Petter Solberg maintained control of the Acropolis Rally after the first four stages of day two. Coming into service, the Norweigen was 52s clear of the pack, headed by Peugeot's Harri Rovanpera with Citroen's Sebastien Loeb third overall.

Solberg was second quickest behind Loeb on the first stage of the morning, SS10, and then won the following 28.68km Drosohori stage. After that the world champion appeared to back off, coming in fourth and sixth in the next two stages, which allowed the undoubted stars of the morning, Rovanpera and Loeb, to cut his lead to under a minute.

Rovanpera is the only works Peugeot 307 driver still in the fight after team leader Marcus Gronholm ran into terminal suspension problems on SS11 while running fourth overall. The Finn stopped on the stage after his left rear suspension triangle broke. Although there was a remote service area at the end of the run, and new regulations allow two mechanics to work on the car using the tools and spares carried in the car, the parts required were not on board.

In any case, team-mate Rovanpera stormed through the morning with abandon. The Finn stormed through the SS12 Rengini stage, which he also won yesterday, making up for the time he'd lost after a poor SS11. He then posted the second fastest time in SS13, just a second slower than Loeb, to continue his pursuit of Subaru's Solberg.

Loeb may have had a disappointing first day, but the Frenchman was the fastest man of the morning. With two stage wins he turned a distant fifth place at the end of day one in to a charging third place on day two. At his current pace he will move into second overall before the afternoon is out. Solberg will have to keep an eye on the Frenchman.

Fourth is now Francois Duval. The Belgian is the only Ford driver left in the running, although team-mate Markko Martin has taken advantage of the new SupeRally regulations which allow competitors to rejoin the following leg of a rally if they are forced to retire. Duval had a steady morning and only lost his third place to the storming Loeb on SS13.

Daniel Carlsson's privateer Peugeot 206 WRC is still in an impressive fifth place ahead of the factory Mitsubishi of Gilles Panizzi. The new Lancer is having its most successful outing to date and Panizzi is working hard to keep the factory Subaru of Mikko Hirvonen behind him. Manfred Stohl holds the last points scoring place in eighth.

Solberg wins the Acropolis Rally

World champion survives penalty to claim second victory of season

Petter Solberg dominated the Acropolis Rally

Petter Solberg dominated the Acropolis Rally to take his second victory of the season, despite having to contend with a 30s penalty and a brake failure on the second day. The third leg of the rally was dominated by a battle for second won by Citroen's Sebastien Loeb from third-placed Harri Rovanpera.

Solberg survived not only brake failure during SS13, where he was forced to use the handbrake for 23km, but also a penalty at the end-of-day service after the Subaru team forgot to fit mudguards to his Impreza. Undeterred he responded early in the third leg, winning the second stage of the day, SS18, and remaining in the top three throughout the day's stage times.

"It's fantastic," said Solberg. "It's been a hard rally, and a tough fight right from the start, but to get this result after the disappointment in Cyprus feels very good. Everything worked perfectly today. There were no problems at all. The car is incredible, and everyone is working so well. I can't thank the team enough. It seems that, for now, anything is possible."

Behind Solberg, Loeb and Rovanpera traded fastest stage times as they battled for second overall. But after the mid-leg service, the French ace took two stage wins to put the matter beyond dispute and Rovanpera was forced to accept third in the sole remaining Peugeot 307.

“I'm very pleased with this result, although I've not been entirely confident with the car all rally,” said the Frenchman. “I didn't have a good feeling over the bumps, and this morning was a bit the same. The most important thing, though, is that the car is both reliable and fast, and we clearly have the pace to run at the front. I think we're in good shape for the next rally in Turkey now, which I led last year, and I'm hoping for an even better result than here in Greece."

Francois Duval finished fourth for Ford ahead of the two privately-entered Bovian Peugeot 206 WRCs of Daniel Carlsson and Manfred Stohl. The Belgian had been in contention for third, perhaps even second, during the second leg, but backed off to save his car. “A podium would have been nice," said Duval. "We tried to match Rovanpera and Loeb early this morning, but could not do it, so we eased off and settled for fourth.

It seems that, for now, anything is possible
Petter Solberg
"We didn't want to take any risks and that tactic paid off. With Markko having retired on Friday it was important to finish and score points for Ford.”

Janne Tuohino's privateer Ford Focus '02 finished seventh ahead of Aris Vovos in a '03 version. Gilles Panizzi's Mitsubishi was on course for sixth place until engine problems in the last two stages dropped him down the order to tenth, although the fact that he finished meant he scored valuable manufacturer points.

Carlos Sainz also persevered, eventually finishing 19th, to score points for Citroen. The Spaniard endured a long and difficult event in Greece after losing a huge amount of time with damper problems on leg one.

Several drivers took advantage of the new SupeRally regulations, introduced for the Acropolis, which allow retired entries to rejoin the rally on the following leg. The first high profile runner to do so was Markko Martin who crashed his Ford Focus on the first day.

He was then joined by both Skoda drivers Armin Schwarz and Toni Gardemeister, Mitsubishi's Dani Sola and finally Peugeot's Marcus Gronholm who broke his suspension while running fourth overall on leg two. In fact the only factory retirement not to return to the rally was Mikko Hirvonen whose Subaru Impreza was too badly damaged to continue after he rolled it at the end of leg two.

Loeb's fighting second place ensured that he remains at the top of the drivers' championship with 43 points, five ahead of Solberg. Martin's retirement means he has dropped to nine points behind Loeb in third.