SS13: Loeb hits back in Greece

Sebastien Loeb has hit back in the battle for victory on the Acropolis Rally, round six of the FIA World Rally Championship powered by Nokia, by winning the final stage of Saturday’s opening loop of four runs. As a result he takes a lead of 2.2s to the midday service halt in Loutraki.

Latvala was third fastest, 0.4s slower than Ford team-mate Petter Solberg but, more significantly, 1.2s adrift of Loeb’s stage-winning pace.

Mikko Hirvonen was fourth quickest while Mads Ostberg said efforts to resolve a possible fault with his Adapta Fiesta’s right-rear driveshaft prior to the stage had proved a success.

“We have had some concerns with the car but luckily we have been able to come through,” said the Norwegian, who is just 2.4s behind Martin Prokop in the overall classification.

Nasser Al-Attiyah lost time with an overshoot in his Qatar World Rally Team Citroen. WRC Team MINI Portugal’s Armindo Araujo is driving with car preservation firmly in mind, while Daniel Oliveira reported the stage being “very slippery” running first on the road in his Brazil World Rally Team Fiesta.

Evgeny Novikov failed to start the stage due to a water pump failure on his M-Sport Fiesta. He had been fifth overall at the time.

Crews are now making their way to service in Loutraki where their teams will have 30 minutes to carry out repairs and adjust set-ups for the afternoon loop of four stages.