Loeb wins Acropolis Rally, takes championship lead

Frenchman Sebastien Loeb took the lead in the world rally championship on Sunday after winning the Acropolis Rally for the second time.

The four-time world champion nursed his car through another punishing day on the Greek roads where visibility caused by excessive dust kicked up by the wheels was a persistent problem. Loeb brought his Citroen home one minute and nine seconds ahead of Norway's Petter Solberg in his Subaru.

Finn Mikko Hirvonen dropped to second overall, one point behind Loeb, despite making up time to finish third in Greece. "I am happy to be in this position," said Loeb.

"The rally was very difficult and rough. Now we will see what happens in the championship. This year Acropolis was tougher than last year. We had to save the tyres and today we had to go slow in some places."

Henning Solberg's hopes of a podium finish alongside his brother went up in smoke on the first stage of the afternoon when he dropped five minutes with a recurrent engine problem in his Ford. "It stopped several times. There was nothing I could do," said Solberg.

"At one point I pulled over and got out of the car to see if I could fix it. When I got back in I couldn't get the door closed. Everything is bad now. We'll have to hope it gets better in Turkey."