2008 Swedish Rally

2008 Swedish Rally
57th Uddeholm Swedish Rally
Round 2 of the 2008 World Rally Championship
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Host country Sweden
Rally baseKarlstad, Sweden
Dates runFebruary 7 – 10 2008
Stages20 (340.24 km; 211.42 miles)
Stage surfaceSnow/Ice-covered gravel
Overall distance1,440.08 km (894.82 miles)
Statistics
Crews61 at start, 49 at finish
Overall results
Overall winnerFinland Jari-Matti Latvala
United Kingdom BP-Ford World Rally Team

The 2008 Swedish Rally, officially 57th Uddeholm Swedish Rally, was the second round of the 2008 World Rally Championship season. It was the season's first and only event held on snow- and ice-covered gravel roads. The rally took place during February 7–10, beginning with the Super Special Stage placed in the rally's base, Karlstad. The rally was also the first round of the Production Car World Rally Championship this season.

Even though it snowed before the rally, eliminating the threat of calling the event off, the mild temperatures caused cancellation of stages 12 and 18, shortening the overall competitive length.[1][2]

The rally was won by BP Ford World Rally Team's Jari-Matti Latvala; the first of his championship career. Latvala's teammate and compatriot Mikko Hirvonen was second and Stobart VK M-Sport Ford's Gigi Galli completed an all-Ford podium. Subaru World Rally Team's Petter Solberg was fourth, followed by Andreas Mikkelsen, Dani Sordo, Toni Gardemeister, Juho Hänninen, Mads Østberg and Jari Ketomaa. Fifth-placed Matthew Wilson ran into technical problems with throttle on the penultimate stage and had to retire.[3][4] Sébastien Loeb crashed out and rolled his car while running third, then retired again, after restarting under SupeRally and winning two stages, because of the damaged engine.[5] Henning Solberg inherited the third place, but later suffered a puncture causing him to slip further down and then crashed while running fourth and was forced to retire for the second day;[6] after rejoining the fight under SupeRally format Norwegian was the fastest driver on day three, winning all the remaining stages.

With his debut win, the 22-year old Latvala became the then-youngest winner in the history of the WRC, breaking Henri Toivonen's record from the 1980 RAC Rally;[7] his own record would stand until the 2021 Rally Estonia where it would be broken by the 20-year-old Kalle Rovanperä.

Results

Pos. Driver Co-driver Car Time Difference Points
WRC
1. Finland Jari-Matti Latvala Finland Miikka Anttila Ford Focus RS WRC 07 2:46:41.2 10
2. Finland Mikko Hirvonen Finland Jarmo Lehtinen Ford Focus RS WRC 07 2:47:39.5 +58.3 8
3. Italy Gigi Galli Italy Giovanni Bernacchini Ford Focus RS WRC 07 2:49:04.4 2:23.2 6
4. Norway Petter Solberg Wales Phil Mills Subaru Impreza WRC2007 2:49:40.6 2:59.4 5
5. Norway Andreas Mikkelsen Norway Ola Floene Ford Focus RS WRC 06 2:52:27.2 5:46.0 4
6. Spain Dani Sordo Spain Marc Marti Citroën C4 WRC 2:53:54.3 [1] 7:13.1 3
7. Finland Toni Gardemeister Finland Tomi Tuominen Suzuki SX4 WRC 2:57:16.5 10:35.3 2
8. Finland Juho Hänninen Finland Mikko Markkula Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX 2:59:08.7 12:27.5 1
[1] — Including 5 minute penalty for replacing the damaged engine after malfunction during 2008 Monte Carlo Rally.[8]
PCWRC
1. (8.) Finland Juho Hänninen Finland Mikko Markkula Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX 2:59:08.7 10
2. (10.) Finland Jari Ketomaa Finland Miika Teiskonen Subaru Impreza WRX STi N14 3:00:31.9 1:23.2 8
3. (11.) Sweden Patrik Sandell Sweden Emil Axelsson Peugeot 207 S2000 3:01:00.5 1:51.8 6
4. (12.) Czech Republic Martin Prokop Czech Republic Jan Tománek Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX 3:01:11.7 2:03.0 5
5. (14.) Germany Uwe Nittel Germany Detlef Ruf Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX 3:03:04.0 3:55.3 4
6. (15.) Japan Toshihiro Arai Australia Glenn MacNeall Subaru Impreza WRX STi 3:03:31.6 4:22.9 3
7. (17.) Portugal Armindo Araujo Portugal Miguel Ramalho Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX 3:05:13.9 6:05.2 2
8. (19.) Portugal Bernardo Sousa Portugal Carlos Magalhães Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX 3:07:07.3 7:58.6 1

Special stages

All dates and times are CET (UTC+1).

Day Stage Time Name Length Winner Time Avg. spd. Rally leader
1 (7 FEB) SS1 20:04 SSS Karlstad 1 1.90 km Norway P. Solberg 1:28.9 76.5 km/h Norway P. Solberg
2
(8 FEB)
SS2 09:34 Stensjön 1 15.50 km Finland J. Latvala 7:24.0 125.7 km/h Finland J. Latvala
SS3 10:44 Bjälverud 1 21.58 km Finland J. Latvala 10:33.7 122.5 km/h
SS4 11:23 Mangen 1 22.09 km Finland J. Latvala 12:20.7 107.4 km/h
SS5 13:25 Stensjön 2 15.50 km Finland J. Latvala 7:22.3 126.2 km/h
SS6 14:35 Bjälverud 2 21.58 km Finland J. Latvala 10:32.4 122.8 km/h
SS7 15:14 Mangen 2 22.09 km Finland J. Latvala 12:21.2 107.3 km/h
SS8 18:00 SSS Karlstad 2 1.90 km Italy G. Galli 1:28.2 77.6 km/h
3
(9 FEB)
SS9 08:25 Horssjön 1 14.89 km France S. Loeb 9:18.1 96.0 km/h
SS10 09:38 Hagfors 1 20.92 km Spain D. Sordo 11:45.8 106.7 km/h
SS11 10:41 Vargåsen 1 24.63 km France S. Loeb 13:49.1 106.9 km/h
SS12 13:04 Horssjön 2 14.89 km Cancelled [1]
SS13 14:17 Hagfors 2 20.92 km Spain D. Sordo 11:30.1 109.1 km/h
SS14 15:20 Vargåsen 2 24.63 km Finland M. Hirvonen 13:32.5 109.1 km/h
4
(10 FEB)
SS15 08:08 Ullen 1 16.25 km Norway H. Solberg 8:21.7 116.6 km/h
SS16 09:13 Lesjöfors 1 10.49 km Norway H. Solberg 5:54.5 106.5 km/h
SS17 09:45 Rämmen 1 21.87 km Norway H. Solberg 11:14.4 116.7 km/h
SS18 11:21 Ullen 2 16.25 km Cancelled [2]
SS19 12:26 Lesjöfors 2 10.49 km Norway H. Solberg 5:43.8 109.7 km/h
SS20 12:58 Rämmen 2 21.87 km Norway H. Solberg 11:07.1 118.0 km/h

Championship standings after the event

Drivers' championship

Pos Driver MON
Monaco
SWE
Sweden
MEX
Mexico
ARG
Argentina
JOR
Jordan
ITA
Italy
GRC
Greece
TUR
Turkey
FIN
Finland
GER
Germany
NZL
New Zealand
ESP
Spain
FRA
France
JPN
Japan
GBR
United Kingdom
 Pts 
1 Finland Mikko Hirvonen 2 2 16
2 Finland Jari-Matti Latvala 12 1 10
France Sébastien Loeb 1 Ret. 10
4 Italy Gigi Galli 6 3 9
Norway Petter Solberg 5 4 9
6 Australia Chris Atkinson 3 21 6
7 Belgium François Duval 4 5
8 Norway Andreas Mikkelsen 5 4
9 Spain Dani Sordo 11 6 3
10 France Jean-Marie Cuoq 7 2
Finland Toni Gardemeister Ret. 7 2
12 Sweden Per-Gunnar Andersson 8 Ret. 1
Finland Juho Hänninen 8 1
Pos Driver MON
Monaco
SWE
Sweden
MEX
Mexico
ARG
Argentina
JOR
Jordan
ITA
Italy
GRC
Greece
TUR
Turkey
FIN
Finland
GER
Germany
NZL
New Zealand
ESP
Spain
FRA
France
JPN
Japan
GBR
United Kingdom
Pts
Key
Colour Result
Gold Winner
Silver 2nd place
Bronze 3rd place
Green Points finish
Blue Non-points finish
Non-classified finish (NC)
Purple Did not finish (Ret)
Black Excluded (EX)
Disqualified (DSQ)
White Did not start (DNS)
Cancelled (C)
Blank Withdrew entry from
the event (WD)

Manufacturers' championship

Rank Driver Event Total
points
MON
Monaco
SWE
Sweden
MEX
Mexico
ARG
Argentina
JOR
Jordan
ITA
Italy
GRC
Greece
TUR
Turkey
FIN
Finland
GER
Germany
NZL
New Zealand
ESP
Spain
FRA
France
JPN
Japan
GBR
United Kingdom
1 United Kingdom BP Ford World Rally Team 8 18 - - - - - - - - - - - - - 26
2 United Kingdom Stobart M-Sport Ford Rally Team 8 8 - - - - - - - - - - - - - 16
Japan Subaru World Rally Team 10 6 - - - - - - - - - - - - - 16
4 France Citroën Total World Rally Team 11 4 - - - - - - - - - - - - - 15
5 Japan Suzuki World Rally Team 2 3 - - - - - - - - - - - - - 5
6 Argentina Munchi's Ford World Rally Team - - - - - - - - - - - - - 0

Production championship

Points table:[9]

Pos Driver SWE
Sweden
ARG
Argentina
GRC
Greece
TUR
Turkey
FIN
Finland
NZL
New Zealand
JPN
Japan
GBR
United Kingdom
 Pts 
1 Finland Juho Hänninen 1 10
2 Finland Jari Ketomaa 2 8
3 Sweden Patrik Sandell 3 6
4 Czech Republic Martin Prokop 4 5
5 Germany Uwe Nittel 5 4
6 Japan Toshihiro Arai 6 3
7 Portugal Armindo Araújo 7 2
8 Portugal Bernardo Sousa 8 1
Pos Driver SWE
Sweden
ARG
Argentina
GRC
Greece
TUR
Turkey
FIN
Finland
NZL
New Zealand
JPN
Japan
GBR
United Kingdom
Pts

References

  1. ^ a b "Swedish Rally: SS12 - cancelled". Crash.net. 2008-02-09. Retrieved 2008-02-11.
  2. ^ a b "Second stage cancelled". Crash.net. 2008-02-10. Retrieved 2008-02-11.
  3. ^ "NEWS FLASH: Wilson Jr loses fifth". Crash.net. 2008-02-10. Retrieved 2008-02-11.
  4. ^ "Throttle issue robs Wilson Jr". Crash.net. 2008-02-11. Archived from the original on 15 February 2008. Retrieved 2008-02-11.
  5. ^ "Loeb: Engine was on its last legs". Crash.net. 2008-02-09. Archived from the original on 12 February 2008. Retrieved 2008-02-11.
  6. ^ "NEWS FLASH: Henning goes off". Crash.net. 2008-02-09. Archived from the original on 12 February 2008. Retrieved 2008-02-11.
  7. ^ "Latvala claims historic Swedish win". Autosport. Archived from the original on 11 February 2008. Retrieved 2008-02-10.
  8. ^ "Engine blow for Sordo". Crash.net. 2008-02-07. Archived from the original on 11 February 2008. Retrieved 2008-02-11.
  9. ^ "2008 Production WRC Classification". Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. Retrieved 2009-02-01.