Remoteservice

The day has also been a challenge for the mechanics. Two remote-services during the day means a lot of extra work. 10 minutes after the morning service, they loaded all the gear they thought would be needed and drove for 1hour and 20minutes up north to Loutraki. Then they unloaded the cars, set up a mini-service, worked on the cars, before they packed it all down and drove back to Marcopoulo for the mid-day service there. After the service they loaded the cars again and drove once more up to Loutraki for the next remote-service before they again headed back to Marcopoulo and the flexi-service.

During the day the mechanics spent 6 hours in a minibus without aircondition, set up the remoteservice twice, worked on the cars, loaded it all back into the cars – and all this in 35 degrees.

Leg 2 overall Rally Acropolis

After service in Marcopoulo the drivers set of for the second loop trough SS14 – the monster stage. And again it made the drivers struggle. Petter damaged the front left bumper half way trough the stage. Both Loeb and Hirvonen had a puncture. Stohl hit a rock and lost a tire and had to stop and change it. Grønholm set the fastest time trough the stage, with Petter in 2nd and Loeb 3rd.

Loeb was the stage winner at SS15, Grønholm 2nd and Hirvonen 3rd. Petter says he cant go any faster because of the damaged damper, Chris also damaged his damper. Petter ended 5th and lost 9 seconds to Loeb and 7 seconds to Grønholm.

Petter and Chris continues to struggle with damper-problems on SS16. Loeb wins the stage infront of Grønholm and Latvala. Petter is 9th, and drops down to 3. overall.

A fantastic atmosphere at the Hippodrome for SS17. Petter is paired with Chris – who suffers a spin. Both Subaru’s takes it easy over the jumps, due the damaged dampers. Loeb wins the stage, Petter completes with 10th best time and manages to keep a place on the podium overall.

Overall classification Leg 2 completed:
1. Grønholm, Ford
2. Loeb, Citroen +43,3
3. Petter, Subaru +1.07,6
4. Hirvonen, Ford +2.32,1
5. Henning, Ford +3.09,3
6. Chris, Subaru +5.25,0
7. Kopecky, Skoda +6.55,4
8. Stohl, Citroen + 7.32,0

Read the rest of this entry »

SS10 – SS13 Rally Acropolis

Petter was calm and in a good mood this morning, and was talking about the weather before he drove from the servicepark towards SS10. The first stage of the morning turned out to be quite a challenge for all, as predicted. Grønholm came trough with the fastest time on the 48km long stage, and Petter with 3rd fastest time, only 20,4 seconds behind. Chris suffered a puncture and the mousse wouldn’t work. Right front wheel was almost off when he got to the finish line. Petter started after him, and was struggeling with all the dust after Chris’ car at the end of the stage. Loeb also suffered a puncture on the stage just before the finish. Hirvonen came to fast into a corner and went off the road and damaged his windscreen badly. That made it difficult for him to see clearly the rest of the stage. Latvala had a puncture too, and problems with the mousse. He stopped on stage to change tyre.

Loeb was the fastest car trough SS11, Petter no 3. On SS12 Petter was the fastest car trough, and he said at the finish that they now had the perfect set up, and that this car was the best they ever had! Grønholm had a spin 2 kms before the end and Sordo stopped on stage with transmission problems. He later retired from the rally. Henning got 10 seconds penalty for being late at TC, apparently due to codriver mistake.

Petter also had a stagewin on SS13.

Overall classification after SS13:
1. Grønholm, Ford
2. Petter, Subaru +15,8
3. Loeb, Citroen +20,5
4. Hirvonen, Ford +1.27,0
5. Chris, Subaru +2.18,2
6. Henning, Ford +2.21,2
7. Stohl, Citroen +3.33,2
8. Latvala, Ford +5.00,5

Leg 1 Rally Acropolis completed

After the midday service the cars set off for the second loop trough the same stages. Petter chose hard tyres in the morning, and decided to go for the same tyre and setup for the afternoon. Chris is doing the same. Loeb changed set up on his car, trying to get in the lead.

At the finish on SS6 they all say that the conditions are much better now, and the first cars don’t need to sweep the road for the rest. Perez Companc went of the stage midway and lost a few seconds. Grønholm set the fastest time on SS6 – 4,4 seconds faster than Loeb. Petter ended 5th and Chris 6th.

Fastest on SS7 was Sordo, but only 0,1 second faster than Grønholm. Petter no 4 and Chris no 6. At the finish Loeb says he is taking a lot risks to be that fast, but yet it isn’t fast enough. Petter is pushing, but has no splits in his car but has no idea if it is fast enough. Hirvonen is struggling with understeering.

Loeb set the fastest time on SS8, Petter is 7th and Chris is 8th.

Tomorrow is another 8 stages ready to be tackled by the drivers. They start with the almost 50 km on SS10, which will be quite a challenge for both drivers and cars. Luckily the stage is followed by a remote service at Loutraki. First car is due on stage 10 at 0903 local time.

Overall classification – End of leg 1:
1. Grønholm, Ford
2. Petter, Subaru +8,3
3. Chris, Subaru +9,0
4. Loeb, Citroen +9,7
5. Hirvonen, Ford +10,3
6. Sordo, Citroen +10,7
7. Henning, Ford +45,2
8. Latvala, Ford +48,3

Pictures from the day

Petter in action on SS5. This 5,16km long stage is run beside the servicepark. The complete area was built for the Olympic in 2004, and the super special thursday night was held at the horse race track. It is very convinient to walk between the stages and the servicepark.

Overview of the servicepark thursday evening

Phil at the timecontrol with the red book

All cars in line at regroup.

New team-member at SWRT

Meet SWRT new team-member. He is very mysterious and came from nowhere, and will not tell us his name. He likes to stay inside the tyre-tent, maybe he likes the smell of rubber? When we asked about how the second run trough the stages would be – he answered “rough”!

Job well done. Chris has left the servicepark, and the team takes a break.

Petter 2nd after SS5

It has been a good morning for the Subaru Team. After five stages completed we have both Subarus in the lead. Chris is in the lead followed by Petter. Back at the servicepark they both said cars is working OK. No major problems. Phil told us there are a lot of people at the spectators area, but mostly the stages are too far away and with no accessroads for the public. With +53 degrees inside the car, the new air conditioning is not helping too much.

SS6 starts at 1455 local time.

Overall classification after SS5

1. Chris, Subaru
2. Petter, Subaru +3,9
3. Hirvonen, Ford +8,3
4. Grønholm, Ford +13,0
5. Sordo, Citroen +15,3
6. Loeb, Citroen +18,7
7. Henning, Ford +27,8
8. Latvala, Ford +39,3