2009 Acropolis Rally

The 2009 Acropolis Rally of Greece was the 56th running of the Acropolis Rally and the seventh round of the 2009 World Rally Championship season. The rally consisted of 17 special stages. Ford's Mikko Hirvonen took his first win of the season and Citroën Junior Team's Sébastien Ogier his first-ever podium position. Hirvonen's teammate Jari-Matti Latvala climbed back to third place after going off the road and dropping from first to 11th place on the first day.

Citroën's championship leader Sébastien Loeb crashed out from third place, and Dani Sordo broke his suspension while running second, right behind Hirvonen. Stobart M-Sport Ford's fifth-placed driver Henning Solberg crashed into the same rock as Sordo and also retired. Petter Solberg found himself Hirvonen's main challenger for the win, but also had to retire with a broken suspension.

With mechanical problems for Mads Østberg and Evgeny Novikov, who took his first-ever stage win in the event, Federico Villagra finished fourth, Conrad Rautenbach fifth and Khalid al-Qassimi sixth, which marked his career-best result. Østberg climbed back into the points on the last stage. Home country's Lambros Athanassoulas edged out Nasser Al-Attiyah to win the Production World Rally Championship category, and also collected a WRC point for eighth place overall.

Results

Pos.	Driver	Co-driver	Car	Time	Difference	Points
WRC
1	Template:Flagicon Mikko Hirvonen	Template:Flagicon Jarmo Lehtinen	Ford Focus RS WRC 09	4:09:42.5	0.0	10
2	Template:Flagicon Sébastien Ogier	Template:Flagicon Julien Ingrassia	Citroën C4 WRC	4:10:55.4	1:12.9	8
3	Template:Flagicon Jari-Matti Latvala	Template:Flagicon Miikka Anttila	Ford Focus RS WRC 09	4:11:27.5	1:45.0	6
4	Template:Flagicon Federico Villagra	Template:Flagicon José Díaz	Ford Focus RS WRC 08	4:13:30.8	3:48.3	5
5	Template:Flagicon Conrad Rautenbach	Template:Flagicon Daniel Barritt	Citroën C4 WRC	4:13:42.3	3:59.8	4
6	Template:Flagicon Khalid al-Qassimi	Template:Flagicon Michael Orr	Ford Focus RS WRC 08	4:16:46.8	7:04.3	3
7	Template:Flagicon Mads Østberg	Template:Flagicon Jonas Andersson	Subaru Impreza WRC 2008	4:22:07.4	12:24.9	2
8	Template:Flagicon Lambros Athanassoulas	Template:Flagicon Nikolaos Zakheos	Škoda Fabia S2000	4:22:30.1	12:47.6	1
PWRC
1	Template:Flagicon Lambros Athanassoulas	Template:Flagicon Nikolaos Zakheos	Škoda Fabia S2000	4:22:30.1	0.0	10
2	Template:Flagicon Nasser Al-Attiyah	Template:Flagicon Giovanni Bernacchini	Subaru Impreza WRX STi N14	4:22:52.4	22.3	8
3	Template:Flagicon Armindo Araújo	Template:Flagicon Miguel Ramalho	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX	4:24:47.0	2:16.9	6
4	Template:Flagicon Toshi Arai	Template:Flagicon Glenn MacNeall	Subaru Impreza WRX STi	4:25:45.0	3:14.9	5
5	Template:Flagicon Martin Prokop	Template:Flagicon Jan Tománek	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX	4:28:28.9	5:58.8	4
6	Template:Flagicon Bernardo Sousa	Template:Flagicon Jorge Carvalho	Fiat Grande Punto S2000	4:31:49.6	9:19.5	3
7	Template:Flagicon Andis Neiksans	Template:Flagicon Peteris Dzirkals	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX	4:32:02.6	9:32.5	2
8	Template:Flagicon Patrik Flodin	Template:Flagicon Göran Bergsten	Subaru Impreza WRX STi	4:37:28.8	14:58.7	1

Special stages

Day	Stage	Time (EEST)	Name	Length	Winner	Time	Rally leader
1 (12 June)	SS1	8:48	Harvati	25 km	Template:Flagicon Jari-Matti Latvala	18:18.9	Template:Flagicon Jari-Matti Latvala
	SS2	10:21	Thiva 1	23.76 km	Template:Flagicon Dani Sordo	17:00.6
	SS3	11:44	Evangelistria	21.03 km	Stage cancelled	-:-.-
	SS4	14:02	Bauxites	23.17 km	Template:Flagicon Evgeny Novikov	14:39.8
	SS5	14:56	Drossohori	23.68 km	Template:Flagicon Sébastien Ogier	19:41.9
	SS6	17:13	Thiva 2	23.76 km	Template:Flagicon Mikko Hirvonen	16:59.5	Template:Flagicon Mikko Hirvonen
2 (13 June)	SS7	9:32	Klenia Mycenae 1	17.25 km	Template:Flagicon Jari-Matti Latvala	11:36.0
	SS8	10:35	Ghymno 1	26.28 km	Template:Flagicon Evgeny Novikov	19:03.6
	SS9	11:50	Kefelari 1	24.15 km	Template:Flagicon Mikko Hirvonen Template:Flagicon Petter Solberg	19:32.8
	SS10	14:50	Klenia Mycenae 2	17.25 km	Template:Flagicon Jari-Matti Latvala	11:21.8
	SS11	15:53	Ghymno 2	26.28 km	Template:Flagicon Evgeny Novikov	18:51.2
	SS12	17:08	Kefelari 2	24.15 km	Template:Flagicon Evgeny Novikov	19:10.1
3 (14 June)	SS13	9:33	Loutraki 1	8.98 km	Template:Flagicon Mads Østberg	7:38.2
	SS14	10:07	Aghii Theodori 1	33 km	Template:Flagicon Henning Solberg	22:43.2
	SS15	10:55	New Pissia	11.3 km	Template:Flagicon Matthew Wilson	8:16.2
	SS16	12:51	Loutraki 2	8.98 km	Stage cancelled	-:-.-
	SS17	13:25	Aghii Theodori 2	33 km	Template:Flagicon Jari-Matti Latvala	22:14.2

Championship standings after the event

Drivers' championship

Pos Driver IRL Template:Flagicon NOR Template:Flagicon CYP Template:Flagicon POR Template:Flagicon ARG Template:Flagicon ITA Template:Flagicon GRC Template:Flagicon POL Template:Flagicon FIN Template:Flagicon AUS Template:Flagicon ESP Template:Flagicon GBR Template:Flagicon  Pts  1 Template:Flagicon Sébastien Loeb 1 1 1 1 1 4 Ret 55 2 Template:Flagicon Mikko Hirvonen 3 2 2 2 Ret 2 1 48 3 Template:Flagicon Dani Sordo 2 5 4 3 2 23 12 31 4 Template:Flagicon Jari-Matti Latvala 14 3 12 Ret 6 1 3 25 5 Template:Flagicon Henning Solberg 4 4 18 5 3 8 15 21 6 Template:Flagicon Petter Solberg 6 3 4 Ret 3 Ret 20 7 Template:Flagicon Matthew Wilson 7 7 5 Ret 5 6 14 15 8 Template:Flagicon Federico Villagra 7 7 4 Ret 4 14 9 Template:Flagicon Sébastien Ogier 6 10 Ret 17 7 Ret 2 13 10 Template:Flagicon Mads Østberg 9 6 7 7 7 Template:Flagicon Conrad Rautenbach 18 Ret 6 Ret Ret 9 5 7 12 Template:Flagicon Khalid al-Qassimi 8 8 8 16 6 6 13 Template:Flagicon Evgeny Novikov 12 Ret Ret 5 16 4 Template:Flagicon Chris Atkinson 5 4 15 Template:Flagicon Nasser Al-Attiyah 11 16 8 10 9 1 Template:Flagicon Urmo Aava 10 8 1 Template:Flagicon Lambros Athanassoulas 8 1 Pos Driver IRL Template:Flagicon NOR Template:Flagicon CYP Template:Flagicon POR Template:Flagicon ARG Template:Flagicon ITA Template:Flagicon GRC Template:Flagicon POL Template:Flagicon FIN Template:Flagicon AUS Template:Flagicon ESP Template:Flagicon GBR Template:Flagicon Pts

Key Colour Result Gold Winner Silver 2nd place Bronze 3rd place Green Points finish Blue Non-points finish Non-classified finish (NC) Purple Did not finish (Ret) Black Excluded (EX) Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Cancelled (C) Blank Withdrew entry from the event (WD)

Manufacturers' championship

Pos	Team	Event												Total points
		IRL Template:Flagicon	NOR Template:Flagicon	CYP Template:Flagicon	POR Template:Flagicon	ARG Template:Flagicon	ITA Template:Flagicon	GRC Template:Flagicon	POL Template:Flagicon	FIN Template:Flagicon	AUS Template:Flagicon	ESP Template:Flagicon	GBR Template:Flagicon
1	Template:Flagicon Citroën Total World Rally Team	18	14	16	16	18	8	4						94
2	Template:Flagicon BP Ford World Rally Team	8	14	10	8	3	18	18						79
3	Template:Flagicon Stobart M-Sport Ford Rally Team	8	8	6	5	10	7	5						49
4	Template:Flagicon Citroën Junior Team	5	2	4	0	2	6	6						25
5	Template:Flagicon Munchi's Ford World Rally Team	0	0	3	4	5	0	6						18

External links

• Official site