Sebastian Loeb won the Acropolis Rally on Sunday to move to the top of the world championship standings.
Loeb led by nearly half a minute going into the last day and pulled away even further to finish 1 minute, 9.5 seconds ahead of Norway's Petter Solberg. Mikkor Hirvonen finished third despite mechanical problems on the first day, 1:56.1 behind.
"This year's (Acropolis Rally) was tougher," said Loeb, who also won here in 2005. "We had to preserve our tires and, in some places, we went slow."
It was Loeb's fifth win in seven races this season, giving the Frenchman 50 points in the overall standings, one ahead of Hirvonen. Australia's Chris Atkinson is third with 31 points.
Estonia's Urmo Aava was fourth on Sunday, while Loeb's fellow Citroen driver Dani Sordo of Spain climbed from seventh to fifth. Sordo had been in contention for the top place until he punctured a tire on Saturday, but bounced back to win the last stage of the race.
Finland's Jari Latvala won three of Sunday's seven stages to place seventh overall.
