Mikko's lead though was cut from 5 points to 3, as his chief championship rival Sebastien Loeb won the event and took the maximum 10 points.
Chris Atkinson stays third in the standings, although Mikko and Seb both pull further ahead.
In the Manufacturers' championship the
BP Ford Abu Dhabi WRT stays top, maintaining its 7 points lead over the
Citroen Total WRT.
There have been a number of developments since the last round, although the main talking point is the fact that
Subaru World Rally Team will use its new car in Greece [see below].
News from the Manufacturers' teams:
Citroen Total WRT:
[
Sebastien Loeb, car #1 and
Daniel Sordo, car #2]
Loeb wants fifth win of year.
Sebastien Loeb will be aiming for the victory again on the Acropolis Rally of Greece. Loeb took his fourth win of the season and the 40th of his WRC career in Sardinia and now the Frenchman is keen to get another maximum haul and further close the gap to
Mikko Hirvonen, who is just three points in front in the race for the 2008 drivers’ title.
"It's true, I like round numbers, but I have nothing against adding to our current tally of forty WRC wins, especially since that would mean we are competitive and fighting for the title," stated the four-time world champion.
"In Sardinia, we succeeded in closing the gap with our rival, and the Acropolis Rally could be a good chance to reduce the deficit further still."
Seb has taken in the Acropolis Rally seven times to date and as such he has plenty of experience of it. He has also had a number of strong results, including winning it in 2005, as well as finishing second in 2007, 2006 and 2004.
Despite that run of success though, he doesn’t especially like it and the fact it can be so punishing doesn’t please him.
It may be even more hazardous this season too without any anti-deflation devices, although he is hopeful the Pirelli tyres will be able to stand up to the punishment as they did on the Rally d'Italia.
"It's not my favourite rally. These rough roads make the cars suffer, and that's not something I like," he added.
"The fact that we now have to run without run-flat mousse in our tyres could also see the 2008 event turn out to be something of a lottery, although we saw in Sardinia that the Pirelli Scorpion Hard is capable of soaking up the knocks.
