Loeb finishes second day on three wheels.

Kronos Citroen's Sebastien Loeb has confirmed that his Xsara WRC was heavily damaged after he suffered a left rear tyre failure in SS13 on Saturday, the final stage that made up the second leg of the Acropolis Rally.

Prior to that incident, the Frenchman had been less than 30 seconds behind Marcus Gronholm, who leads overnight. However the problem in Psatha 2, just 1 kilometre into the 17.41 kilometre test cost him dear, dropping him over 1.5 minutes off the lead. He then had to limp back to service even though the tyre and wheel had disintegrated in the stage.

"The stage was okay," he explained, when asked it he was afraid he wouldn't be able to finish, "it was after on the road section [that was the real problem] - I had another puncture and the car was going sideways all of the time. Everything was going worse and worse, I was thinking it could be finished. But now we are here and we will see - we have 45 minutes to see what we can do.

"For me it was really rough [today]. It was very difficult for the car and tyres. On the stage before [my problem - SS12], I came through and said it was incredible how the car can come through without any punctures. Then on the next stage [SS13] I had a puncture. I lost the tyre then I broke the wheel and finished on three wheels. So, it was difficult to continue the stage. I lost some time and the road section was very long to come here. The car is very damaged - but I hope my mechanics will be able to fix it."

As for Sunday, his aim is a simple one now - to ensure he takes the eight points for the runners-up spot.

"The only thing to do is to try and finish now. It will be very rough. I hope we can finish second and go carefully," he concluded.