Podatki:
Grcija:
The Event
The FIA World Rally Championship stays in the Mediterranean as teams head to Greece for round eight of the 16 event calendar. The Acropolis Rally of Greece will take place from 1 to 4 June and is the last rally before the mid-season nine week break.
There has been a major change in the event’s format for 2006. In previous years the rally was based in central Greece around the town of Lamia, 200km north of Athens. This year the service park, Super Special stage and rally HQ will be located at the Athens Olympic stadium complex, making the rally the only event in the series to be based entirely in a capital city.
The route takes crews to the hills north and west of Athens, with no test further than 80km from the service park. The stages combine roads used in previous years with new stretches of freshly-regraded gravel, however with large rocks littering the roads, the event retains its rough, abrasive character. With average speeds higher than those in Sardinia and temperatures approaching 40ºC, Greece is one of the toughest events of the year.
The 2006 route includes 18 special stages and 355.62 competitive kilometres. Legs one and two will feature two loops of three stages separated by a midday service halt, with two loops of two tests on Leg three. There will be two passes through the Superspecial in the Olympic stadium built for the 2004 games on Thursday and Sunday, with an expected crowd of more than 60,000 fans. The podium finish is scheduled for 1530hrs in the stadium on Sunday.
Subaruji:
The Subaru World Rally Team will enter two Impreza WRC2006s. One car will be driven by Petter Solberg (co-driven by Phil Mills) with the other by Chris Atkinson (co-driven by Glenn Macneall).
Subaru has won the Acropolis Rally four times in the last 10 years. Colin McRae drove to victory in 1996 and 1998, with Richard Burns sealing a third Greek win for the team in 1999. Petter Solberg scored the seventh win of his career at the event in 2004.
The Acropolis Rally will be Solberg’s 100th WRC start. The 31-year-old will become the youngest driver to reach this total. Solberg made his world-level debut at the 1998 Swedish Rally and has since secured 13 wins, 17 podiums and the 2003 drivers’ world title. Chris Atkinson starts his second Acropolis Rally this year.
Pretekli reli, Sardinija:
Both Petter Solberg and Chris Atkinson demonstrated the winning pace of the Subaru Impreza WRC2006 during the latest round of the 2006 WRC, Rally d’Italia Sardegna. The pair finished inside the top ten, but overall the weekend was a disappointing one as both had looked capable of finishing far higher.
On Friday Solberg started well by going fastest on the first stage. He maintained a top six position until three punctures in quick succession forced his retirement eight kilometres from the end of the final stage. Atkinson drove consistently throughout and ended Leg one in seventh place overall. Solberg restarted on the second Leg with the primary objective of testing set-ups for the forthcoming gravel rallies. Once again he demonstrated the performance potential of his car by setting a string of top three stage times and winning SS10 outright. Atkinson moved up two place to fifth despite collecting a time penalty for repair work following a heavy landing after a jump.
The last day brought more ups and downs. Solberg claimed two more stage wins, while Atkinson won his first of the year. But on the final stage, with the end almost in sight, both drivers encountered problems. A bent steering arm dropped Petter from seventh to ninth while accident damage relegated Chris from fifth to tenth.
Pirelli gume:
The Acropolis Rally is paired with Sardinia for many purposes, but the character of the event is a little different. The roads in Greece are wider and tend to be faster. Whereas Sardinia allowed only one tread pattern, two are allowed in Greece, with KP and XR offered for this purpose. As for the available compounds, these had not been defined at the time of going to press.
Number of tyre changes: 6
Number of different tread patterns allowed: 2
Number of tyres which can be used during the event (including Shakedown): 40
Number of tyres which can be nominated for use on the event: 65
Maximum stage distance to be covered on same set of tyres: 67.34km (stages 8-10 and 11-13)
Event Information
Total distance: 1279.29km
Number of stages: 18
Number of different stage venues: 9
Maximum number of times same stage roads are used: 4 (twice in each direction at two locations)
Stage distance: 355.62km
Stage surfaces: gravel except for the Superspecials
Longest stage: 37.33km (stages 9/12)
Highest elevation on stage: 930 metres (on stages15/17)
Permanent Service Park: OAKA (Olympic Stadium of Athens)
Shakedown Stage: 4.20km long at a location 18km north of OAKA, near Mount Parnitha. There is a subsidiary Service Park 500 metres from
the stage start
Official Start: Thursday 1750 OAKA
Superspecials: two, stages 1/18
Stages in darkness: none.
Novicke:
Atkinson Set to Make Circuit Racing Debut
Chris Atkinson will be latest driver to move from rallying to circuit racing when he makes his track debut in the Nurburg 24 Hours touring car race. The 26-year-old Australian will contest the classic endurance race on 17 and 18 June in a Subaru Impreza WRX run by Autosportif Racing GB…
Feeding the 5,000
It has been said that an army marches on its stomach. It’s no different for a rally team. The Subaru World Rally Team technicians are often at the service park before sunrise and won’t leave until well after 2100hrs. It’s essential they’re eating well to have enough energy to get through the day. A team of five people is responsible for cooking and serving food for the technicians, engineers and other event staff, plus the numerous guests that visit the service park over a rally weekend.
Nagradna igra:
Congratulations to Colin Richardson from New Zealand who is the winner of the Chris Atkinson signed baseball cap from the Rally d’Italia Sardegna competition. You correctly answered that 52% of the Rally d’Italia Sardegna route was completely new.
To win our exclusive Acropolis Rally prize, a T-shirt signed by Petter Solberg, simply answer this question correctly.
Q: How many times has Subaru won the Acropolis Rally in the past 10 years?
Send your answer together with your postal address to
competition@swrt.com by Friday 4th August 2006 to be in with a chance of winning. Put 'SWRT Competition' as the subject line of your e-mail.
Eurosport:
cetrtek, 1.6.: ES1 22.25 predogled / ES2 17.00 V ZIVO
petek, 2.6.: ES1 22.30 prvi dan / ES2 1.15
sobota, 3.6.: ES1 22.30 drugi dan / ES2 1.15
nedelja, 4.6.: ES1 22.30 tretji dan / ES2 13.00 V ZIVO
, 1.15
Zakon!
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