2008 Rally México

The 2008 Rally México, officially 22º Corona Rally México, was the third round of the 2008 World Rally Championship season. The rally was held on February 29 — March 2 and began with a ceremonial start on Thursday, February 28. It was the first gravel event of the season and also the opening round of the Junior World Rally Championship this season.[1]

2008 Rally México
22º Corona Rally México
Round 3 of the 2008 World Rally Championship
← Previous eventNext event →
Sierra Madre mountains in México.
Host country Mexico
Rally baseLeón, México
Dates runFebruary 29 – March 2, 2008
Stages20 (353.75 km; 219.81 miles)
Stage surfaceGravel
Overall distance830.83 km (516.25 miles)
Results
Overall winner Sébastien Loeb
Citroën-Total World Rally Team
Crews39 at start, 29 at finish

The event

The rally consisted of 20 special stages, one of which was cancelled due to safety reasons, as there were too many spectators gathered around the road.[2] Also five of the stages were Super Special Stages. Some of the sections were placed as high as 2700 meters over sea level, causing significant engine power loss due to lower air pressure.[1]

Sebastien Ogier's Citroën C2 S1600 parked in the service area.

The event was won by the previous edition's winner, Sébastien Loeb. Before the rally there was some controversy with Citroën Team changing the engine in his car after a major malfunction during the shakedown,[3] but the team reverted to the original unit and avoided a five minutes penalty.[4] The first rally leader was Jari-Matti Latvala, but after having to be the opening driver on the second day's stages and suffering from the broken intercooler pipe, causing the turbo to overheat and break, he dropped to third.[5] Subaru's Chris Atkinson finished second after constant pace placing him in the top eight on every stage, achieving the best result in his career so far. Fourth overall was Mikko Hirvonen who lost large amounts of time after a few punctures and having to change a wheel in his Ford Focus RS WRC 07.[6] Henning Solberg lost his battle for fourth with Hirvonen and had to settle for fifth after damaging his damper.[7] The rest of pointing drivers were Matthew Wilson, Federico Villagra, both in Focuses 2007 spec and privateer Ricardo Triviño driving a Peugeot 206 WRC. Petter Solberg managed to score the last point in Manufacturers' Championship, even though having to restart under SupeRally format after having mechanical problems with the front left driveshaft in his Subaru Impreza WRC2007 on SS10.[8] Citroën's number two, Daniel Sordo, came back into the fight after breaking the suspension in his C4 WRC and retiring too,[9] but even though he won 3 stages overall, he wasn't able to regain the penalty he was given.

Suzuki drivers suffered from mechanical problems during the first day and both Toni Gardemeister and Per-Gunnar Andersson had to retire from the rally for good.[10][11] Also Stobart's Gigi Galli wasn't able to finish the event - the Italian had to retire from top-eight position after breaking the suspension in his Ford Focus.[12]

The top eight was followed by the JWRC podium - Frenchman Sebastien Ogier in Citroën C2 S1600, Estonian Jaan Mölder and Pole Michał Kościuszko, both in Suzuki Swifts S1600.

Result change

Mexican Ricardo Triviño was disqualified during the second day of the event for using non-homologated driving gloves; he was able to complete the rally after deciding to appeal his case to higher jurisdiction. His request was later rejected and Triviño was excluded from the event, which resulted in Sebastien Ogier, WRC debutant, to score one point in drivers' championship.[13] It was the first time in World Rally history that JWRC driver driving Super 1600 front-wheel drive rally car scored points in overall classification.[14]

Results
Pos. Driver Co-driver Car Time Difference Points
WRC
1. Sébastien Loeb Daniel Elena Citroën C4 WRC 3:33:29.9 10
2. Chris Atkinson Stéphane Prévot Subaru Impreza WRC2007 3:34:36.0 1:06.1 8
3. Jari-Matti Latvala Miikka Anttila Ford Focus RS WRC 07 3:35:09.6 1:39.7 6
4. Mikko Hirvonen Jarmo Lehtinen Ford Focus RS WRC 07 3:37:08.6 3:38.7 5
5. Henning Solberg Cato Menkerud Ford Focus RS WRC 07 3:38:27.8 4:57.9 4
6. Matthew Wilson Michael Orr Ford Focus RS WRC 07 3:39:58.8 6:28.9 3
7. Federico Villagra Jorge Perez Companc Ford Focus RS WRC 07 3:52:32.9 19:03.0 2
DSQ a Ricardo Triviño Sergio Salom Peugeot 206 WRC 3:54:47.2 21:17.3 1
8. Sebastien Ogier Julien Ingrassia Citroën C2 S1600 3:58:54.8 25:24.9 1
^ Ricardo Triviño was disqualified for wearing non-homologated driving gloves.[13]
JWRC
1. (8.) Sebastien Ogier Julien Ingrassia Citroën C2 S1600 3:58:54.8 10
2. (9.) Jaan Mölder Frederic Miclotte Suzuki Swift S1600 4:00:26.7 1:31.9 8
3. (10.) Michał Kościuszko Maciej Szczepaniak Suzuki Swift S1600 4:02:00.0 3:05.2 6
4. (12.) Aaron Burkart Michael Kölbach Citroën C2 S1600 4:04:56.6 6:01.8 5
5. (13.) Patrik Sandell Emil Axelsson Renault Clio S1600 4:06:40.5 7:45.7 4
6. (19.) Shaun Gallagher Clive Jenkins Citroën C2 S1600 4:14:16.0 15:21.2 3
7. (22.) Martin Prokop Jan Tománek Citroën C2 S1600 4:48:43.2 49:48.4 2
8. (23.) Francesco Fanari Massimiliano Bosi Citroën C2 S1600 4:51:28.8 52:34.0 1

Special stages

All dates and times are CST (UTC-6).

Day Stage Time[A] Name Length Winner Time Avg. spd. Rally leader
1
(29 FEB)		 SS1 08:28 Alfaro 1 22.96 km J. Latvala 14:14.6 96.7 km/h J. Latvala
SS2 09:51 Ortega 1 23.83 km S. Loeb 14:11.8 100.7 km/h
SS3 10:39 El Cubilete 1 18.87 km S. Loeb 11:51.5 95.5 km/h
SS4 13:02 Alfaro 2 22.96 km P. Solberg 14:02.5 98.1 km/h
SS5 14:25 Ortega 2 23.83 km J. Latvala 14:00.1 102.1 km/h
SS6 15:13 El Cubilete 2 18.87 km J. Latvala 11:45.5 96.3 km/h
SS7 16:33 Super Special 1 2.21 km P. Solberg 1:41.7 78.2 km/h
SS8 16:38 Super Special 2 2.21 km S. Loeb 1:42.0 78.0 km/h
2
(1 MAR)		 SS9 08:24 Ibarilla 1 29.90 km S. Loeb 18:35.7 96.5 km/h
SS10 09:47 Duarte 1 23.27 km S. Loeb 18:19.6 76.2 km/h S. Loeb
SS11 10:38 Derramadero 1 23.28 km D. Sordo 14:04.6 99.2 km/h
SS12 13:12 Ibarilla 2 29.90 km S. Loeb 18:21.0 97.8 km/h
SS13 14:35 Duarte 2 23.27 km D. Sordo 17:56.2 77.8 km/h
SS14 15:26 Derramadero 2 23.28 km H. Solberg 13:52.9 100.6 km/h
SS15 16:41 Super Special 3 2.21 km S. Loeb
H. Solberg		 1:41.9 78.1 km/h
SS16 16:46 Super Special 4 2.21 km C. Atkinson
S. Loeb		 1:40.8 78.9 km/h
3
(2 MAR)		 SS17 08:28 Leon 16.09 km J. Latvala 10:43.3 90.0 km/h
SS18 08:56 Guanajuatito 22.30 km Cancelled [2]
SS19 10:19 Comanjilla 17.88 km M. Hirvonen 10:12.7 105.1 km/h
SS20 11:34 Super Special 5 4.42 km D. Sordo 3:19.3 79.8 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 Mikko Hirvonen 2 2 4 21
2 Sébastien Loeb 1 Ret. 1 20
3 Jari-Matti Latvala 12 1 3 16
4 Chris Atkinson 3 21 2 14
5 Gigi Galli 6 3 Ret. 9
Petter Solberg 5 4 12 9
7 François Duval 4 5
8 Henning Solberg 9 13 5 4
Andreas Mikkelsen 5 4
10 Dani Sordo 11 6 17 3
Matthew Wilson 10 Ret. 6 3
12 Jean-Marie Cuoq 7 2
Toni Gardemeister Ret. 7 Ret. 2
Federico Villagra 7 2
15 Per-Gunnar Andersson 8 Ret. Ret. 1
Juho Hänninen 8 1
Sebastien Ogier 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 81811------------ 37
2 Subaru World Rally Team 1069------------ 25
Citroën Total World Rally Team 11410------------ 25
4 Stobart M-Sport Ford Rally Team 883------------ 19
5 Munchi's Ford World Rally Team 6------------ 6
6 Suzuki World Rally Team 230------------ 5

Junior championship
Junior world champion Sébastien Ogier competing in a Citroën C2 S1600 at the 2008 Rallye Deutschland.
Pos Driver MEX
 JOR
 ITA
 FIN
 GER
 ESP
 FRA
  Pts 
1 Sébastien Ogier 1 10
2 Jaan Mölder 2 8
3 Michał Kościuszko 3 6
4 Aaron Burkart 4 5
5 Patrik Sandell 5 4
6 Shaun Gallagher 6 3
7 Martin Prokop 7 2
8 Francesco Fanari 8 1
Pos Driver MEX
 JOR
 ITA
 FIN
 GER
 ESP
 FRA
 Pts

References
  1. "Preview: Rally Mexico - Pt. 1". Crash.net. 2008-02-26. Retrieved 2008-03-01.
  2. "Rally Mexico: SS18 - cancelled". Crash.net. 2008-03-02. Archived from the original on 5 March 2008. Retrieved 2008-03-02.
  3. "Loeb hit by engine problems". Crash.net. 2008-02-29. Retrieved 2008-03-02.
  4. "Loeb reverts to original engine, avoids penalty". Crash.net. 2008-02-29. Retrieved 2008-03-02.
  5. "Latvala out to 'save' his podium". Crash.net. 2008-03-02. Archived from the original on 5 March 2008. Retrieved 2008-03-02.
  6. "Rally reactions: Rally Mexico - Day 2". Crash.net. 2008-03-01. Archived from the original on 5 March 2008. Retrieved 2008-03-02.
  7. "Rally Mexico 2008 results - SS20 - drivers comments". ewrc-results.com. Archived from the original on 4 March 2008. Retrieved 2008-03-02.
  8. "NEWS FLASH: Petter out". Crash.net. 2008-03-01. Archived from the original on 5 March 2008. Retrieved 2008-03-02.
  9. "Official: Sordo to re-start". Crash.net. 2008-03-01. Retrieved 2008-03-02.
  10. "NEWS FLASH: P-G retires". Crash.net. 2008-02-29. Archived from the original on 5 March 2008. Retrieved 2008-03-02.
  11. "NEWS FLASH: Galli, Gardemeister join retirees". Crash.net. 2008-02-29. Archived from the original on 5 March 2008. Retrieved 2008-03-02.
  12. "Galli 'very disappointed' to retire". Crash.net. 2008-03-01. Archived from the original on 5 March 2008. Retrieved 2008-03-02.
  13. "Rally Mexico result revised". Crash.net. 2008-03-20. Archived from the original on 23 March 2008. Retrieved 2008-03-20.
  14. "Amended Mexico result makes Ogier a record breaker". www.WRC.com. 2008-03-20. Archived from the original on 25 March 2008. Retrieved 2008-03-21.


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.