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
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
P. Solberg
1:28.9
76.5 km/h
P. Solberg
2 (8 FEB)
SS2
09:34
Stensjön 1
15.50 km
J. Latvala
7:24.0
125.7 km/h
J. Latvala
SS3
10:44
Bjälverud 1
21.58 km
J. Latvala
10:33.7
122.5 km/h
SS4
11:23
Mangen 1
22.09 km
J. Latvala
12:20.7
107.4 km/h
SS5
13:25
Stensjön 2
15.50 km
J. Latvala
7:22.3
126.2 km/h
SS6
14:35
Bjälverud 2
21.58 km
J. Latvala
10:32.4
122.8 km/h
SS7
15:14
Mangen 2
22.09 km
J. Latvala
12:21.2
107.3 km/h
SS8
18:00
SSS Karlstad 2
1.90 km
G. Galli
1:28.2
77.6 km/h
3 (9 FEB)
SS9
08:25
Horssjön 1
14.89 km
S. Loeb
9:18.1
96.0 km/h
SS10
09:38
Hagfors 1
20.92 km
D. Sordo
11:45.8
106.7 km/h
SS11
10:41
Vargåsen 1
24.63 km
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
D. Sordo
11:30.1
109.1 km/h
SS14
15:20
Vargåsen 2
24.63 km
M. Hirvonen
13:32.5
109.1 km/h
4 (10 FEB)
SS15
08:08
Ullen 1
16.25 km
H. Solberg
8:21.7
116.6 km/h
SS16
09:13
Lesjöfors 1
10.49 km
H. Solberg
5:54.5
106.5 km/h
SS17
09:45
Rämmen 1
21.87 km
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
H. Solberg
5:43.8
109.7 km/h
SS20
12:58
Rämmen 2
21.87 km
H. Solberg
11:07.1
118.0 km/h
Championship standings after the event
Drivers' championship
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
Production championship
Points table:[ 9]
References
External links