2008 Rally Argentina

The 2008 Rally Argentina, officially 28º Rally Argentina, is the fourth round of 2008 World Rally Championship season; it is a second gravel round of the championship and also the second round of the Production World Rally Championship. The event began with a ceremonial start on Thursday, March 27 in Córdoba[2] and ended after a Super Special Stage and ten minutes service "E" in Villa Carlos Paz.[3]

2008 Rally Argentina
28º Rally Argentina
Round 4 of the 2008 World Rally Championship
← Previous eventNext event →
Host country Argentina
Rally baseCórdoba, Argentina
Dates runMarch 28 – 30 2008
Stages21 (352.07 km; 218.77 miles)
Stage surfaceGravel
Overall distance1,619.45 km (1,006.28 miles)[1]
Results
Overall winner Sébastien Loeb
Citroën Total World Rally Team
Crews56 at start, 31 at finish

Some stages of the rally, especially the ones from final day, similarly to those seen on the Mexican event, are held in the mountainous area of the country, thus drivers climb up to 2100 meters above sea levels.[1] The event, however, is more varied and some competitive kilometers lead through vast Argentinian plains.[4]

Summary
Home country's Federico Villagra driving a Ford Focus WRC.

The rally began in rainy and muddy conditions. Mikko Hirvonen was the first on the road as the championship leader and managed to open up a 48-second gap to Jari-Matti Latvala and a 50-second gap to Sébastien Loeb. However, the BP Ford drivers soon dropped out of contention. On the second stage, Latvala spun off and lost about nine minutes,[5] and on the fifth stage, Hirvonen and Stobart VK M-Sport Ford's Henning Solberg damaged their cars while hitting rocks and retired from the rally.[6] Loeb managed to open up a comfortable gap to Subaru's Chris Atkinson and Petter Solberg. Other drivers in the points after day one were Gigi Galli, Dani Sordo, Federico Villagra, Matthew Wilson and Latvala.

Loeb continued to lead throughout day two, and Solberg passed his teammate Atkinson for second place. Galli retired from fourth place to preserve his vehicle when smoke started to pour from his Ford Focus after SS13.[7] Latvala also had problems with his Focus and retired. After day two, due to the high level of attrition, Sordo was now in fourth place, Conrad Rautenbach had climbed to fifth, Hirvonen, who re-joined the event under SupeRally rules, to sixth and Andreas Aigner to seventh. Villagra was in eighth place.

Chris Atkinson driving a Subaru Impreza WRC.

French World Rally Champion held his lead until the very end of the event and won the event with over two and a half minute advantage over the Subaru driver, Atkinson. The young Australian's steady pace paid off and he was able to claim second place after electric in Petter Solberg's car malfunctioned[8] and he had to retire. Petter's brother, Henning, didn't manage to finish either - shock absorber in older Solberg's Focus was blown through the hood again, same way as on Friday, and he ended his rally at the very same spot as his younger sibling.[9]

The last man on the podium was second Citroën driver, Dani Sordo, followed by Conrad Rautenbach in another C4 WRC, who was therefore first Zimbabwean to ever score points in an WRC event.[10] Fifth was Ford's Mikko Hirvonen who managed to score four points in drivers' and five in manufacturers' championship despite massive penalties for using SupeRally.[11] Last three pointing drivers were Munchi's Federico Villagra, Stobart's Gigi Galli, who also restarted under SupeRally format and Andreas Aigner driving a group N Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX. He was also first in PWRC classification, followed by Argentinian Sebastián Beltrán and Finn Jari Ketomaa.

Results
Pos. Driver Co-driver Car Time Difference Points
WRC
1. Sébastien Loeb Daniel Elena Citroën C4 WRC 4:05:48.6 0.0 10
2. Chris Atkinson Stéphane Prévot Subaru Impreza WRC 07 4:08:21.8 2:33.2 8
3. Dani Sordo Marc Martí Citroën C4 WRC 4:09:53.3 4:04.7 6
4. Conrad Rautenbach David Senior Citroën C4 WRC 4:25:52.1 20:03.5 5
5. Mikko Hirvonen Jarmo Lehtinen Ford Focus RS WRC 07 4:31:03.9 25:15.3 4
6. Federico Villagra Jorge Pérez Companc Ford Focus RS WRC 07 4:33:30.6 27:42.0 3
7. Gigi Galli Giovanni Bernacchini Ford Focus RS WRC 07 4:33:40.4 27:51.8 2
8. Andreas Aigner Klaus Wicha Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX 4:34:47.9 28:59.3 1
PCWRC
1. (8.) Andreas Aigner Klaus Wicha Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX 4:34:47.9 0.0 10
2. (9.) Sebastián Beltrán Ricardo Rojas Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX 4:35:53.5 +1:05.6 8
3. (10.) Jari Ketomaa Miika Teiskonen Subaru Impreza N12 4:37:41.2 +2:53.3 6
4. (11.) Fumio Nutahara Daniel Barritt Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX 4:38:47.0 +3:59.1 5
5. (12.) Martin Rauam Silver Kutt Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX 4:44:16.0 +9:28.1 4
6. (13.) Amjad Farrah Nicola Arena Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX 4:53:04.4 +18:16.5 3
7. (14.) Martin Prokop Jan Tománek Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX 4:53:07.8 +18:19.9 2
8. (18.) Bernardo Sousa Jorge Carvalho Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX 5:13:02.4 +38:14.5 1

Special stages

All dates and times are ART (UTC-3).

Day Stage Time[A] Name Length Winner Time Avg. spd. Rally leader
1
(28 MAR)		 SS1 07:45 La Cumbre - Agua de Oro 1 18.70 km M. Hirvonen 16:29.3 68.0 km/h M. Hirvonen
SS2 08:41 Ascochinga - La Cumbre 1 23.28 km M. Hirvonen 14:59.6 93.2 km/h
SS3 09:44 Capilla del Monte - San Marcos 1 22.95 km J. Latvala 17:39.7 78.0 km/h
SS4 10:16 San Marcos - Charbonier 1 9.61 km M. Hirvonen 6:38.3 86.9 km/h
SS5 14:26 Ascochinga - La Cumbre 2 23.28 km S. Loeb 14:51.3 94.0 km/h S. Loeb
SS6 15:29 Capilla del Monte - San Marcos 2 22.95 km J. Latvala 17:23.1 79.2 km/h
SS7 16:01 San Marcos - Charbonier 2 9.61 km G. Galli 6:33.5 87.9 km/h
SS8 17:04 La Cumbre - Agua de Oro 2 18.70 km J. Latvala 17:02.3 65.9 km/h
SS9 18:45 Camping San Martin 1 3.50 km C. Atkinson 1:39.4 126.8 km/h
2
(29 MAR)		 SS10 08:05 Santa Monica - Amboy 1 22.17 km P. Solberg 12:02.7 110.4 km/h
SS11 08:57 Villa del Dique - Las Bajadas 1 16.41 km S. Loeb 9:10.0 107.4 km/h
SS12 09:35 San Augustin - Villa General Belgrano 1 16.31 km S. Loeb 11:26.5 85.5 km/h
SS13 10:20 Santa Rosa - San Augustin 1 21.41 km C. Atkinson 13:37.3 94.3 km/h
SS14 14:25 Santa Monica - Amboy 2 22.17 km P. Solberg 11:37.2 114.5 km/h
SS15 15:17 Villa del Dique - Las Bajadas 2 16.41 km S. Loeb 8:57.8 109.8 km/h
SS16 15:55 San Augustin - Villa General Belgrano 2 16.31 km P. Solberg 11:18.8 86.5 km/h
SS17 16:40 Santa Rosa - San Augustin 2 21.41 km P. Solberg 13:23.6 95.9 km/h
SS18 18:45 Camping San Martin 2 3.50 km P. Solberg 1:40.6 125.2 km/h
3
(30 MAR)		 SS19 09:13 Mina Clavero - Giulio Cesare 24.70 km J. Latvala 19:57.9 74.2 km/h
SS20 10:05 El Condor - Copina 16.06 km S. Loeb 15:08.6 63.6 km/h
SS21 11:50 Camping San Martin 3 2.63 km J. Latvala 2:13.3 71.0 km/h

Footnotes:A ^ all times local

Championship standings after the event

Drivers' championship
Pos Driver MON
 SWE
 MEX
 ARG
 JOR
 ITA
 GRC
 TUR
 FIN
 GER
 NZL
 ESP
 FRA
 JPN
 GBR
  Pts 
1 Sébastien Loeb 1 Ret. 1 1 30
2 Mikko Hirvonen 2 2 4 5 25
3 Chris Atkinson 3 21 2 2 22
4 Jari-Matti Latvala 12 1 3 15 16
5 Gigi Galli 6 3 Ret. 7 11
6 Petter Solberg 5 4 12 Ret. 9
Dani Sordo 11 6 17 3 9
8 François Duval 4 5
Conrad Rautenbach Ret. 16 16 4 5
Federico Villagra 7 6 5
11 Henning Solberg 9 13 5 Ret. 4
Andreas Mikkelsen 5 4
13 Matthew Wilson 10 Ret. 6 Ret. 3
14 Jean-Marie Cuoq 7 2
Toni Gardemeister Ret. 7 Ret. Ret. 2
16 Per-Gunnar Andersson 8 Ret. Ret. 24 1
Juho Hänninen 8 1
Sébastien Ogier 8 1
Andreas Aigner 31 8 1
Pos Driver MON
 SWE
 MEX
 ARG
 JOR
 ITA
 GRC
 TUR
 FIN
 GER
 NZL
 ESP
 FRA
 JPN
 GBR
 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
 SWE
 MEX
 ARG
 JOR
 ITA
 GRC
 TUR
 FIN
 GER
 NZL
 ESP
 FRA
 JPN
 GBR
1 BP Ford World Rally Team 818117----------- 44
2 Citroën Total World Rally Team 1141016----------- 41
3 Subaru World Rally Team 10698----------- 33
4 Stobart M-Sport Ford Rally Team 8833----------- 22
5 Munchi's Ford World Rally Team 0064----------- 10
6 Suzuki World Rally Team 2301----------- 6

Production championship

Points table:[12]

Pos Driver SWE
 ARG
 GRC
 TUR
 FIN
 NZL
 JPN
 GBR
  Pts 
1 Jari Ketomaa 2 3 14
2 Andreas Aigner 11 1 10
2 Juho Hänninen 1 10
4 Sebastián Beltrán 2 8
5 Martin Prokop 4 7 7
6 Patrik Sandell 3 6
7 Fumio Nutahara 4 5
8 Martin Rauam 5 4
8 Uwe Nittel 5 Ret 4
10 Toshihiro Arai 6 Ret 3
10 Amjad Farrah 6 3
12 Armindo Araújo 7 2
12 Bernardo Sousa 8 8 2
Pos Driver SWE
 ARG
 GRC
 TUR
 FIN
 NZL
 JPN
 GBR
 Pts

References
  1. "Preview: Rally Argentina - Pt. 2". "Crash.net". 2008-03-25. Retrieved 2008-05-18.
  2. "Rally Argentina: Suzuki ceremonial start notes". motorsport.com. 2008-03-28. Retrieved 2008-03-30.
  3. "Rally Argentina: Itinerary". eWRC-results.com. Retrieved 2008-03-30.
  4. "Preview: Rally Argentina - Pt. 1". "Crash.net". 2008-03-25. Retrieved 2008-05-18.
  5. "NEWS FLASH: Latvala goes off". Crash.net. 2008-03-28. Retrieved 2008-05-18.
  6. "NEWS FLASH: Mikko and Henning out". Crash.net. 2008-03-28. Archived from the original on 5 May 2008. Retrieved 2008-05-18.
  7. "Galli shocked to still score". Crash.net. 2008-04-03. Archived from the original on 21 April 2008. Retrieved 2008-05-18.
  8. "NEWS FLASH: Disaster for Petter". Crash.net. 2008-03-30. Archived from the original on 5 May 2008. Retrieved 2008-05-18.
  9. WRC Argentina Day 3 (TV relation). Eurosport. 2008-03-30. Event occurs at ~16'.
  10. "'Crazy' fourth for Rautenbach". "Crash.net". 2008-04-01. Archived from the original on 9 June 2008. Retrieved 2008-05-18.
  11. "Mikko: I could have won". Crash.net. 2008-04-01. Archived from the original on 20 April 2008. Retrieved 2008-05-18.
  12. "2008 Production WRC Classification". Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. Retrieved 2009-02-01.
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