The 2006 Acropolis Rally was a motor racing event for rally cars that was held over four days between 1 and 4 June 2006. It marked the 53rd running of the Acropolis Rally, and was the eight round of the 2006 World Rally Championship season. The event was also the fourth round of the 2006 Production World Rally Championship. The 2006 event was based in the Olympic Stadium in Athens, Greece and was contested over eighteen special stages, covering a total competitive distance of 355.62km (220.97 miles).
Sebastien Loeb, along with Kronos Citroën World Rally Team were the defending rally winners, having won the previous five rallies in a row. Loeb lead championship rival Marcus Gronholm in the championship by 31 points coming into the weekend.
Gronholm and co-driver Timo Rautiainen won the rally, their first win since the 2006 Swedish Rally and their third win of the season.
Background Entry list The following crews were set to enter the rally. The event was open to crews competing in the World Rally Championship and its support category, the Production World Rally Championship, as well as privateer entries that were not registered to score points in the manufacturer's championship. Twenty two were entered under World Rally Car regulations, as were fifteen in the Production WRC category.
+ No. Driver Co-Driver Entrant Car Tyre 1 Sebastien Loeb Daniel Elena Kronos Citroën World Rally Team Citroën Xsara WRC 2 Xavier Pons Carlos del Barrio Kronos Citroën World Rally Team Citroën Xsara WRC 3 Marcus Gronholm Timo Rautiainen BP Ford World Rally Team Ford Focus RS WRC 06 4 Mikko Hirvonen Jarmo Lehtinen BP Ford World Rally Team Ford Focus RS WRC 06 5 Petter Solberg Phil Mills Subaru World Rally Team Impreza WRC 2006 6 Chris Atkinson Glenn Macneall Subaru World Rally Team Impreza WRC 2006 7 Manfred Stohl Ilka Minor OMV Peugeot Norway World Rally Team Peugeot 307 WRC 8 Henning Solberg Cato Menkerud OMV Peugeot Norway World Rally Team Peugeot 307 WRC 9 Matthew Wilson Michael Orr Stobart VK M-Sport Ford Rally Team Ford Focus RS WRC 06 10 Kosti Katajamäki Timo Alanne Stobart VK M-Sport Ford Rally Team Ford Focus RS WRC 06 11 Harri Rovanperä Risto Pietiläinen Red Bull Škoda Team Škoda Fabia WRC 12 Andreas Aigner Klaus Wicha Red Bull Škoda Team Škoda Fabia WRC
+ No. Driver Co-Driver Entrant Car 31 Toshihiro Arai Tony Sircombe Subaru Team Arai Subaru Impreza WRX STI 32 Marcos Ligato Rubén García Tango Rally Team Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX 34 Sebastián Beltran Ricardo Rojas Tango Rally Team Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX 35 Gabriel Pozzo Daniel Stillo Tango Rally Team Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX 36 Mirco Baldacci Giovanni Agnese Mitsubishi Paris West Team Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX 37 Jari-Matti Latvala Miikka Anttila Motoring Club Subaru Impreza WRX STI 38 Leszek Kuzaj Maciej Szczepaniak Syms Rally Team Subaru Impreza WRX STI 39 Nasser Al-Attiyah Chris Patterson QMMF Subaru Impreza WRX STI 40 Stefano Marrini Sandroni Tiziana Errani Team Group Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX 41 Takuma Kamada Hakaru Ichino Subaru Team Quasys Subaru Impreza WRX STI 42 Sergey Uspenskiy Dmitriy Eremeev Subaru Rally Team Russia Subaru Impreza WRX STI 43 Andrej Jereb Miran Kacin OMV CEE World Rally Team Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX 45 Aki Teiskonen Miika Teiskonen Syms Rally Team Subaru Impreza WRX STI 46 Nigel Heath Steve Lancaster PSM Motorsport Subaru Impreza WRX STI 60 Dimitris Nassoulas Mihalis Patrikoussis Eko Racing Team Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VII
+ No. Driver Co-Driver Entrant Car 14 Dani Sordo Marc Martí Kronos Racing Citroën Xsara WRC 16 Toni Gardemeister Jakke Honkanen Astra Racing Citroën Xsara WRC 17 Jan Kopecký Filip Schovánek Czech RT Škoda Kopecký Škoda Fabia WRC 18 François Duval Patrick Pivato First Motorsport Škoda Škoda Fabia WRC 19 Armodios Vovos El-Em Armodios Vovos Subaru Impreza S11 WRC 05 20 Jussi Välimäki Jarkko Kalliolepo MMSP LTD Mitsubishi Lancer WRC 05 66 Konstantinos Apostolou Kriadis Mihalis Konstantinos Apostolou Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI 67 Manos Stefanis Konstantinos Stafanis Manos Stefanis Ford Focus WRC 02 78 Kirkos Junior Ioannis Sengos Kirkos Junior Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VII 96 Dionissis Gazetas Athanasios Papageorgiou Dionissis Gazetas Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VII
Itinerary All dates and times are CEST (UTC+2). Date No. Time span Stage name Distance 1 June — After 8:00 Amigdaleza [Shakedown] 4.40 km SS1 After 18:00 Athens Olympic Stadium 1 2.80 km 2 June 8:00 Service A, Athens SS2 After 8:38 Imittos 1 11.44 km SS3 After 9:56 Skourta 1 23.80 km SS4 After 11:14 Thiva 1 23.76 km 13:22 Service B, Athens SS5 After 14:20 Imittos 2 11.44 km SS6 After 15:38 Skourta 2 23.76 km SS7 After 16:52 Thiva 2 23.76 km 18:46 Service C, Athens 3 June 8:00 Service D, Athens SS8 After 8:57 Mandra 1 12.60 km SS9 After 9:50 Kineta 1 37.33 km SS10 After 11:13 Psatha 1 17.41 km 12:51 Service E, Athens SS11 After 14:08 Mandra 2 12.60 km SS12 After 15:01 Kineta 2 37.33 km SS13 After 16:24 Psatha 2 17.41 km 17:44 Service F, Athens 4 June 6:40 Service G, Athens SS14 After 7:47 Avlonas 1 23.90 km SS15 After 8:55 Agia Sotira 1 24.77 km 10:08 Service H, Athens SS16 After 11:35 Avlonas 2 23.90 km SS17 After 12:43 Agia Sotira 2 24.77 km 13:46 Service I, Athens SS18 After 14:15 Athens Olympic Stadium 2 2.80 km Source:
Report Overall Summary
Petter Solberg would win the shakedown on thursday, beginning what would be his 100th world rally. But it would be Loeb that won the first stage of the rally, a short super special stage inside of the Olympic Stadium in Athens. Gronholn would end up second, while shakedown winner Solberg would end up thirteenth on the opening day.
Friday would be a display of absolute dominance by Gronholm, who won every single stage of the day. Petter Solberg would manage to end the day ahead of Loeb despite experiencing three punctures in the morning. Petter's brother Henning would suffer a tyre blow-out at high speed, dropping him to seventh overall, while Chris Atkinson was struck with a front differential issue, rendering his morning ruined. The afternoon section of the leg would be less chaotic, with Hirvonen ending the day in fourth ahead of the surprisingly quick Duval. Gardemeister would drop to eighth after hitting a rock and experiencing shoulder pain in stage seven, handing sixth to Stohl.
Saturday would entail a closer battle between Gronholm and Loeb; Gronholm would win four of the day's six stages, but crucially, Loeb would win the longest stage of the rally twice, limiting the damage and finishing the day within two minutes of the leader. Despite being second, a puncture resulting in heavy damage in the last stage of the day raised concerns that Loeb wouldn't be able to continue. Henning Solberg would lose much of his braking power, but still set a competitive third fastest time in stage ten. Petter Solberg, meanwhile, would be forced to retire after crashing on the road section between stages twelve and thirteen. This would promote Hirvonen to third overall.
On Sunday, Gronholm would extend his lead over Loeb despite overall driving cautiously to avoid a retirement on the rough Greek stages. It would be a recovering Petter Solberg who won all but the super special stage on the day, recovering to an impressive seventh after restarting in ninth. Loeb would not risk anything, continuing to fall behind Gronholm in order to protect his second place, which he successfully maintained. The tight battle for fourth would be interrupted by Stohl retiring after a roll and Sordo losing a minute with an engine issue. This would hand fourth in the rally to Gardemeister. Henning Solberg held fifth by under a second from the charging Sordo. After an impressive start, Duval would retire on Saturday to finish thirteenth overall.
Classification Position Driver Co-driver Entrant Car Time Points Event Class 1 1 3 Marcus Gronholm Timo Rautiainen BP Ford World Rally Team Ford Focus RS WRC 06 3:56:26.8 0.0 10 2 2 1 Sebastien Loeb Daniel Elena Kronos Citroën World Rally Team Citroën Xsara WRC 3:58:53.6 +2:26.8 8 3 34 Mikko Hirvonen Jarmo Lehtinen BP Ford World Rally Team Ford Focus RS WRC 06 4:00:10.6 +3:43.8 6 4 4 16 Toni Gardemeister Jakke Honkanen Astra Racing Citroën Xsara WRC 4:00:47.6 +4:20.8 5 5 5 8 Henning Solberg Cato Menkerud OMV Peugeot Norway World Rally Team Peugeot 307 WRC 4:01:22.4 +4:55.6 4 6 6 14 Dani Sordo Marc Martí Kronos Racing Citroën Xsara WRC 4:01:23.2 +4:56.4 3 7 7 5 Petter Solberg Phil Mills Subaru World Rally Team Impreza WRC 2006 4:02:01.2 +5:34.4 2 8 8 2 Xavier Pons Carlos del Barrio Kronos Citroën World Rally Team Citroën Xsara WRC 4:04:45.8 +8:19.0 1 9 9 20 Jussi Välimäki Jarkko Kalliolepo MMSP LTD Mitsubishi Lancer WRC 05 4:07:55.5 +11:28.7 0 10 10 9 Matthew Wilson Michael Orr Stobart VK M-Sport Ford Rally Team Ford Focus RS WRC 06 4:09:57.6 +13:30.8 0 11 11 6 Chris Atkinson Glenn Macneall Subaru World Rally Team Impreza WRC 2006 4:10:28.6 +14:01.8 0 12 12 11 Harri Rovanperä Risto Pietiläinen Red Bull Škoda Team Škoda Fabia WRC 4:11:02.4 +14:35.6 0 13 13 18 François Duval Patrick Pivato First Motorsport Škoda Škoda Fabia WRC 4:14:31.2 +18:04.4 0 14 14 12 Andreas Aigner Klaus Wicha Red Bull Škoda Team Škoda Fabia WRC 4:17:17.7 +20:50.9 0 15 15 19 Armodios Vovos "El-Em" Armodios Vovos Subaru Impreza S11 WRC 05 4:23:17.1 +26:50.3 0 16 16 17 Jan Kopecký Filip Schovánek Czech RT Škoda Kopecký Škoda Fabia WRC 4:24:45.6 +28:18.8 0 26 17 10 Kosti Katajamäki Timo Alanne Stobart VK M-Sport Ford Rally Team Ford Focus RS WRC 06 4:44:03.2 +47:36.4 0 49 18 96 Dionissis Gazetas Athanasios Papageorgiou Dionissis Gazetas Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VII 5:38:38.9 +1:42:12.1 0 55 19 78 "Kirkos Junior" Ioannis Sengos "Kirkos Junior" Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VII 5:55:23.1 +1:58:56.3 0 Retired SS14 7 Manfred Stohl Ilka Minor OMV Peugeot Norway World Rally Team Peugeot 307 WRC Accident 0 Retired SS11 67 Manos Stefanis Konstantinos Stafanis Manos Stefanis Ford Focus WRC 02 Fire 0 Retired SS8 66 Konstantinos Apostolou Kriadis Mihalis Konstantinos Apostolou Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI Axle 0
Special Stages All dates and times are EEST (UTC+3). DayStageTimeNameLength (km)WinnerTimeRally leader 1(1/2 June) SS1 18:00 Athens Olympic Stadium 1 2.79 Sébastien Loeb 2:21.4 Sébastien Loeb SS2 8:38 Imittos 1 11.43 Marcus Grönholm 7:03.3 Marcus Grönholm SS3 9:56 Skourta 1 23.79 Marcus Grönholm 14:40.1 SS4 11:14 Thiva 1 23.76 Marcus Grönholm 17:16.9 SS5 14:20 Imittos 2 11.43 Marcus Grönholm 6:58.3 SS6 15:38 Skourta 2 23.79 Marcus Grönholm 14:29.6 SS7 16:56 Thiva 2 23.76 Marcus Grönholm 16:54.1 2(3 June) SS8 8:57 Mandra 1 12.6 Marcus Grönholm 8:50.7 SS9 9:50 Kineta 1 37.33 Sébastien Loeb 25:39.1 SS10 11:13 Psatha 1 17.4 Marcus Grönholm 11:21.3 SS11 14:08 Mandra 2 12.6 Marcus Grönholm 8:43.1 SS12 15:01 Kineta 2 37.33 Sébastien Loeb 25:20.2 SS13 16:24 Psatha 2 17.4 Marcus Grönholm 11:23.6 3(4 June) SS14 7:47 Avlonas 1 23.89 Petter Solberg 14:07.2 SS15 8:55 Agia Sotira 1 24.77 Petter Solberg 17:02.0 SS16 11:35 Avlonas 2 23.89 Petter Solberg 14:00.6 SS17 12:43 Agia Sotira 2 24.77 Petter Solberg 16:49.6 SS18 14:15 Athens Olympic Stadium 2 2.79 Marcus Grönholm 2:21.7
Championship Standings Drivers' Championship Manufacturers' ChampionshipMoveDriverPointsMoveManufacturerPoints 1 Sébastien Loeb 74 Kronos Citroën World Rally Team 96 2 Marcus Gronholm 45 BP Ford World Rally Team 81 3 Dani Sordo 33 Subaru World Rally Team 63 4 2 Mikko Hirvonen 21 OMV Peugeot Norway World Rally Team 41 5 1 Manfred Stohl 20 Stobart VK M-Sport Ford Rally Team 17
Production WRC Classification