Loeb Quickest in Superspecial

In front of a sold-out audience of 55,000 fans, the Frenchman drove the 2.4km stage in 2:15.4.

Privateer Mark Higgins was a surprise second place in his 2003 WRC Focus, just 0.1s off the Frenchman, signalling his intent for a points charge this weekend.

Higgins told Autosport-Atlas: "It was amazing, the crowd was just awesome. I waved to the crowd on my way out to get them even more excited.

"The stage was quite tight and you had to be very precise. But it was just brilliant. That Loeb always gets in the way!"

Peugeot's Markko Martin was a further 0.8 seconds further back in third, ahead of the Mitsubishi of Harri Rovanpera, who was 1.2 seconds off Loeb.

Petter Solberg, in second place in the championship, finished fifth.

The rally proper begins tomorrow morning, with a 20km stage at Eleftherohori.

Superspecial Classification:

Pos  Driver         Car         Time
 1.  Loeb           Citroen     2:15.4
 2.  Higgins        Ford        2:15.5     +0.1
 3.  Martin         Peugeot     2:16.3     +0.9
 4.  Rovanpera      Mitsubishi  2:16.6     +1.2
 5.  Solberg        Subaru      2:16.9     +1.5
 6.  Gardemeister   Ford        2:17.2     +1.8
 7.  Sainz          Citroen     2:17.6     +2.2
 8.  Gronholm       Peugeot     2:17.7     +2.3
 9.  Solberg        Ford        2:17.7     +2.3
10.  Carlsson       Subaru      2:18.0     +2.6
11.  Warmbold       Ford        2:18.1     +2.7
12.  Tuohino        Skoda       2:18.4     +3.0
13.  Galli          Mitsubishi  2:18.6     +3.2
14.  Johansson      Subaru      2:18.8     +3.4
15.  Kresta         Ford        2:19.0     +3.6
16.  Stohl          Citroen     2:19.2     +3.8
17.  Schwarz        Skoda       2:19.3     +3.9
18.  Paasonen       Skoda       2:19.9     +4.5
19.  Atkinson       Subaru      2:20.4     +5.0
20.  Sarrazin       Subaru      2:20.5     +5.1
21.  Hirvonen       Ford        2:20.8     +5.4
22.  Sohlberg       Subaru      2:20.9     +5.5
23.  Pons           Citroen     2:22.3     +6.9
24.  Vovos          Subaru      2:23.1     +7.7
25.  Papadimitriou  Ford        2:24.4     +9.0
26.  Andersson      Suzuki      2:28.3    +12.9
27.  Meeke          Citroen     2:28.9    +13.5
28.  Philippedes    Skoda       5:15.4  +3:00.0