Acropolis Rally:
five things we
learned

1: Loeb remains the WRC benchmark

Sebastien Loeb’s fourth victory out of six starts was arguably one of his best. Not only did he resist challenges from Ford drivers Jari-Matti Latvala and Petter Solberg, he also remained calmness personified when a puncture on the final day slashed his overall lead. Once again Loeb judged his pace to perfection, holding back in the extreme rough but charging whenever it was safe to do so.

2: Giving up never pays off

When Valeriy Gorban dropped out of the lead of the Production Car World Rally Championship on day one after his Mitsubishi Lancer suffered a double suspension failure, rather than retire and incur time penalties under the Rally 2 restart system, Gorban decided to limp through Friday’s final two stages in an effort to remain in contention for a podium finish in the category. When Nicolas Fuchs retired from the PWRC lead with the finish almost in sight, Gorban was there to pick up the pieces.

3: Absence is no barrier to speed

Despite not having driven a World Rally Car in competition since 1 April, Jari-Matti Latvala proved he’d lost none of his staggering pace when he returned from injury to set 10 fastest stage times. He also led for a time and could have taken victory had it not been for a puncture and brake woes on the second day of the rally.

4: Regional Rally Cars are a force

Yazeed Al-Rajhi (pictured) not only celebrated his maiden WRC points with eighth place in Greece but he also marked the first top 10 finish in the world championship by a Regional Rally Car, a slightly less advanced version of the headlining World Rally Car. Al-Rajhi was driving a Ford Fiesta RRC alongside co-driver Michael Orr, which he uses in the Super 2000 World Rally Championship.

5: Like father, like son

Being a fast rally driver is clearly in the genes as far as the Evans family is concerned. While Gwyndaf Evans did the bulk of his winning in the British Rally Championship, he made more than 30 starts in the WRC. On the second round of the FIA WRC Academy, his 23-year-old son Elfyn secured his maiden victory in the category by beating Alastair Fisher and Brendan Reeves following an impressive display.