2008 Rally of Turkey

2008 Rally of Turkey
9th Rally of Turkey

Round 8 of the 2008 World Rally Championship

← Previous eventNext event →
Host country  Turkey
Rally base Antalya
Dates run June 12 – 15 2008
Stages 19 (360.74 km; 224.15 mi)
Stage surface Gravel
Overall distance 1,263.74 km (785.25 mi)
Results
Overall winner Finland Mikko Hirvonen
BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team
Crews 60 at start, 38 at finish

The 9th Rally of Turkey, the 8th round of the 2008 World Rally Championship season took place between June 12–15, 2008. The event returned after a year sabbatical and was held in the south west of Turkey, with the rally headquarters and service park based in the seaside resort of Kemer. The special stages are held on gravel mountain roads to the south west of Antalya.[1] The rally was won by Finland's Mikko Hirvonen, with Jari-Matti Latvala finishing second and Sébastien Loeb third. With this result Hirvonen took a three point lead over Loeb in the drivers world championship going into the six week summer break.

Event

Day one

The event kicked off with a short superspecial stage on Thursday evening, which was won by Sébastien Loeb. On Friday - the first full day of the rally - he was due to run first and 'clean' the roads. This had a big impact on his performance (his stage times were up to 29 seconds quicker on the second pass through the stages) and meant that he would only win one stage on the day. Despite this he would still be leading the end of day one as the Ford drivers all took a tactical approach to the final stage of the day in order to secure a more advantageous road position for day two [2] - a tactic criticised by the Citroën Total team boss Olivier Quesnel.[3] Behind Loeb were the drivers for the BP-Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team and the Stobart VK M-Sport team, with the last of the Ford quartet, fifth place man Mikko Hirvonen, a mere 6.2 seconds behind Loeb at the end of day one. Ahead of Hirvonen was Gigi Galli in fourth place. Galli won three stages, with his team mate Henning Solberg winning one stage and finishing the day in second place. The remaining Ford driver was Jari-Matti Latvala who ended the day in third place after an astonishing performance that saw him take two stage wins (one by a margin of 15 seconds) and pick up two punctures.

Behind the leaders was Subaru driver Petter Solberg. The new Subaru was more disappointing than on its debut in Greece with Petter Solberg nearly 50 seconds off the pace. Matthew Wilson was in seventh spot, just over a minute behind despite suffering with a cold.[4] In the final points paying position was Dani Sordo. Sordo was running in fifth until suspension damage on stage 7[5] put him back into 8th place.

Day two

Daniel Elena and Sébastien Loeb

The Citroën teams fears about road sweeping were confirmed throughout the day as Loeb lost time to both factory Ford drivers. By the end of the day Loeb was 34 seconds adrift of new rally leader Mikko Hirvonen, yet Loeb still believed that "anything was possible[6]". Hirvonen had earlier said that he needed a lead of 50 seconds [7] to hang on to his lead throughout Sunday. With a lead of only 16 seconds over his team mate Latvala - there was still everything to play for going into Sunday. Behind the three leaders, the two Stobart drivers both had a less successful day. After starting brightly, Gigi Galli suffered turbo problems throughout stages 12 and 13 [8] which dropped him to 8th place by the end of the day. Galli had to retire from the rally at this stage as he was suffering from dehydration and exhaustion. Henning Solberg had a quiet day and gradually dropped time, finishing up just over two minutes off the pace in 4th place with Dani Sordo looming large, only 7 seconds behind. Petter Solberg and Matthew Wilson continued their steady runs in 6th and 7th place respectively.

Day three

Rally winner Mikko Hirvonen

With over sixty five kilometres of special stages still to go, the rally was still wide open. The tension was increased further after the first special stage of the day as Hirvonen stalled at the start line and lost nine seconds of his advantage to Latvala.[9] Everything had looked settled after special stage 18, with Latvala making a small mistake and losing the advantage he had gained at the previous stage, but the final thirty kilometre stage saw drama right to the end. Both the challengers to Hirvonen's lead were making significant inroads at the mid way split. Latvala was 4.3 seconds faster than Hirvonen, with Loeb 11.3 seconds faster[10] and putting both Ford drivers under enormous pressure - pressure that was increased when Hirvonen suffered a puncture near the end of the stage.[11] However, Latvala and Loeb's tyres were also very worn and they could not maintain their final stage attack. At the end Hirvonen hung on to win by 7.9 seconds from Latvala, with Loeb 25 seconds back in third.

Behind the podium finishers, Citroën's Dani Sordo easily picked off Henning Solberg to claim fourth place. Henning's brother Petter Solberg maintained his sixth position, never really being in a position to challenge the Stobart Ford driver. Matthew Wilson shrugged off his cold to finish in seventh with eighth place going to privateer Conrad Rautenbach, scoring his second points finish of the season. Federico Villagra and Barry Clark finished ninth and tenth, thus earning the Munchi's Ford team three valuable manufacturer points.

Results

Pos. Driver Co-driver Car Time Difference Points
WRC
1. Finland Mikko Hirvonen Finland Jarmo Lehtinen Ford Focus RS WRC 07 4:42:07.1 0.0 10
2 Finland Jari-Matti Latvala Finland Miikka Antilla Ford Focus RS WRC 07 4:42:15.0 7.9 8
3 France Sébastien Loeb Monaco Daniel Elena Citroën C4 WRC 4:42:32.8 25.7 6
4 Spain Dani Sordo Spain Marc Marti Citroën C4 WRC 4:44:32.7 2:25.6 5
5 Norway Henning Solberg Norway Cato Menkerud Ford Focus RS WRC 07 4:44:40.8 2:33.7 4
6 Norway Petter Solberg United Kingdom Phil Mills Subaru Impreza WRC 2008 4:44:55.3 2:48.2 3
7 United Kingdom Matthew Wilson United Kingdom Scott Martin Ford Focus RS WRC 07 4:46:31.3 4:24.2 2
8 Zimbabwe Conrad Rautenbach United Kingdom David Senior Citroën C4 WRC 4:49:53.8 7:46.7 1
PCWRC
1 Austria Andreas Aigner Germany Klaus Wicha Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 5:02:21.6 0.0 10
2 Sweden Patrik Sandell Sweden Emil Axelsson Peugeot 207 S2000 5:03:10.3 48.7 8
3 Italy Mirco Baldacci Italy Giovanni Agnese Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 5:05:22.6 3:01.0 6
4 Estonia Martin Raum Estonia Silver Kutt Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 5:07:52.6 5:31.0 5
5 Italy Armindo Araujo Italy Miguel Ramalho Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 5:08:45.4 6:23.8 4
6 Russia Evgeniy Vertunov Russia Georgy Troshkin Subaru Impreza 5:09:14.6 6:53.0 3
7 Italy Simone Campedelli Italy Danilo Fappani Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 5:14:40.7 12:19.10 2
8 Italy Giorgio Bacco San Marino Silvio Stefanelli Subaru Impreza 5:25:14.3 22:52.7 1

Retirements

Special stages

Day Stage Time Name Length Winner Time Avg. spd. Rally leader
1
(12/13 JUN) 		SS1 17:25 Antalya SSS 1 2.60 km France S. Loeb 2:07.6 73.4 km/h France S. Loeb
SS2 08:38 Perge 1 22.43 km Estonia U. Aava 16:03.6 83.8 km/h Finland M. Hirvonen
SS3 09:21 Myra 1 24.15 km Finland J. Latvala 21:05.3 68.7 km/h
SS4 09:59 Kumluca 1 9.90 km Italy G. Galli 7:47.4 76.3 km/h
SS5 12:57 Perge 2 22.43 km Italy G. Galli 15:42.8 85.6 km/h
SS6 13:40 Myra 2 24.15 km Finland J. Latvala 20:46.0 69.8 km/h Finland J. Latvala
SS7 14:18 Kumluca 2 9.90 km France S. Loeb 7:38.9 77.7 km/h Finland M. Hirvonen
SS8 17:01 Chimera 1 16.94 km Italy G. Galli 12:21.5 82.2 km/h
SS9 17:47 Phaselis 1 22.40 km Norway H. Solberg 17:49.3 75.6 km/h France S. Loeb
2
(14 JUN)		 SS10 09:28 Chimera 2 16.94 km Finland M. Hirvonen 11:57.3 85.0 km/h
SS11 10:16 Silyon 1 27.36 km Finland M. Hirvonen 21:53.5 75.0 km/h Finland M. Hirvonen
SS12 12:59 Kemer 1 20.50 km Estonia U. Aava 15:06.9 81.4 km/h
SS13 13:49 Silyon 2 27.36 km Finland M. Hirvonen 21:36.8 75.9 km/h
SS14 16:32 Kemer 2 20.50 km Finland J. Latvala 14:49.4 83.0 km/h
SS15 18:23 Phaselis 2 22.40 km Finland M. Hirvonen
France S. Loeb		 17:19.2 77.6 km/h
SS16 19:01 Antalya SSS 2 2.60 km France S. Loeb 2:06.3 74.1 km/h
3
(15 JUN)		 SS17 09:38 Olympos 1 31.03 km Estonia U. Aava 25:07.5 74.1 km/h
SS18 12:04 Camyuva 5.50 km France S. Loeb 4:11.2 78.8 km/h
SS19 13:07 Olympos 2 31.03 km Finland J. Latvala 24:48.9 75.0 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 4 5 1 2 3 1 59
2 France Sébastien Loeb 1 Ret. 1 1 10 1 1 3 56
3 Finland Jari-Matti Latvala 12 1 3 15 7 3 7 2 34
4 Australia Chris Atkinson 3 21 2 2 3 6 Ret. 13 31
5 Spain Dani Sordo 11 6 17 3 2 5 5 4 30
6 Norway Petter Solberg 5 4 12 Ret. Ret. 10 2 6 20
7 Italy Gigi Galli 6 3 Ret. 7 8 4 Ret. Ret. 17
8 Norway Henning Solberg 9 13 5 Ret. 4 7 8 5 16
9 United Kingdom Matthew Wilson 10 Ret. 6 Ret. 5 12 6 7 12
10 Argentina Federico Villagra 7 6 6 14 13 9 8
11 Zimbabwe Conrad Rautenbach Ret. 16 16 4 26 13 10 8 6
Estonia Urmo Aava 18 Ret. 8 4 Ret. 6
13 Belgium François Duval 4 5
14 Norway Andreas Mikkelsen 5 Ret. 19 4
15 France Jean-Marie Cuoq 7 2
Finland Toni Gardemeister Ret. 7 Ret. Ret. Ret. Ret. 9 Ret. 2
17 Sweden Per-Gunnar Andersson 8 Ret. Ret. 24 Ret. 9 11 Ret. 1
Finland Juho Hänninen 8 1
France Sébastien Ogier 8 11 22 1
Austria Andreas Aigner 31 8 14 11 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
Colour Result
Gold Winner
Silver 2nd place
Bronze 3rd place
Green Points finish
Blue Non-points finish
Non-classified finish (NC)
Purple Retired (Ret)
Black Excluded (EX)
Disqualified (DSQ)
White Did not start (DNS)
Blank Withdrew entry before the event (WD)

Manufacturers' championship

Rank Team 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 11 7 13 14 10 18 - - - - - - - 99
2 France Citroën Total World Rally Team 11 4 10 16 9 14 15 11 - - - - - - - 90
3 Japan Subaru World Rally Team 10 6 9 8 6 3 8 3 - - - - - - - 53
4 United Kingdom Stobart M-Sport Ford 8 8 3 3 7 5 3 4 - - - - - - - 41
5 Argentina Munchi's Ford World Rally Team 0 0 6 4 4 2 0 3 - - - - - - - 19
6 Japan Suzuki World Rally Team 2 3 0 1 0 1 3 0 - - - - - - - 10

References

  1. ↑ "Rally of Turkey". wrc.com. Archived from the original on 12 June 2008. Retrieved 2008-06-13.
  2. ↑ "Ford team plays its tactical aces on SS9". wrc.com. Archived from the original on 1 July 2008. Retrieved 2008-06-13.
  3. ↑ "Citroen Team boss critical of Ford’s tactical game". wrc.com. Retrieved 2008-06-13.
  4. ↑ "SS4: Hirvonen leads after the morning loop". wrc.com. Archived from the original on 17 June 2008. Retrieved 2008-06-13.
  5. ↑ "Hirvonen back on top after SS7". wrc.com. Archived from the original on 1 July 2008. Retrieved 2008-06-13.
  6. ↑ "SS15: Decisive stage proves tactics-free". wrc.com. Archived from the original on 15 June 2008. Retrieved 2008-06-15.
  7. ↑ "Manufacturers’ points the priority for Ford". wrc.com. Retrieved 2008-06-15.
  8. ↑ "SS12: Galli loses third". wrc.com. Archived from the original on 17 June 2008. Retrieved 2008-06-15.
  9. ↑ "Lead battle intensifies on SS17". wrc.com. Archived from the original on 17 June 2008. Retrieved 2008-06-15.
  10. ↑ "SS19 Olympos 2 Split times". wrc.com. Archived from the original on 17 June 2008. Retrieved 2008-06-15.
  11. ↑ "Hirvonen leads Ford 1-2 in Turkey". autosport.com. Archived from the original on 16 June 2008. Retrieved 2008-06-15.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Tuesday, January 06, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.