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FIA PRODUCTION CAR WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP
ROUND 4: ACROPOLIS RALLY
MITSUBISHI LANCER EVOLUTION DRIVER TAKES PODIUM ON TOUGH ACROPOLIS RALLY  
4 JUNE 2006 LEG 3 RELEASE
 
PWRC FINAL RESULTS
OVERALL FINAL RESULTS

Gabriel Pozzo / Daniel Stillo
Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX
 

Mirco Baldacci / Giovanni Agnese
Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX
 

Jussi Valimaki / Jarko Kalliolepo
Mitsubishi Lancer WRC05
 
It was another day of scorching temperatures on the Greek roads around Athens on the final leg of the Acropolis Rally. Four of today’s five stages were among the toughest on the whole route, with all the Avonlas test and parts of Agia Sotira being driven four times during the event. Despite the enormous strain being put on man and machine, Gabriel Pozzo and Mirco Baldacci maintained a fantastic challenge for victory in this round of the FIA Production Car World Rally Championship. In the end, the Argentine driver was second behind Al-Attiyah – having led for most of the first two days – and San Marino’s Baldacci was fourth.

Baldacci, and co-driver Giovanni Agnese, began the day more than two minutes off the leader. The Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX crew halved that difference in the morning. This left them under a minute behind with just the final loop of stages remaining. Sunday afternoon comprised a re-run of the morning stages, with a classic finale in the Olympic Stadium.

Unfortunately for Baldacci, he suffered a front puncture with two stages remaining, and was then held up in the dust of a slower competitor in the final test. He slipped back behind Pozzo, but was then dropped down a further place when the stewards levied a five-minute penalty on him for running without a rear bumper on the final three stages of today.

Despite being downhearted about dropping back from the lead yesterday, Pozzo continued to push through the final leg. He was never out of the top three fastest times among the Group N cars. His efforts paid off as he closed to just 11 seconds of the leader with just the superspecial remaining. Unfortunately, he couldn’t manage to overcome that deficit and ended as runner-up.

"It’s been a very tough rally," said Pozzo at the finish. "Really, a typical Acropolis. Again, it was good to see that we had enough speed to lead the rally, but it’s disappointing that we didn’t manage to win. To come back to second place was good, though, it means I have some good points in the championship."

Finland’s Jussi Valimaki maintained Mitsubishi’s presence at the sharp end of the World Rally Championship, bringing home a Lancer WRC05 to a fine ninth position – just two weeks after he collected fifth place on Rally Italia. Valimaki admitted the final day had been just as tough as the two days which had gone before it.

"The dust was so bad in the first stage this morning," he said. "And the road was really rough. Still, I am not sure how hard to push in the very rough places. The car can take the punishment, but I am always thinking it might be too much. I missed one junction in the first stage and had to reverse. We didn’t lose too much time. Again, the car worked well throughout the day, it hasn’t given us any problems at all."

Ford driver Marcus Gronholm remained in control of the event and collected his third win of the season, with championship leader Sebastien Loeb second and Mikko Hirvonen third.
 PWRC FINAL CLASSIFICATION
Pos Driver
Co-Driver		 Vehicle Total
Time		 Diff
Leader
1 Nasser Al-Attiyah
Chris Patterson		 Subaru Impreza 4:28:43.3 **:**.*
2 Gabriel Pozzo
Daniel Stillo		 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX 4:28:55.3 +12.0
3 Aki Teiskonen
Miika Teiskonen		 Subaru Impreza WRX Sti 4:29:13.7 +30.4
4 Mirco Baldacci
Giovanni Agnese		 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX 4:32:37.4 +3:54.1
5 Arai Toshi
Tony Sircombe		 Subaru Impreza STI 4:33:37.7 +4:54.4
6 Jari-Matti Latvala
Miikka Anttila		 Subaru Impreza WRX Sti 4:36:11.2 +7:27.9
7 Marcos Ligato
Ruben Garcia		 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX 4:41:48.2 +13:04.9
8 Stefano Marrini
Tiziana Sandroni		 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VII 4:44:58.3 +16:15.0
9 Sergey Uspenskiy
Dmitry Eremeev		 Subaru Impreza STI 4:49:35.8 +20:52.5
10 Sebastian Beltran
Ricardo Rojas		 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX 4:52:02.5 +23:19.2
11 Nigel Heath
Steve Lancaster		 Subaru Impreza 4:58:07.0 +29:23.7
12 Kamada Takuma
Ichino. Hakaru		 Subaru Impreza 5:03:11.2 +34:27.9
13 Andrej Jereb
Sebastian Itu		 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII 5:10:08.6 +41:25.3
14 Dimitris Nassoulas
Mihalis Patrikoussis		 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VII 5:21:50.1 +53:06.8


 OVERALL FINAL CLASSIFICATION
Pos Driver
Co-Driver		 Vehicle Grp
Pos		 Total
Time		 Diff
Leader
1
M1		 Marcus Gronholm
Timo Rautiainen		 Ford Focus RS WRC 06 A
1		 3:56:26.8 **:**.*
2
M1		 Sebastien Loeb
Daniel Elena		 Citroen Xsara WRC A
2		 3:58:53.6 +2:26.8
3
M1		 Mikko Hirvonen
Jarmo Lehtinen		 Ford Focus RS WRC 06 A
3		 4:00:10.6 +3:43.8
4 Toni Gardemeister
Jakke Honkanen		 Citroen Xsara A
4		 4:00:47.6 +4:20.8
5
M2		 Henning Solberg
Cato Menkerud		 Peugeot 307 WRC A
5		 4:01:22.4 +4:55.6
6 Daniel Sordo
Marc Marti		 Citroen Xsara A
6		 4:01:23.2 +4:56.4
7
M1		 Petter Solberg
Phil Mills		 Subaru Impreza WRC 2006 A
7		 4:02:01.2 +5:34.4
8
M1		 Xavier Pons
Carlos Del Barrio		 Citroen Xsara WRC A
8		 4:04:45.8 +8:19.0
9 Jussi Valimaki
Jarko Kalliolepo		 Mitsubishi Lancer WRC A
9		 4:07:55.5 +11:28.7
10
M2		 Matthew Wilson
Michael Orr		 Ford Focus RS WRC 04 A
10		 4:09:57.6 +13:30.8
11
M1		 Chris Atkinson
Glenn Macneall		 Subaru Impreza WRC 2006 A
11		 4:10:28.6 +14:01.8
12
M2		 Harri Rovanpera
Risto Pietilainen		 Skoda Fabia WRC A
12		 4:11:02.4 +14:35.6
13 Francois Duval
Patrick Privato		 Skoda Fabia WRC A
13		 4:14:31.2 +18:04.4
14
M2		 Andreas Aigner
Timo Gottschalk		 Skoda Fabia WRC A
14		 4:17:17.7 +20:50.9
15 Aris Vovos
El Em		 Subaru Impreza WRC 05 A
15		 4:23:17.1 +26:50.3
16 Jan Kopecky
Filip Schovanek		 Skoda Fabia WRC A
16		 4:24:45.6 +28:18.8
17
P		 Nasser Al-Attiyah
Chris Patterson		 Subaru Impreza N
1		 4:28:43.3 +32:16.5
18
P		 Gabriel Pozzo
Daniel Stillo		 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX N
2		 4:28:55.3 +32:28.5
19
P		 Aki Teiskonen
Miika Teiskonen		 Subaru Impreza WRX Sti N
3		 4:29:13.7 +32:46.9
20
P		 Mirco Baldacci
Giovanni Agnese		 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX N
4		 4:32:37.4 +36:10.6
../
24
P		 Marcos Ligato
Ruben Garcia		 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX N
8		 4:41:48.2 +45:21.4
25 Knostantinos Pitsos
Stelios-Jason Karapapazis		 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII N
9		 4:42:24.9 +45:58.1
27
P		 Stefano Marrini
Tiziana Sandroni		 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VII N
10		 4:44:58.3 +48:31.5
30
P		 Sebastian Beltran
Ricardo Rojas		 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX N
12		 4:52:02.5 +55:35.7
35  Trofonios
Alexandros Paleologos		 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII N
17		 5:09:48.8 +1:13:22.0
36 George Klouvatos
Andreas Vlahogenis		 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII N
18		 5:10:02.2 +1:13:35.4
37
P		 Andrej Jereb
Sebastian Itu		 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII N
19		 5:10:08.6 +1:13:41.8
39 Andreas krattiger
Ennio Carnelos		 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII N
20		 5:11:30.1 +1:15:03.3
40 Pavlos Moshoutis
George Kairis		 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX N
21		 5:11:36.1 +1:15:09.3
43 Dimitris Psylos
Konstantinos Kondos		 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII N
24		 5:19:55.6 +1:23:28.8
44
P		 Dimitris Nassoulas
Mihalis Patrikoussis		 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VII N
25		 5:21:50.1 +1:25:23.3
49 Dionissis Gazetas
Athanasios Papageorgiou		 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VII A
22		 5:38:38.9 +1:42:12.1
50 Athanassios Tsilis
 Kas		 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VI N
28		 5:43:41.3 +1:47:14.5
53  Panos
 Vas		 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII N
29		 5:51:56.4 +1:55:29.6
55 Junior Kirkos
Ioannis Sengos		 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII N
31		 5:55:23.1 +1:58:56.3



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