ATHENS, June 1, 2008 (AFP) - France's four-time world champion Sebastien Loeb stormed back to the top of the world championship after achieving his second Acropolis Rally victory on Sunday.

The Citroen driver, already winner here in 2005, beat home Norway's Petter Solberg by one minute and nine seconds with Finland's Mikko Hirvonen finishing third 1min 56.1sec off the pace in a Ford Focus.

Loeb, who took the race lead on Friday, fell behind his team-mate Dani Sordo on day two, when he picked up a puncture in SS9.

But the Frenchman reclaimed the lead in SS13 to hold an overnight advantage of 28.7sec on 2004 winner Solberg, who showed that he has returned to his top level in his new Subaru Impreza.

'I'm delighted. I think experience saw us through,' said Loeb after notching up the fifth win this season and 41st career victory to move one point ahead of Hirvonen in the world championship standing.

'It's a very long and very tough rally which takes a lot out of the mechanics and the tyres,' said Loeb.

'You have to calculate when to attack and when to take it easy. Ford had won six out of eight times here so it took a lot of work to adapt the car to this type of road and we were able to battle through to victory.

'We're back in the lead, that's want counts even if we are just a point ahead and I hope that this time we'll be able to hold it.'

Solberg was delighted with how the new Impreza reacted to the tough conditions.

'There was a lot of work behind the scenes by engineers and mechanics so that the car would be ready with several weeks advance,' said the Norwegian.

'This result is a nice reward.'

Hirvonen had suffered from suspension problems during the race but fought back from eighth position to finish on the podium.

'I'm just glad that this rally is over,' said Hirvonen. 'I never thought on Saturday after breaking my suspension and break problems that I would be on the podium Sunday.

Citroen are now just two points behind Ford in the constructors standings and the Finn is confident all is still to play for with eight races left this season.

'The battle for the world title is getting even tighter with Citroen and I think we'll have to me better prepared the next time. I remain very confident for the rest of the season,' Hiroven added.