It has been 3months since the 1^st round in the freezing winter rally in Sweden. The 3^rd round of the P-WRC was held in the red-hot city of Athens, Greece. All day, the temperatures stood over30°C. Acropolis is famous for its extremely harsh terrains, with rocks as big as pumpkins, scattered all over the course surface. These rugged conditions made it extremely difficult for both the drivers and the teams.

From this rally, the prestigious Italian team, Ralliart Italy, has selected to use the TEIN TYPE Gr.N as their choice of shock absorber. Expectations were high for their TYPE Gr.N equipped Lancer Evo. IX driven by 4 times Portugal rally champion, A. Araujo.

Continuing from their retirement in round 1 was SUBARU RALLY TEAM RUSSIA with E. Vertunov behind the wheel. He was last year's Russian champion, and he was out looking for revenge for round 1.

Both teams had no problems with the TYPE Gr.N during the combined pre-rally tests, and both had favorable starts to the rally. With both A. Araujo and E. Vertunov raising their pace, they finished the morning of day 1 in 4^th and 9^th positions respectively. During the afternoon session, A. Araujo suddenly dropped off pace in SS4. The sandy powdery conditions, famous for Acropolis, started blocking up his air filter, which resulted in a loss of power. He had to stop his car, wipe the sand out and restart again. This saw him fall down the order to 15^th position.

E. Vertunov on the other hand, kept driving consistently, and at the end of SS5, he jumped up to 5^th position! Unfortunately, during SS6, he damaged the arm bolt and was unable to drive on. As a result, he was not able to come back until the super rally stage in day 2.

A. Araujo, who dropped in the standings, and E. Vertunov, who was unable to make a come back until the super rally stage, both were in good shape during day 2. Even though E. Vertunov did experience transmission and other minor trouble, with the strong performance of the TYPE Gr.N against the rough terrain, A. Araujo and E. Vertunov finished day 2 improving on their positions.

On the final day, day 3, it was Vertunov who drove amazingly, finishing in the top 5 in 6 out of the 7 SS, and finished in 7^th overall in P-WRC class. Araujo drove without any errors and came home just 1 position behind a podium finish in P-WRC class.

After the rally finished, #57 Rauam was disqualified with a brake related violation! This meant that both Araujo and Vertunov went up a position in the final standings. Araujo gained a 3^rd place podium finish! Vertunov earned his first P-WRC points for the season.

In the next round, the Rally of Turkey, the harsh temperatures and rigorous terrain continue. Can the teams turn the tables around in the next P-WRC round? High expectations are placed on A. Araujo, E. Vertunov and of course the TEIN TYPE Gr.N.