Loeb overcomes rocky moments for second.

After a stunning run of form that has put significant daylight between himself and his World Rally Championship rivals, Sebastian Loeb finally had to concede defeat to Marcus Gronholm in the Acropolis Rally, but not before almost being forced to retire.

The Frenchman, who has now finished in the top two of every rally this season, was given the unenviable task of sweeping the roads on arguably the roughest event of the year, but managed to stay in touch with Gronholm's Ford and Petter Solberg's Subaru by the end of the first day.

Having dispatched of Solberg early on the second leg, Loeb set about closing the gap on Gronholm but after a tense battle between the two throughout the day, the reigning champion was finally put on the back foot when he received a puncture on the final stage.

Losing a minute and a half as a result, Loeb now had to attempt to get his Citroen Xsara back to the service park on time, with various pieces of debris from his rear suspension being deposited along the Greek roads in the process.

Despite his rather unconventional return to service with only three wheels left on his car, the Kronos team worked wonders in 45 minutes to repair to rear-end of his car and get him back out on time, something Loeb praises the Belgian outfit for.

"It was a difficult rally," concluded the World Championship leader. "What with sweeping the road clean, getting a puncture and a tricky journey back to service, I'm very happy to come away with eight points for second place. Once more, I take my hat off to the entire Kronos team for putting my Xsara back into shape on Saturday night."

By this point though Gronholm had an unassailable lead, leaving Loeb to settle for a still comfortable second place and with a 29 point advantage in the championship. Nonetheless, despite a healthy lead, Loeb anticipates a bitter battle with the Finn once the competition resumes in August at the Rally Deutschland.

"Marcus was very quick, but nonetheless we managed to get some time back off him on Saturday. From Germany onwards, I know he'll be right there. It will be a very close fight, as always, but those tight battles with him are always the best ones..."