# 2006 Acropolis Rally

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.
World Rally Car entries competing in the World Rally Championship :
| No. | Driver | Co-Driver | Entrant | Car | Tyre |
| 1 | Sebastien Loeb | Daniel Elena | Kronos Citroën World Rally Team | Citroën Xsara WRC | BF |
| 2 | Xavier Pons | Carlos del Barrio | Kronos Citroën World Rally Team | Citroën Xsara WRC | BF |
| 3 | Marcus Gronholm | Timo Rautiainen | BP Ford World Rally Team | Ford Focus RS WRC 06 | BF |
| 4 | Mikko Hirvonen | Jarmo Lehtinen | BP Ford World Rally Team | Ford Focus RS WRC 06 | BF |
| 5 | Petter Solberg | Phil Mills | Subaru World Rally Team | Impreza WRC 2006 | P |
| 6 | Chris Atkinson | Glenn Macneall | Subaru World Rally Team | Impreza WRC 2006 | P |
| 7 | Manfred Stohl | Ilka Minor | OMV Peugeot Norway World Rally Team | Peugeot 307 WRC | BF |
| 8 | Henning Solberg | Cato Menkerud | OMV Peugeot Norway World Rally Team | Peugeot 307 WRC | BF |
| 9 | Matthew Wilson | Michael Orr | Stobart VK M-Sport Ford Rally Team | Ford Focus RS WRC 06 | BF |
| 10 | Kosti Katajamäki | Timo Alanne | Stobart VK M-Sport Ford Rally Team | Ford Focus RS WRC 06 | BF |
| 11 | Harri Rovanperä | Risto Pietiläinen | Red Bull Škoda Team | Škoda Fabia WRC | BF |
| 12 | Andreas Aigner | Klaus Wicha | Red Bull Škoda Team | Škoda Fabia WRC | BF |
Group N entries competing in the Production 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 |
Other major entries :
| 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 |
| 1 June | SS1 | After 18:00 | Athens Olympic Stadium 1 | 2.80 km |
| 2 June | | 8:00 | Service A, Athens | — |
| 2 June | SS2 | After 8:38 | Imittos 1 | 11.44 km |
| 2 June | SS3 | After 9:56 | Skourta 1 | 23.80 km |
| 2 June | SS4 | After 11:14 | Thiva 1 | 23.76 km |
| 2 June | | 13:22 | Service B, Athens | — |
| 2 June | SS5 | After 14:20 | Imittos 2 | 11.44 km |
| 2 June | SS6 | After 15:38 | Skourta 2 | 23.76 km |
| 2 June | SS7 | After 16:52 | Thiva 2 | 23.76 km |
| 2 June | | 18:46 | Service C, Athens | — |
| 3 June | | 8:00 | Service D, Athens | — |
| 3 June | SS8 | After 8:57 | Mandra 1 | 12.60 km |
| 3 June | SS9 | After 9:50 | Kineta 1 | 37.33 km |
| 3 June | SS10 | After 11:13 | Psatha 1 | 17.41 km |
| 3 June | | 12:51 | Service E, Athens | — |
| 3 June | SS11 | After 14:08 | Mandra 2 | 12.60 km |
| 3 June | SS12 | After 15:01 | Kineta 2 | 37.33 km |
| 3 June | SS13 | After 16:24 | Psatha 2 | 17.41 km |
| 3 June | | 17:44 | Service F, Athens | — |
| 4 June | | 6:40 | Service G, Athens | — |
| 4 June | SS14 | After 7:47 | Avlonas 1 | 23.90 km |
| 4 June | SS15 | After 8:55 | Agia Sotira 1 | 24.77 km |
| 4 June | | 10:08 | Service H, Athens | — |
| 4 June | SS16 | After 11:35 | Avlonas 2 | 23.90 km |
| 4 June | SS17 | After 12:43 | Agia Sotira 2 | 24.77 km |
| 4 June | | 13:46 | Service I, Athens | — |
| 4 June | 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 | Position | No. | Driver | Co-driver | Entrant | Car | Time | Difference | Points |
| Event | Class | No. | Driver | Co-driver | Entrant | Car | Time | Difference | Points |
| 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 | 3 | 4 | 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 | Retired SS14 | 7 | Manfred Stohl | Ilka Minor | OMV Peugeot Norway World Rally Team | Peugeot 307 WRC | Accident | Accident | 0 |
| Retired SS11 | Retired SS11 | 67 | Manos Stefanis | Konstantinos Stafanis | Manos Stefanis | Ford Focus WRC 02 | Fire | Fire | 0 |
| Retired SS8 | Retired SS8 | 66 | Konstantinos Apostolou | Kriadis Mihalis | Konstantinos Apostolou | Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI | Axle | Axle | 0 |

#### Special Stages

All dates and times are EEST (UTC+3).
| Day | Stage | Time | Name | Length (km) | Winner | Time | Rally leader |
| 1 (1/2 June) | SS1 | 18:00 | Athens Olympic Stadium 1 | 2.79 | Sébastien Loeb | 2:21.4 | Sébastien Loeb |
| 1 (1/2 June) | SS2 | 8:38 | Imittos 1 | 11.43 | Marcus Grönholm | 7:03.3 | Marcus Grönholm |
| 1 (1/2 June) | SS3 | 9:56 | Skourta 1 | 23.79 | Marcus Grönholm | 14:40.1 | Marcus Grönholm |
| 1 (1/2 June) | SS4 | 11:14 | Thiva 1 | 23.76 | Marcus Grönholm | 17:16.9 | Marcus Grönholm |
| 1 (1/2 June) | SS5 | 14:20 | Imittos 2 | 11.43 | Marcus Grönholm | 6:58.3 | Marcus Grönholm |
| 1 (1/2 June) | SS6 | 15:38 | Skourta 2 | 23.79 | Marcus Grönholm | 14:29.6 | Marcus Grönholm |
| 1 (1/2 June) | SS7 | 16:56 | Thiva 2 | 23.76 | Marcus Grönholm | 16:54.1 | Marcus Grönholm |
| 2 (3 June) | SS8 | 8:57 | Mandra 1 | 12.6 | Marcus Grönholm | 8:50.7 | Marcus Grönholm |
| 2 (3 June) | SS9 | 9:50 | Kineta 1 | 37.33 | Sébastien Loeb | 25:39.1 | Marcus Grönholm |
| 2 (3 June) | SS10 | 11:13 | Psatha 1 | 17.4 | Marcus Grönholm | 11:21.3 | Marcus Grönholm |
| 2 (3 June) | SS11 | 14:08 | Mandra 2 | 12.6 | Marcus Grönholm | 8:43.1 | Marcus Grönholm |
| 2 (3 June) | SS12 | 15:01 | Kineta 2 | 37.33 | Sébastien Loeb | 25:20.2 | Marcus Grönholm |
| 2 (3 June) | SS13 | 16:24 | Psatha 2 | 17.4 | Marcus Grönholm | 11:23.6 | Marcus Grönholm |
| 3 (4 June) | SS14 | 7:47 | Avlonas 1 | 23.89 | Petter Solberg | 14:07.2 | Marcus Grönholm |
| 3 (4 June) | SS15 | 8:55 | Agia Sotira 1 | 24.77 | Petter Solberg | 17:02.0 | Marcus Grönholm |
| 3 (4 June) | SS16 | 11:35 | Avlonas 2 | 23.89 | Petter Solberg | 14:00.6 | Marcus Grönholm |
| 3 (4 June) | SS17 | 12:43 | Agia Sotira 2 | 24.77 | Petter Solberg | 16:49.6 | Marcus Grönholm |
| 3 (4 June) | SS18 | 14:15 | Athens Olympic Stadium 2 | 2.79 | Marcus Grönholm | 2:21.7 | Marcus Grönholm |

#### Championship Standings

| Pos. | Drivers' Championship | Drivers' Championship | Drivers' Championship | Manufacturers' Championship | Manufacturers' Championship | Manufacturers' Championship |
| Pos. | Move | Driver | Points | Move | Manufacturer | Points |
| 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

| Position | Position | No. | Driver | Co-driver | Entrant | Car | Time | Difference | Points |
| Event | Class | No. | Driver | Co-driver | Entrant | Car | Time | Difference | Points |
| 17 | 1 | 39 | Nasser Al-Attiyah | Chris Patterson | QMMF | Subaru Impreza WRX STI | 4:28:43.3 | 0.0 | 10 |
| 18 | 2 | 35 | Gabriel Pozzo | Daniel Stillo | Tango Rally Team | Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX | 4:28:55.3 | +12.0 | 8 |
| 19 | 3 | 45 | Aki Teiskonen | Miika Teiskonen | Syms Rally Team | Subaru Impreza WRX STI | 3:46:19.0 | +1:01.2 | 6 |
| 20 | 4 | 36 | Mirco Baldacci | Giovanni Agnese | Mitsubishi Paris West Team | Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX | 4:32:37.4 | +3:54.1 | 5 |
| 21 | 5 | 31 | Toshihiro Arai | Tony Sircombe | Subaru Team Arai | Subaru Impreza WRX STI | 4:33:37.7 | +5:54.4 | 4 |
| 22 | 6 | 37 | Jari-Matti Latvala | Miikka Anttila | Motoring Club | Subaru Impreza WRX STI | 4:36:11.2 | +7:27.9 | 3 |
| 24 | 7 | 32 | Marcos Ligato | Rubén García | Tango Rally Team | Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX | 4:41:48.2 | +13:04.9 | 2 |
| 27 | 8 | 40 | Stefano Marrini | Sandroni Tiziana | Errani Team Group | Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX | 4:44:58.3 | +16:15.0 | 1 |
| 29 | 9 | 42 | Sergey Uspenskiy | Dmitriy Eremeev | Subaru Rally Team Russia | Subaru Impreza WRX STI | 4:49:35.8 | +20:52.5 | 0 |
| 30 | 10 | 34 | Sebastián Beltran | Ricardo Rojas | Tango Rally Team | Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX | 4:52:02.5 | +23:19.2 | 0 |
| 32 | 11 | 46 | Nigel Heath | Steve Lancaster | PSM Motorsport | Subaru Impreza WRX STI | 4:58:07.0 | +29:23.7 | 0 |
| 33 | 12 | 41 | Takuma Kamada | Hakaru Ichino | Subaru Team Quasys | Subaru Impreza WRX STI | 5:03:11.2 | +34:27.9 | 0 |
| 37 | 13 | 43 | Andrej Jereb | Miran Kacin | OMV CEE World Rally Team | Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX | 5:10:08.6 | +41:25.3 | 0 |
| 44 | 14 | 60 | Dimitris Nassoulas | Mihalis Patrikoussis | Eko Racing Team | Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VII | 5:21:50.1 | +53:06.8 | 0 |
| Retired SS4 | Retired SS4 | 38 | Leszek Kuzaj | Maciej Szczepaniak | Syms Rally Team | Subaru Impreza WRX STI | Accident | Accident | 0 |

#### Championship Standings

| Pos. | Drivers' Championship | Drivers' Championship | Drivers' Championship |
| Pos. | Move | Driver | Points |
| 1 | | Nasser Al-Attiyah | 34 |
| 2 | 1 | Mirco Baldacci | 17 |
| 3 | 1 | Toshihiro Arai | 15 |
| 4 | 2 | Leszek Kuzaj | 13 |
| 5 | | Fumio Nutahara | 10 |