Marco Bianchini and Emanuele Baldaccini celebrate on the finish ramp yesterday in the shadow of the Acropolis (top) after steering the Lancia Stratos safely through Tuesday's night stages (above).

The glorious Lancia Stratos turned evoked glorious memories as it strode to victory on the Historic Acropolis Rally for the second consecutive year, putting its name into the record books on one of the few rallies it didn't win in its successful heyday. After a battle which lasted for four days full of action in the Greek mountains, on tarmac and gravel surfaces, at day and night, the 7th Historic Rally Acropolis came to an end yesterday afternoon.

Marco Bianchini and Emanuele Baldaccini were the crew in the Stratos and for another year they were the big heroes of the rally as they achieved a second consecutive win on the Historic Acropolis Rally. The crew of the Lancia were the fastest of the rally, and after the retirement of Spartalis and Polizois at the first control, they easily control their opponents. In the second place, finished Enrico Brazolli and Simone Trutalli in their Porsche 911 3.0 SC. Over the last two days, they had a great battle with the Greek crewVassilis and John Velanis, who unfortunately retired on the penultimate stage of the rally, after they went of the road.

In third place were Spiros Tsapalos and Diamandis Petropoulos with another Porsche. The Greek crew had taken advantage of the retirement from 'Montecristo' and Apostolos Pallas who also went off the road during the penultimate stage of the rally. Tsapalos had a great battle with Panagiotis Koutsikos and Maria Pavlia Korre with a BMW 2002 ti, who finished in fourth place. Very close to the leaders were Flavio Furlan and Beppe Burgan with an Opel Ascona who had a great battle with Vasilis Polito and Konstantinos Politis in a Datsun 510 1600 SSS.

In the Regularity category yesterday's ten trials were not enough to take away the win from Stelios Vanezos and George Kodjamanis with the MG B Roadster. The Cypriot crew were the most precise team in the category and won for second time the Historic Acropolis. In second position finished John Karoubas and Parashos Makrygiannis with Fiat 124 Spider. "Today’s rain makes our job more difficult," said Karoubas at the finishline yesterday. "The road was very slippery, and so we had a small accident. The route was very good, but we were very tired. The time trials were very nice and there was a lot competition at the top."

In third place, and making it two Fiats on the podium, were George Moshovitis and George Pontikogiannis, in a 124 Sport Coupe. "Today it was a little like an adventure for us, because we had a problem with electrics," said Moshovitis. "But we were lucky, because we solve the problem and we continue the Rally. In general it was a great Rally and the organisation was perfect." Both Fiat crews turned in excellent performances over all the four days of the rally.