points, so as to increase his lead from Armindo Araujo.
Without a doubt, it has been a great end for the new, reborn, more mature Acropolis Rally. The town of Loutraki has hosted ideally the 56th Acropolis and now returns back to its normal way of life, keeping this year’s event as valuable experience for the WRC years to come.
