The repeat passage over the Thiva route resulted in drama for now-former Acropolis Rally leader Jari-Matti Latvala when an off at a hairpin saw his factory Ford Focus RS getting stuck by the side of the road during Day One's final stage.
The help of spectators finally saw the Finn back on his way, but over three and a half precious minutes were lost in the mishap. "In a fast left corner we went too fast and right after that there was a hairpin, so we went off-road," Latvala explained. "We had to get out of the car and push it and we lost a lot of time."
Latvala's time-costly troubles benefited Ford teammate Mikko Hirvonen, as the Finn's 16:59.5 stage-winning performance also gave him the rally lead – and the road-sweeping duties as first car on the road tomorrow.
"We think that it is not too bad; our starting position will be good tomorrow," Hirvonen assessed. "For me it was the right thing to do."
With his 19.4-second deficit suddenly erased by Latvala's troubles, Day One at Rally Acropolis comes to an end with Mikko Hirvonen now in control of the event, but with only a three-second advantage on Dani Sordo. Sebastien Loeb now stands on the third step of the provisional podium, but an additional 18.1 seconds away from teammate Sordo.

The Citroen team's Sebastien Loeb took an extra 3.5 seconds to complete his run, establishing the second-fastest time despite appearing at stage's end with a very finished left rear tyre: "The stage does not look too hard for the tyres, but it is. They didn't affect my performance. I don't know about tomorrow."
Only six seconds off the stage-winning result, fourth-quickest Dani Sordo seemed ready to push his works Citroen C4 all the way to a stage win. "Our speed was very good in the stage," the Spaniard reported. "I was going flat out until my team told me to slow down."

Fourth-placed Petter Solberg is 20.7 seconds down the line, with brother Henning Solberg over a half-minute behind. However, Sebastien Ogier in a mere tenth of a second away from the top five, therefore promising a Solberg-Ogier battle tomorrow.
Petter came next to claim third position on this run and felt very satisfied at the end of Day One: "It is going much better than I expected. The car is still not perfect, but I am very happy. We are going for the podium."
Stobart Ford's Henning Solberg set the fifth-fastest performance on this stage but felt frustrated with his day's work: "I tried my best, but what can I do? I've been trying to find the right set-up all day."
The Munchi's Ford car was raced into the sixth spot by Federico Villagra.
The Argentine was followed by a somewhat cautious Evgeny Novikov at the wheel of his Citroen Junior Team C4 WRC: "On the previous stage I had two punctures, so I had to drive very carefully on this one to avoid problems."
Teammate Sebastien Ogier appeared next, ahead of Khalid Al Qassimi's Ford Focus. "My tyres were completely finished from the previous stage," reported Al Qassimi. "I was completely out of pace in this one."
CJT driver Conrad Rautenbach completed the top ten on this stage, 50.1 seconds off the best time after being forced to change his approach: "We pushed hard in the previous stage but now we took it easy because the tyres were almost worn out."

As for Jari-Matti Latvala, the former rally leader falls down to 11th position, 3:17.3 away from the top.
The Acropolis Rally action resumes tomorrow morning at 09:32 local time with the first of two identical loops, each counting a trio of sun-baked gravel stages.