End of Day 3

Petter Solberg and Chris Patterson finish Rally Greece in fourth place overall.

Petter and Chris dropped to fourth overall on the first stage of the final morning of Rally Greece as team-mates Sebastien Loeb and Sebastien Ogier traded places for the Lead. Ogier moved into first place on SS14 after coming in third fastest behind Ford drivers Jari-Matti Latvala and Mikko Hirvonen, while Hirvonen moved up to third overall ahead of Petter and Chris. Loeb then took the lead on SS15 pushing Ogier back into second place.

All change again after service as Ogier retook the lead from Loeb on SS16, the second run through 19.42km Aghii Theodori where he was second fastest in stage, behind Hirvonen and ahead of Latvala. Ogier kept hold of the lead from this point on with no change in the overall top five of Ogier, Loeb, and Hirvonen, followed by Petter and Chris still in fourth and completed by Petter’s brother Henning in his Ford Fiesta.

Sebastien Ogier is the winner of Rally Greece and also took maximum bonus points for winning the Power Stage. His team-mate Sebastien Loeb was second fastest through the Power Stage and second overall, followed in both Power Stage and Rally position by Mikko Hirvonen. Petter and Chris finish Rally Greece in fourth position overall.

- To be honest, it has been a good weekend, says Petter Solberg. – For sure I was hoping for a win, and I’m very disappointed not even being on the podium, but that is how it is. I have pushed really hard all weekend, and am happy with the performance, but sadly it is not good enough. We also had a problem free run this weekend, which is good. The team has done a really good job. Will look forward to Finland now, and the two test-days planned prior to that.

In a poll by the organisers of Rally Greece, seventy percent of the spectators voted Petter Solberg their favourite driver!

The next event is Rally Finland 28th – 30th July 2011

Overall Classification Rally Greece

1. Ogier, Citroën
2. Loeb, Citroën +10,5
3. Hirvonen, Ford +13,5
4. Petter, Citroën +38,8
5. Henning, Ford +5.24,7
6. Wilson, Ford +6.54,7
7. Räikkönen, Citroën +8.29,4
8. Hanninen, Skoda +11.34,7
9. Latvala, Ford +13.08,8
10. Kuipers, Ford +15.10,1

After SS15

Petter and Chris are fourth overall

Petter and Chris have dropped to fourth overall as Loeb and Ogier trade places for the Lead.  Ogier moved into first place on SS14 and Hirvonen moved up to third ahead of Petter and Chris.  Loeb then took the lead on SS15 pushing Ogier back into second place.

Overall Classification after SS15


1. Loeb, Citroën
2. Ogier, Citroën +0,1
3. Hirvonen, Ford +14,7
4. Petter, Citroën +29,1
5. Henning, Ford +4.44,3

Rally Greece – day 3

We are up for the final day here in Greece, only 5 stages and 65kms to go. Petter and Chris is lying 3rd in the overall classification, but only 20 seconds behind Loeb, who is leading. Petter and Chris will run 3rd on the road today.

SS14 0903 Agio Theodori 1, 19,42km
SS15 0934 New Pissia, 11,37km
Service
SS16 1205 Aghii Theodori 2, 19,42km
SS17 1236 New Pissia 2, 11,37km
SS18 1411 Power Stage, 4,00km

End of Day 2

A difficult day two for Petter Solberg and Chris Patterson on Rally Greece.

A tough morning for the Petter Solberg World Rally Team saw Petter’s overnight lead narrowed as he lost time cleaning the loose surface gravel being first car on the road.  An overshoot on SS8 cost the team eight or ten seconds as Petter and Chris went straight on at a right hand junction and had to turn around and come back.  By the end of that stage the 51.6s overnight lead had narrowed to 19.8s ahead of Citroën’s Sebastien Ogier.

Jari-Matti Latvala won the first stage of the afternoon, the second run through 17.41km Klenia Mycenae, which had also been the first stage of the day.  Next fastest through was Sebastien Ogier who took the rally lead pushing Petter and Chris into second place overall.  Stage win from Sebastien Loeb on SS11 allowed him to push up into second place above Petter and Chris who now found themselves back to third overall.

Sebastien Loeb was fastest through the night stage SS13 Nea Politia and became the new rally leader ahead of his Citroën team-mate Sebastien Ogier.  Petter and Chris complete the day in third position overall after a hard day of road cleaning and sit ahead of Ford’s Mikko Hirvonen.

- We lost a lot of time today cleaning the roads, says Petter Solberg. – But that was expected. We figured we would be about 22 seconds behind at the end of the day, so with the 20 seconds now we are exactly as we planned. We still have a chance to win this rally, and the plan is to do that tomorrow!

Acropolis Rally of Greece continues with five stages tomorrow, including the Power Stage, which will be broadcast live on TV.  The first car will be on the road from 0903 local time.

Overall classification Day 2:

1. Loeb, Citroën
2. Ogier, Citroën +2,2
3. Petter, Citroën +20,9
4. Hirvonen, Ford +22,4
5. Henning, Ford +3.58,9
6. Wilson, Ford +5.30,2
7. Räikkönen, Citroën +6.55,4
8. Hanninen, Skoda +8.55,0
9. Kuipers, Ford+12.25,7
10. Sousa, Ford+12.55,3