Intro:

Sebastien Loeb won his third Acropolis Rally title despite suffering a punctured tyre on the rally's final day in the mountains surrounding Athens, Greece on Sunday.

The defending world champion's closest rival coming into the last day, Ford's Petter Solberg, crashed into a tree in the day's first stage.

Loeb's Citroen teammate Mikko Hirvonen of Finland finished second overall, 40 seconds adrift of the Frenchman while Ford's Jari-Matti Latvala, came in third, 3 minutes 4.8 seconds behind the winner.

Script:

World champion Sebastien Loeb began the final day of the Acropolis Rally in Greece on Sunday with a 10.2 second advantage over Ford's Peter Solberg.

But Loeb's path to victory was opened up after Solberg hit a tree and tore the rear wheel off his car on the day's opening stage.

The Frenchman did however suffer a scare when he and his co-driver Daniel Elena had to stop to change a puncture on the day's second stage.

Loeb recovered from the set-back to win the event closing power stage and claim his third Acropolis Rally. 

Solberg's earlier misfortune allowed Loeb's Citroen teammate Hirvonen to move into second spot.

While the Finnish driver didn't win a stage on the final day, he did perform consistently enough to finish the rally 40 seconds behind Loeb. 

Ford's Jari-Matti Latvala marked his return from injury by claiming 10 fastest stage times to finish over three minutes behind Loeb, in third.

It was also a good day for Norwegian Mads Ostberg who moved into third overall in the WRC standings by finishing fourth.

But it was Loeb who was happiest on the day, victorious in the end.

SOUNDBITE: (English) Sebastien Loeb, Acropolis Rally winner
"It has been so long and so difficult, it was incredible. We had also misfortune in the morning so we had to fight really, really hard since the start. To make all the points with the power stage two - really good."

Loeb's win in Greece was his fourth victory in six rallies in this season's championship and by claiming three bonus points for winning the Power Stage, increasing his lead in the overall standings to 30 points.