Indeed Ford’s four-day pre-event test near Livadia in central Greece was disrupted by storms and while Gronholm and team-mate,
Mikko Hirvonen were due to do two days each, in the end they ended up just doing one. Gronholm was happy though with the changes made to the suspension and engine response.
Asked about the Acropolis, he conceded it is far from easy: “It's a hard event for both drivers and cars. The weather during our test last week was cold, muddy and wet. It is forecast to turn warmer and drier in time for the rally but in the shaded areas where the surface is often clay-based, mud patches may remain. That will be strange for Greece,” he continued. “My confidence is good however - and I really want to take the fight to [Sebastien] Loeb as I did in Italy.”
Hirvonen meanwhile is confident that the Focus RS WRC06 will be able to take strain on the Acropolis. Indeed the M-Sport-run operation has won the Acropolis five times in the last seven years and that bodes well for him and Gronholm.
“Last year's Acropolis was incredibly rough so I have to be prepared for that again,” said Mikko, who was third on the event last year. “The stages were rocky and rutted and if they are in the same condition this year, then my car will take plenty of punishment. The obvious option is to ease off during the roughest sections but the pace of rallies now is so high that a driver can't afford to do that. You have to drive flat out everywhere. But the Focus is a strong car so I don’t have any worries.”
OMV Kronos Citroen WRT:
[Manfred Stohl, car #5].
OMV Kronos Citroen’s Manfred Stohl is feeling confident ahead of the Acropolis Rally and following a positive outing in Sardinia he is keen to try and ‘reap the rewards’ in Greece.
Stohl felt that they made a good ‘step forward’ on the Rally d’Italia Sardegna and after bringing his Kronos-run Citroen Xsara WRC home seventh he will be after another points haul come the finish of this event on Sunday.
