Al-Atthiyah made good start with 3rd in day1 for another victory

The opening day of this year’s Acropolis Rally didn’t disappoint, the leg’s stages proving every bit as challenging as expected. Leading the SUBARU Impreza-equipped brigade was Nasser Al Attiyah (3rd), followed by Toshi Arai (5th) and Patrik Flodin (8th).

Nasser spent the morning pushing reasonably hard, reporting absolutely no problems with the car, and taking his first stage win of the day just before lunch. The afternoon’s first stage, proved tough for a number of competitors including Al Attiyah, who conveyed: “The car got very hot on the way up the hill – but I guess it’s the same for everyone in these high temperatures.” He went on to take his second stage win of the day on the final test. “It’s very tough with broken roads on some corners, but the plan is working and tomorrow is very important.”

Toshi Arai was another to set good times throughout the day, though felt he could have gone quicker in the morning as he was too cautious. The afternoon went well for Toshi, who commented: “It was really hot inside the car – and to optimize engine performance we had the heater on, but otherwise everything’s working perfectly.” The Japanese ace then set the 2nd-quickest time on the final stage of the day to consolidate 5th place.
Patrik Flodin spent the early stages slightly unhappy with his mount; losing traction on the fast corners in what the Swede determined were car set-up problems. “The car was very easily getting out of line, and sometimes was a little wild. The afternoon didn’t prove to be much different, and the team has decided to revert to their Sardinia settings for tomorrow, the most important and challenging day of the weekend.

A little further back, Gianluca Linari was in the older model Impreza for this rally: “Running the old-style Impreza on this event shows me just what an improvement the new car is.” Gabor Mayer was another to enjoy his opening day in Greece, setting metronomic times throughout the half-dozen tests today to sit 13th. After a little disappointed with his time on the opening stage with being too carefully, Spyros Pavlides did to up the pace and settling into twelfth by day’s end.

STI GpN Project General Manager George Donaldson:
“Today has been quite hot at 33 degrees, but tomorrow is expected to be even more challenging. Nasser really pulling out all the stops on the last stage there to demonstrate that the Impreza definitely has the pace on these extremely tough stages. Toshi meanwhile remains absolutely in touch, basically backing up Nasser more or less time-for-time till that last stage.
A little further back, Patrik’s had an unfortunate day. He just couldn’t get any understanding of what the car was doing on the stages, and it’s knocked him a little off his game. He can easily redeem a podium finish from his current position. None of the drivers has done the stages we do tomorrow; they’re new to just about everyone in the championship. It’s going to be a very even day’s competition. I believe it will be a rougher, tougher and hotter day tomorrow than it was today. Let’s see what it brings.”