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In Loutraki, 17 June, 2011 – The Rally Acropolis has shown already on Day 1 why it is regarded as one of the icons of rallying. An extremely broken track with lots of stones lying on its surface, omnipresent dust, high temperatures and long stages are indeed a challenge for both the drivers and their cars. Many of the cars had defects or some other technical problems today, but the drivers of the Red Bull Škoda team are still in the game – after six stages of Day 1, Hänninen is second, 29 seconds behind leader Tänak in a Ford, Gassner is fifth (- 3:15 min.)

Commenting on the first day, Juho Hänninen thinks positive: "We had two defects and a minor clash with a rock, but nothing really serious. We are losing less than 30 seconds, which is nothing in a rally like this one. On the other hand, every acceleration increases the risk of a defect more then anywhere else. The tracks here are extremely broken, and many of our opponents have already paid dearly for that."

Hermann Gassner is happy about his fifth place after Day 1: "This is the most difficult rally we have ever taken part in. It's very easy to make a mistake here or puncture a tyre, but we are still in the game and that is what counts."

The Acropolis Rally continues on Saturday with seven stages and the same number of kilometres as today (142). Sunday's programme includes the last five stages (65 km).

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