Solberg Third - SS8 - Acropolis Rally

Petter Solberg reclaimed third place from Mikko Hirvonen on stage eight of the Acropolis Rally.

Firmly back on the pace after his stage six scare, Solberg was quickest on the repeat of the Elikonas stage, and his pace coupled with a disappointing time for his Citroen rival saw the Ford not just take third place overall, but pull nearly eight seconds clear of Hirvonen, who has not been happy with his car's handling this afternoon.

But although Ford could celebrate reclaiming third, the advantage remains with Citroen in the outright lead battle.

Jari-Matti Latvala had trimmed a few fractions from Sebastien Loeb's lead on the preceding stage and looked like he was set to make greater inroads on Elikonas, only for Loeb to respond with a charge through the final kilometres after the split times alerted him to Latvala's progress.

"I was pushing hard. I saw Petter and Jari-Matti taking a bit of time, so I pushed really, really hard at the end of the stage. If I could do more, I'd do more. It's flat-out," Loeb declared.

Latvala ended up dropping 0.8s to Loeb, to his frustration.

"I thought I was driving well, but I'm a bit disappointed," he said.

Behind the leaders, there were myriad dramas in the rest of the World Rally car field.

Fifth-placed Mads Ostberg is nursing a driveshaft he feels is on the brink of failing in his Adapta Ford, while sixth position man Thierry Neuville said his Citroen Junior-entered DS3 WRC was also developing a transmission issue near the end of the stage.

Evgeny Novikov managed to fix the turbo issue on his M-Sport Ford before the stage, only for a loose gear selector to cause further time loss on stage eight. The Russian's team-mate Ott Tanak had to retire on the road section due to the damage his car sustained on the previous stage.

Loeb Leads - Acropolis Rally - SS5

Citroen set first and second fastest times on the first run through the Acropolis Rally's Bauxites stage, as Sebastien Loeb pulled away in the lead and Mikko Hirvonen moved right back into the podium fight.

While the Ford World Rally Team chose to take two spare tyres in Jari-Matti Latvala and Petter Solberg's cars, Citroen went for just one, and saw its drivers go five seconds quicker than their arch-rivals.

It was Hirvonen who claimed the stage win by 1.1s, closing his gap to third-placed Solberg to just 1.2s.

Loeb was able to extend his lead over Latvala to 5.7s, with the Finn feeling a set-up change may be necessary.

"I'm not happy with the car on the hard surface," said Latvala. "I feel like I can't get the grip in the first part of the stages. We need to change the set-up to make the tyres warm up."

Evgeny Novikov remains fifth, though Mads Ostberg is gaining on him and is now just 5.9s behind, despite the Adapta man feeling he is not driving well.

"When I'm not confident with the car and I'm still pushing, I'm not clever. At the moment, I'm not very smart," said Ostberg.

Latvala Leaves Loeb - SS2 - Acropolis Rally

Jari-Matti Latvala started the first full day of the Acropolis Rally in encouraging style as he edged slightly further away from the chasing Citroen DS3 WRC of Sebastien Loeb.

Ford driver Latvala won the Aghia Marina stage by a scant 0.4s over Loeb, bringing his overall advantage up to 3.2s.

Latvala denied that he was driving to Loeb's splits, and reckoned they were just naturally evenly-matched this morning.

"It seems that it's quite equal," he noted.

Loeb's team-mate Mikko Hirvonen was 3.3s slower than Latvala but remains third.

In the second Ford World Rally Team Fiesta RS WRC, Petter Solberg moved up from fifth to fourth, but was concerned by a handling problem.

"Something is not right, the car is very, very difficult to drive. Something is not correct," said the Norwegian. "I have to think what it is. It's not in balance at all. The car is strange in right-handers. There's a big difference between right and left corners."

Solberg still moved past Mads Ostberg, as did Evgeny Novikov, with Ostberg unhappy with his Adapta Ford and sliding from fourth to sixth.

Novikov's M-Sport team-mate Ott Tanak pulled clear of his sparring partners in seventh, as Thierry Neuville (Citroen Junior) lost a little time with a spin but still came through just ahead of Ford driver Martin Prokop.