Sebastien Loeb has fought back late on Friday to take the lead of AcropolisRally from M-Sport WRC teammate Loubet.
Following a near-perfect morning, Loeb's grasp of the lead slipped in the afternoon's first test after a rare error cost him valuable time. He overshot a hairpin left and had to reverse his Puma before continuing unabated, losing 9.9s to the mistake.
Loubet's pace was aided by cleaner road conditions, as many of the championship front runners were left scrambling for grip on the loose gravel. Rovanpera dropped 16.2s in SS5, while Tanak shipped 11.0s as the duo continued to lose ground on the lead group. The latter was still without the use of his hybrid boost on his i20 N.
Loeb seemingly was unable to find an answer to the Toyota's driver's pace, stating:"I think Lappi is very fast now. I did quite a good stage, so there's no real reason [for the time loss]."
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