| 2008 Rally GB 64th Wales Rally GB | ||
|---|---|---|
Round 15 of the2008 World Rally Championship
| ||
 Petter Solberg sliding on the Shakedown stage of Rally GB | ||
| Rally base | Cardiff | |
| Dates run | December 5 – 7, 2008 | |
| Stages | 19 (348.99 km; 216.85 miles) | |
| Stage surface | Gravel/Ice/Snow | |
| Overall distance | 1,428.44 km (887.59 miles) | |
| Statistics | ||
| Crews | 84 at start, 47 at finish | |
| Overall results | ||
| Overall winner |  Sébastien LoebCitroën Total World Rally TeamCitroën C4 WRC | |
The2008 Rally GB was the fifteenth and final round of the2008 World Rally Championship season and was held between December 5–7, 2008. The event was again held inWales, withCardiff being the host of the ceremonial start and finish, andSwansea providing the service park. The special stages took place on gravel roads on private land, owned either by theForestry Commission (for thespecial stages run on Friday and Sunday, and theResolfen stage on Saturday) or theArmy (for the remaining Saturday stages). The event saw a return to themid Wales stages ofHafren, Sweet Lamb, and Myherin for the first time since 2000.[1] The rally was won bySébastien Loeb in aCitroën C4 WRC. This was his eleventh win of the season - breaking his own previous record set in2005. Second place went toFord driverJari-Matti Latvala who was just 12.7 seconds behind. The final podium position was filled by Loebs teammateDani Sordo. With this resultCitroën clinched the manufacturers championship. This was the final appearance of theSubaru andSuzuki rally teams in theWorld Rally Championship.
The event was supported by the usual works entries fromCitroën,Ford,Subaru,Stobart Ford, andSuzuki, plus regular privateersConrad Rautenbach in hisCitroën C4 WRC andMads Ostberg in aSubaru Impreza WRC. A notable omission wasUrmo Aava who was scheduled to enter the event with his semi-works effort Citroën C4, but had to pull out only days before the event due to the ongoing economic problems.[2] In another Citroën C4 was FrenchmanSébastien Ogier who was handed the drive as a reward for winning the JWRC category of the 2008 championship.[3] The most newsworthy entry of all was that of 2008Moto GP championValentino Rossi[4] who was competing in aFord Focus WRC complete with aChildren in Need livery.[5] Rossi was aiming to beat his previous two efforts in a WRC event, an early retirement at2002 Rally GB and an eleventh-place finish at the2006 Rally New Zealand.[6]
The rally began in tricky conditions with ice and heavy rain making the roads very slippery and fog hampering the competitors' visibility. For safety reasons, the first and fourth stages held in Hafren (which had already been shortened from 19 km to 3 km) were cancelled. Stages 2 and 4 (Sweet Lamb) were slightly shortened (moving the start around 1 km into the stage due to ice) and the third and sixth stages at Myherin were dramatically shortened, using the middle 18 km of the original 35 km. TheFIA regulations came in for criticism from several of the teams and champion elect Sébastien Loeb for the lack of flexibility in the tyre rules[7] which state that only one type of tyre is allowed on the event with no modifications allowed to that tyre. Loeb also spoke out against the lack of gravel crews, which run through the stage before the start and report any bad conditions to the drivers. The year'sjunior world championSébastien Ogier surprised by winning his first stage in aWorld Rally Car, albeit he was among the competitors to benefit from a late starting position. On the same stage,Production World Rally Championship leaderJuho Hänninen retired after hisdrive shaft broke, leavingAndreas Aigner to take the title if he finishes the event in the top three. On the fifth stage, last year's winnerMikko Hirvonen rolled hisFord Focus WRC and lost several minutes. The next top entrant to roll wasSubaru'sChris Atkinson, who was placed sixth before retiring after a bad accident on the first corner of stage seven, the firstsuper special stage. After day one,Ford'sJari-Matti Latvala led fromCitroën'sSébastien Loeb,Suzuki'sPer-Gunnar Andersson and Subaru privateerMads Østberg.[8]
Day two began with a long stage inResolfen. Two of the rally's surprises ran into problems; Østberg'sImpreza WRC suffered an engine problem and Ogier rolled hisC4 WRC very close to the stage finish. The crews reported more icy conditions in the stages, with Latvala feeling particularly ill at ease as he was the first car on the road and therefore the first to encounter the treacherous patches of ice.[9] Throughout the day the conditions improved enough for Latvala to manage to hold off the challenges of firstly Dani Sordo, and then Sébastien Loeb. Latvala held a 10.8 second lead going into the shortCardiff superspecial but clutch problems developed when he had to queue in heavy traffic on the approach to the stage[10] and he lost 3.5 seconds of this advantage. In fourth position wasPetter Solberg who was only twenty seconds behind third place. Per-Gunnar Andersson had slipped back to fifth place, but was still three places ahead of his more experienced teammateToni Gardemeister. The two other points positions were held byHenning Solberg andFrançois Duval. Mikko Hirvonen was homing in on a world championship point, ahead of top home driverMatthew Wilson who was in a slightly disappointing tenth position. Valentino Rossi was making progress after a very steady start and was now in fifteenth position - ahead of WRC regulars such asKhalid Al-Qassimi andConrad Rautenbach.
Freezing conditions overnight meant that there was ice again on the remaining stages atRheola andPort Talbot. This was not ideal for rally leader Latvala, who had hoped for warmer conditions overnight[11] for a better chance of holding Loeb at bay. Loeb had been told by Citroën bossOlivier Quesnel to push for the victory as a third place for Sordo would be enough to clinch the manufacturers title.[12] After the first loop of Sunday's stages the gap was down to 1.4 seconds and a victory for Loeb was looking inevitable. Loeb was then initially handed a ten-second time penalty for a jump start at SS18[13] which meant that Latvala took a slender advantage of 2.2 seconds into the last stage. However, Loeb's pace was too strong and a further stage win meant that he won the rally by 12.7 seconds after his earlier time penalty was rescinded.[14] Latvala finished a disappointed second but believed that the battle with Loeb would make him mentally stronger for next season.[15] Sordo followed team instructions to drive carefully and finished third. Petter Solberg maintained his fourth place and the remaining points positions remained the same, except for a late retirement for Henning Solberg which meant that Hirvonen claimed eighth place. Wilson took the position of highest Brit position, ahead ofBarry Clark. Rossi continued his progression and finished in twelfth position, earning praise from Ford team bossMalcolm Wilson.[16]
All dates and times areGMT (UTC).
| Day | Stage | Time | Name | Length | Winner | Time | Avg. spd. | Rally leader |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 (5 DEC) | SS1 | 09:08 | Hafren 1 | 3.67 km | Cancelled | |||
| SS2 | 09:32 | Sweet Lamb 1 | 4.28 km | S. Ogier | 2:48.6 | 91.4 km/h | S. Ogier | |
| SS3 | 09:53 | Myherin 1 | 18.28 km |  J. Latvala | 10:59.2 | 99.8 km/h | ||
| SS4 | 13:16 | Hafren 2 | 3.67 km | Cancelled | ||||
| SS5 | 13:40 | Sweet Lamb 2 | 4.28 km | S. Loeb | 2:50.4 | 90.4 km/h | ||
| SS6 | 14:01 | Myherin 2 | 18.28 km | J. Latvala | 10:56.5 | 100.2 km/h | J. Latvala | |
| SS7 | 17:06 | Walters Arena 1 | 2.29 km | J. Latvala | 1:44.5 | 78.9 km/h | ||
| SS8 | 17:17 | Walters Arena 2 | 2.29 km | S. Loeb | 1:45.0 | 78.5 km/h | ||
| 2 (6 DEC) | SS9 | 08:18 | Resolfen 1 | 30.68 km |  D. Sordo | 17:12.5 | 107.0 km/h | |
| SS10 | 09:47 | Halfway 1 | 18.57 km | J. Latvala | 11:24.3 | 97.7 km/h | ||
| SS11 | 10:13 | Crychan 1 | 14.86 km | D. Sordo | 9:25.1 | 94.7 km/h | ||
| SS12 | 13:21 | Resolfen 2 | 30.68 km | M. Hirvonen | 16:19.9 | 112.7 km/h | ||
| SS13 | 14:50 | Halfway 2 | 18.57 km | S. Loeb | 11:11.9 | 99.5 km/h | ||
| SS14 | 15:16 | Crychan 2 | 14.86 km | J. Latvala | 9:00.6 | 99.0 km/h | ||
| SS15 | 18:15 | Cardiff | 0.99 km | S. Loeb | 0:56.5 | 63.1 km/h | ||
| 3 (7 DEC) | SS16 | 07:55 | Rheola 1 | 27.96 km | S. Loeb | 16:15.0 | 103.2 km/h | |
| SS17 | 09:03 | Port Talbot 1 | 20.09 km | S. Loeb | 11:17.9 | 106.7 km/h | ||
| SS18 | 11:10 | Rheola 2 | 27.96 km | S. Loeb | 16:25.0 | 102.2 km/h | S. Loeb | |
| SS19 | 12:18 | Port Talbot 2 | 20.09 km | S. Loeb | 11:12.0 | 107.6 km/h | ||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rank | Team | Event | Total points | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
MON | SWE | MEX | ARG | JOR | ITA | GRC | TUR | FIN | GER | NZL | ESP | FRA | JPN | GBR | |||
| 1 | Citroën Total World Rally Team | 11 | 4 | 10 | 16 | 9 | 14 | 15 | 11 | 15 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 10 | 6 | 16 | 191 |
| 2 | BP Ford World Rally Team | 8 | 18 | 11 | 7 | 13 | 14 | 10 | 18 | 9 | 7 | 6 | 11 | 14 | 18 | 9 | 173 |
| 3 | Subaru World Rally Team | 10 | 6 | 9 | 8 | 6 | 3 | 8 | 3 | 9 | 7 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 98 |
| 4 | Stobart M-Sport Ford Rally Team | 8 | 8 | 3 | 3 | 7 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 4 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 67 |
| 5 | Suzuki World Rally Team | 2 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 6 | 34 |
| 6 | Munchi's Ford World Rally Team | 0 | 0 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 22 |
Media related to2008 Rally GB at Wikimedia Commons
