Acropolis Rally of Greece (11-14 June, 2009) – Day 3 Mission accomplished for Sordo and Marti

After restarting under the SupeRally ruling for the third and final day of the 2009 of Greece, and Marc Marti achieved their aims by scoring four points for in the Manufacturers’ world championship. Day 3 of the Acropolis Rally was held near the service park in Loutraki. The day began with a loop comprising three stages, including a run through Aghii Theodori, a daunting 33 km stage. After restarting in 17th position in the overall standings, the only goal for Dani Sordo and Marc Marti was to finish in order to score a handful of points for Citroën in the Manufacturers’ championship. Arriving in Loutraki for the midday service, Dani Sordo was fully focused on the job in hand: “It’s never easy to run at a controlled pace but I’m taking no risks. I’m staying in the middle of the road – at times, it feels like we’re doing a recce!” Following the cancellation of a stage, the rally concluded with a second run through Aghii Theodori. Running at the same pace, Dani finished in 12 th position, which is worth four points in the Manufacturers’ standings. “Dani and Marc did a perfect job,” concluded Citroën Total World Rally Team team manager Sven Smeets. “These points are even more important because our rivals once again took a maximum score. We’re already looking ahead to the next rally. We’ll be going to even hungrier for a win!”

RALLY FACTS

Dani Sordo / Marc Marti Stage Overall SS13 : Loutraki 1 (8,98 km) 3rd +1’’5 16 th +19’33’’0 SS14 : Aghii Theodori (33,00 km) 5th +10’’0 14 th +19’21’’1 SS15 : New Pissia (11,30 km) 2nd +0’’2 14 th +19’10’’7 SS16 : Loutraki 2 (8,98 km) SS CANCELLED SS17 : Aghii Theodori (33,00 km) 2nd +5’’3 12 th +18’41’’0

Stage wins Day 1 – SS1 : Jari-Matti Latvala (Ford Focus) – SS2 : Dani Sordo (Citroën C4) – SS3 : annulée – SS4 : (Citroën C4) – SS5 : Sébastien Ogier (Citroën C4) – SS6 : (Ford Focus). Day 2 – SS7 : Latvala – SS8 : Novikov – SS9 : Hirvonen – SS10 : Latvala – SS11 and 12 : Novikov. Day 3 – SS13 : Mads Ostberg ( Impreza) – SS14 : (Ford Focus) – SS15 : (Ford Focus) – SS16 : cancelled – SS17 : Latvala.

Best performers : Novikov and Latvala, 4 fastest times – Hirvonen, 2 – Sordo, Ogier, Ostberg, H. Solberg and Wilson : 1.

Leaders : SS1 to 5 : Latvala – SS6 to 17 : Hirvonen.

Provisional final leaderboard 1. Hirvonen/Lehtinen Ford Focus 4h09’42’’5 2. Ogier/Ingrassia Citroën C4 +1’12’’9 3. Latvala/Antilla Ford Focus +1’45’’0 4. Villagra/Diaz Ford Focus + 3’48’’3 5. Rautenbach/Barritt Citroën C4 +3’59’’8 6. Al Qassimi/Orr Ford Focus +7’04’’3 7. Ostberg/Andersson +12’24’’9 8. Athanassoulas/Zakheos Skoda Fabia +12’47’’6 9. Al Attiyah/Bernacchini Subaru Impreza +13’09’’9 10. Araujo/Ramalho Mitsubishi Lancer +15’04’’5 11. Arai/Mac Neall Subaru Impreza +16’02’’5 12. Sordo / Marti Citroën C4 +18’41’’0

UNOFFICIAL OVERALL FIA CHAMPIONSHIPS RANKINGS

IRL NOR CYP POR ARG ITA GRK POL FIN AUS ESP GBR TOT 1 Sébastien Loeb 10 10 10 10 10 5 0 55 2 Mikko Hirvonen 6 8 8 8 0 8 10 48 3 Dani Sordo 8 4 5 6 8 0 0 31 4 Jari-Matti Latvala 0 6 0 0 3 10 6 25 5 Henning Solberg 5 5 0 4 6 1 0 21 6 - 3 6 5 0 6 0 20 7 Matthew Wilson 2 2 4 0 4 3 0 15 8 - - 2 2 5 0 5 14 9 Sébastien Ogier 3 0 0 0 2 0 8 13 10 Mads Ostberg - 0 - 3 - 2 2 7 11 0 0 3 0 0 0 4 7 12 1 - 1 1 - 0 3 6 13 4 ------4 14 Evgeny Novikov - 0 0 0 - 4 0 4 15 Nasser Al Attiyah - - 0 0 1 0 0 1 16 0 1 - - - - - 1 17 L. Athanassoulas ------1 1

1 Citroën Total WRT 18 14 16 16 18 8 4 94 2 BP Ford Abu Dhabi 8 14 10 8 3 18 18 79 3 Stobart VK M-Sport 8 8 6 5 10 7 5 49 4 5 2 4 0 2 5 6 24 5 Munchi's Ford - - 3 4 5 0 6 18

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Loutraki, 14 juin 2009