Acropolis: ShakedownAhead of the first special stage later on today in Greece, Petter Solberg led the way in the pre-event shakedown in his Subaru Impreza WRC with a best run of 1:42.7s. Stobart Focus driver Jari-Matti Latvala was second fastest six-tenths of a second behind
Solberg with Henning Solberg another two-tenths back.
Special Stage 1, Hippodrome 1, gets underway at 19.00 CET.
Acropolis Rally shakedown notes1 LOEB Sebastien / ELENA Daniel “We had a problem with the clutch but fixed it. We also made some changes in the car. No problems.”
2 SORDO Daniel / MARTI Marc “The car is exactly the same as in Sardinia-we only made some small changes to the suspension.”
3 GRONHOLM Marcus / RAUTIAINEN Timo “We made small changes in the car. Everything is ok. About the rally, the roads are in good condition. It was muddy in the recce, but I think it will be dry tomorrow. In S.S. Agia Sotira, we want to avoid punctures.”
4 HIRVONEN Mikko / LEHTINEN Jarmo “Everything is ok, no problem. It's going to be a big fight and I'll try to win, so I'll push hard.”
5 STOHL Manfred / Ms MINOR Ilka “It's a very hard race for the cars and the tires. We hope the weather to be like today.”
7 SOLBERG Petter / MILLS Philip “The car will be almost the same with the last race. Only some very small changes, small details all the time, no big changes.”
8 ATKINSON Chris / PREVOT Stephane “We've made some changes in the suspension, everything ok.”
9 LATVALA Jari-Matti / ANTTILA Miika “Now we have a different set up, we adjust higher the front of the car. We had also a sensor failure.”
10 SOLBERG Henning / MENKERUD Cato “The shakedown was ok. It was a good stage and I am satisfied with my time. It's a long weekend.”
11 PEREZ COMPANC Luis / DIAZ Jose “We had some electrical problems, but everything is ok.”
16 WILSON Matthew / ORR Michael “The set up is very simple for this race. We must have a higher suspension set up for the rocks and stones.”
17 DUVAL Francois / ELST Jean Francois “Everything is ok, the car is very good and so is my new co-driver. My aim is to stay on the road and finish the rally.”
15 VOVOS Aris / « EL EM » “The secret of this rally is the reliability. In the long stages, especially in the second leg, it is essential for the cars to stand. The car is fine, we didn't change anything.”
19 KOPECKY Jan / SCHOVANEK Filip “The car is the same as in the Sardinian rally. The Acropolis Rally is harder, so we test a lot of differential settings. We also try a different type of tyres.”
36 HANNINEN Juho / MARKKULA Mikko “The car must be higher because it's too rough, but not anything special.”
37 PAVLIDES Spyros / GIRAUDET Denis “We made a test on Monday, but we didn't find the right set up for the car. So we came early this morning to test the car. And the good thing is that the shakedown is similar to the conditions we are going to see in the stages.”
39 AL ATTIYAH Nasser / PATTERSON Chris “You really need tough suspension for this rally.”
54 POZZO Gabriel / STILLO Daniel “It's very difficult to find the right set up for this rally. It's rough and hard with lots of stones on the road.”
Source Acropolis Rally
