Leg two started from 0730hrs when crews collected their cars from the Athens overnight parc ferme and checked in for 10 minutes of service time. From there they headed 91km to Agii Theodori, the longest stage of the rally, and of the WRC season so far. Even the fact that the stage had been shortened by 600 metres due to a landslide, still made it a huge challenge. Described by Chris Atkinson as ‘a monster’ the stage contains a punishing assortment of conditions from rough, downhill and flat-out sections to more twisty and technical parts. The route includes river crossings, dips, crests and some places that are so narrow the cars only just squeeze through. One feature of the route which is consistent is the razor sharp rocks, which are scattered across the road surface. Building on their stage winning performance of leg one, Subaru’s Petter Solberg and Chris Atkinson were quick out of the blocks and at the 30km point Atkinson was five seconds quicker even than World Champion Sebastien Loeb. But a front-right puncture at the 38km mark hampered his speed over the final 10kms and with the rubber flailing from the wheel rim Atkinson dropped around 1m 50s and slipped from third to seventh overall. Solberg also lost a little time over the final kilometres, as he caught the dust cloud behind Atkinson’s car, but the Norwegian set the third fastest time and held on to second place overall.
Fastest Time: Gronholm (Ford) 32m 47.9s

After the marathon opening test, crews drove to the town of Loutraki and a 15 minute remote service zone. Here cars were re-prepped and fitted with fresh tyres for the loop of three consecutive stages that followed. Based on roads close to Agii Theodori, and a comparative sprint at only 9km long, SS11 is the most twisty stage of the rally, with hairpin after hairpin, many of which have double apexes. To make things more complex, big drops on the inside of most of the corners make neat driving absolutely essential. Petter Solberg was the fastest Subaru driver, his third-quickest time just 1.4sec off that of stage winner Loeb. The result kept Solberg firmly in the podium battle, but dropped him just behind the Frenchman to third overall. Chris Atkinson was the sixth fastest driver.
Fastest Time: Loeb (Citroen) 7m 21.1s

The 10km Agia Triada stage is strewn with huge boulders and features a hard, bedrock base which is extremely abrasive and hard on tyres. But the fearsome conditions seemed to suit Subaru’s Petter Solberg well and he drove his Impreza WRC2007 though in a remarkable time, winning the stage by a margin of 4.7sec from the next quickest, Marcus Gronholm. The result meant Solberg moved back ahead of Loeb and into second place overall. Chris Atkinson also had a good stage. He was fourth fastest and moved up to fifth overall.
Fastest Time: Solberg (Subaru) 7m 24.5s

The final stage before the cars returned to service was a blast along the perimeter roads of the Olympic horse racing course. It was the second time the competitors had tackled the stage: Petter had been quickest through the 5.16km test on Friday, and repeated the feat to set his third fastest stage time of the event and consolidate his second position overall. He came into service just 15.8sec behind Marcus Gronholm, with four more stages left to run on this leg. Chris posted a time of 3m 27.0s, which meant he ended the morning’s action in fifth position overall. Neither driver reported any problems on the stage.
Fastest Time: P. Solberg (Subaru) 3m 23.4s

“I’m really pleased to have won a couple of stages now; the car is improving all the time. The conditions are very tricky today and the first stage was especially bad. There were lots of bad rocks on the road and I was a little worried in the middle when I thought I had a puncture, but I carried on and it was okay. In the last kilometre I caught Chris and lost maybe five or six seconds in the dust but apart from that there have been no problems. The last few stages were fine, and the car was more fun to drive. From now on I’ll be trying my best to catch Marcus and keep Sebastien behind me.”
“It’s a bit annoying that we had the puncture on SS10 because before that were keeping the same speed as Loeb, and even though the feeling of the car wasn’t ideal we were going at a good pace. We dropped about 1m 50s when we lost the tyre, but on the positive side we had a good indication of what we can do when the car is right. We took a few risks on the later stages and we’re back up to fifth now. The plan is to maintain the position, keep trying hard, but not take too may risks and see what happens.”

For the second pass through the rally’s longest stage, the air temperature had risen to 32 degrees Celsius, while a ground temperature of 39 Celsius meant clever tyre conservation was vital. Other hazards included large rocks which had been dragged onto the racing line by the competing cars during the morning’s action. Petter set a time of 32m 52.9s, seven seconds quicker than his morning effort. The time meant he remained second overall behind Marcus Gronholm. Chris sped through the stage in 33m 14.9s and consolidated his fifth position. The Aussie drove well within his limits and preserved his car for the rest of the afternoon’s stages.
Fastest Time: M. Gronholm (Ford) 32m 33.0s

After a swift 15-minute remote service halt on the west coast of Greece, 120km from rally headquarters, the crews set off for the last three stages of the leg. Although SS15 was mercifully short, it was still a demanding test packed with slow corners. Petter set a time of 7m 23.8s, which put him fifth quickest, while Chris was two places behind his team-mate with a 7m 26.6s effort. That meant that the Norwegian remained second overall, albeit with Sebastien Loeb just 4.5sec behind him. Chris, meanwhile, dropped one place from fifth to sixth, but was comfortably clear of seventh-placed Jan Kopecky.
Fastest Time: S. Loeb (Citroen) 7m 14.7s

For the penultimate stage of the day, the crews headed east from Loutraki back towards Athens. Petter’s time of 7m 40.3s was the seventh quickest through the test. He reported a problem with the front-left damper which compromised his pace during SS15 and SS16. With more than one minute’s advantage over fourth-placed Mikko Hirvonen, however, he remained on course for a podium finish. Chris also experienced some difficulties with a damper, and also a driveshaft failure. He dropped more than one minute to his rivals, but remained sixth overall.

Fastest Time: S. Loeb (Citroen) 7m 17.2s

The day ended with the second of three runs through the Superspecial inside the Olympic equestrian centre at Markopoulo. Petter stopped the clocks in 2m 58.5s, which was enough for him to ensure he would end the second day in third position overall. For Chris, the mission was to make it through the stage safely and he remained sixth in the overall classification after the 3.20km test.
Fastest Time: Loeb (Citroen) 2m 58.2s

	1 Marcus GRONHORM FORD Focus RS WRC 06 3:00:22.3   2 Sebastien LOEB CITROEN C4 WRC +43.3   3 Petter SOLBERG SUBARU IMPREZA WRC2007 +1:07.6   4 Mikko HIRVONEN FORD Focus RS WRC 06 +2:32.1   5 Henning SOLBERG FORD Focus RS WRC 06 +3:09.3   6 Chris ATKINSON SUBARU IMPREZA WRC2007 +5:25.0   7 Jan KOPECKY SKODA Fabia WRC* +6:55.4   8 Manfred STOHL CITROEN Xsara WRC +7:32.0   9 Guy WILKS FORD Focus RS WRC 05* +7:59.6   10 Matthew WILSON FORD Focus RS WRC 06* +8:44.8

The final leg of the rally comprises four special stages and then another thrash around the Superspecial inside the stadium at the Olympic equestrian centre. The competitive distance covered will be 78.94km.