Svedlund and Polo take fifth in Greece.

Sweden's Oscar Svedlund drove his Volkswagen Polo to fifth position among the Junior WRC runners on the gruelling Acropolis Rally, which finished in Greece on Sunday.

Only six of the 21 'Super 1600' cars which started the event made it to the Lamia finish line after 400km of special stages over some of the toughest terrain ever seen in the World Rally Championship.

Svedlund and his co-driver Bjorn Nilsson considered themselves lucky to have made it to the end. "The rally has been very demanding," said Svedlund. "I drove carefully and defensively, learned a lot and was very happy to see the finish line and earn my first points in the championship."

"I'm very happy to come in safely," added Nilsson, "There is no doubt that the Acropolis Rally is tougher than all the other rallies. The high temperatures and the ruthless rocks did challenge us and our VW Polo 1600 a lot."

His Lehtonen Motorsport team-mate, Finn Kosti Katajamaki, was less fortunate. After climbing to third place on the opening day his Polo's differential housing was damaged on Saturday and he was forced into retirement.

"I'm really disappointed about the retirement, but that's rallying and especially the Acropolis Rally," said Katajamaki, "Everybody has to count with a possible retirement. But from today on, I will concentrate completely on the Neste Rally in my home country."

Miikka Anttila, co-driver of Katajamaki, commented: "It was not easy to navigate these rough stages. The temperatures have caused us big trouble as well. But we tried to do our best."

Also in trouble was Germany's Vladan Vasiljevic, who retired his Polo after a first-day accident.

The Junior WRC winner in Greece was French Renault driver Brice Tirabassi, who assumes sole leadership of the championship battle from Katajamaki. Kosti slips to fourth overall, 10 points adrift.

August's Rally of Finland will be the next Junior WRC outing for Katajamaki and Svedlund and their Polos.

Risto Buri, team manager of Lehtonen Motorsport, concluded: "We are cursed on this rally. On the same corner as last year, Kosti had to retire. But we already look forward to the future. We will do a test in Finland soon and then we can show how fast we can be."

The Polo Super 1600 is supported by Shell, Nokian Tyres, DNA, Superfastferries, OMP, OZ Racing, Lecab, Kessel, Rannila, M?kela Alu oy and Sokos Hotels.