The final day of the 2009 Acropolis Rally of Greece proved to be a huge challenge for all the runners in P-WRC, with rutted and rocky roads causing delays and retirements throughout the four stages. Originally planned to be a quintet of tests, Day three was shortened when SS16 was canceled due to the crowds of spectators assembled on the stage.

Leading as the final day got underway, Nasser Al Attiyah maintained his position at the top after opening stage of the day, SS13. He lost the lead on SS14 (33-km). Later on, fuel pick-up problems prior to the final stage provided a brief scare for Nasser, but all was amended without difficulty. At the end of his Greek adventure, Al Attiyah was philosophical in learning the news that he’d taken second place on this. “Yeah, it’s okay. The local driver was very good here, and we reached our target by finishing 2nd. Araujo is still behind us and that’s important. The performance of the car is very good, much better than last year’s car. We’re enjoying ourselves and are looking forward to the next round, the season finale, Wales Rally GB.”

Toshi battled hard on the final day, the challenge from his pursuant Martin Prokop in the Mitsubishi. He ran fourth throughout the day’s four stages and gained five championship points.Patrik Flodin had a solid test for this event, but struggled to find the right rhythm on the rally. His efforts throughout the weekend finally improved matters on Day three. “Now we need to take the best things from this rally and try to learn about driving rough rallies and where the problems lie and come back and get a really good result in the next event.Cypriot driver Spyros Pavlides was thrilled to make his first finish in the gruelling Acropolis Rally. Gianluca Linari was another to run without any problems on the final day, eventually crossing the line in 11th place in P-WRC.

STI GpN Project General Manager George Donaldson:
“It’s been a fantastic event here this weekend - a real classic Acropolis Rally. Nasser really challenged at the front all the way through; finally however, it was Lambros Athanassoulas who took the spoils away from him, but the fight was right down to the last stage, the SUBARU performing perfectly in the ultra-hot conditions of this 2009 Acropolis Rally and really cementing our knowledge that the new-shape Impreza is absolutely the leading Group N challenger this year.
Effectively now going into the last event, Nasser has a useful four-point lead in the championship and therefore a holds the advantage. In the meantime we’ve got Australia to look forward to - and our top drivers there are Toshi Arai and Patrik Flodin. Hopefully we’ll see Cody Crocker competing there in his SUBARU also.”