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| 2008 Swedish Rally : WRC Round 2 of 15 : 8th - 10th February In this issue: Leg 1 Unofficial Leaderboard Leg 1 News Event Links Leg 1 Team by Team News Remaining Event Schedule 1. Unofficial Leaderboard - Leaderboard after Day 1 1. J-M Latvala/M Anttila FIN Ford Focus RS 1h03m33.3sec 2. M Hirvonen/J Lehtinen FIN Ford Focus RS +48.2s 3. H Solberg/C Menkerud N Ford Focus RS +56.3s 4. G Galli/G Bernacchini I Ford Focus RS +1m02.0s 5. P Solberg/P Mills N Subaru Impreza +1m45.2s 6. M Ostberg/O Unnerud N Subaru Impreza +2m15.1s 7. M Wilson/S Martin GB Ford Focus RS +2m59.6s 8. T Gardemeister/T Tuominen FIN Suzuki SX4 +3m21.6s 9. A Mikkelsen/O Floene N Ford Focus RS +4m05.8s 10. P Sandell/E Axelsson SWE Peugeot 207 +5m14.6s 2. Leg News Finns Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila produced a stellar performance to win all six of the traditional forest speed tests in their Ford Focus RS World Rally Car and build an overnight lead of 48.2sec. Team-mates Mikko Hirvonen and Miikka Anttila were second as Focus RS cars filled the top four positions on this second round of the FIA World Rally Championship. Sébastien Loeb (Citroen) was the closest challenger to the Ford duo until the Frenchman rolled near the end of stage four. He damaged his car's clutch and although he reached the following remote service zone, the team was unable to make repairs and he retired on the following liaison section. Henning Solberg and Gigi Galli (both Ford) are third and fourth after troublefree days. Petter Solberg (Subaru) also had no problems to hold fifth while fellow Norwegian Mads Østberg (Subaru) is sixth, despite losing 30sec this morning with a spin. Chris Atkinson (Subaru) dropped 15 minutes after sliding off into a snow bank on stage three while Per-Gunnar Andersson retired on stage four with engine troubles. Dani Sordo (Citroen) lies 18th after starting with a five-minute penalty after the team changed the engine in his car following Rallye Monte Carlo. 4. Team by Team News BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team http://ford.rallye-info.com/teams.asp?sid=2 BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team dominated the opening day of the Swedish Rally to hold first and second tonight. Finns Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila produced a stellar performance to win all six of the traditional forest speed tests in their Ford Focus RS World Rally Car and build an overnight lead of 48.2sec. Team-mates Mikko Hirvonen and Miikka Anttila were second as Focus RS cars filled the top four positions on this second round of the FIA World Rally Championship. #3 : Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen: "Jari-Matti has driven superbly and I'm not surprised he is leading, but I am surprised at the gap between us," said Hirvonen. "Of course, I would like to win but I'm not going to take any risks or make stupid mistakes in chasing him. I've not enjoyed a clear driving line all day. This morning I had the snow, and this afternoon I was first in the start order over roads on which the driving line was changed by cars further down the order on the first pass. Conditions were tricky with slush, water and gravel this afternoon. I even had mud on my windscreen and that's strange on a winter rally! #4 : Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila: "It's an amazing feeling. I had a good road position and knew I would benefit but I've also felt really confident with the Focus. I enjoyed some good times last year but this is right up there as being one of the best days in my rallying career. It's a surprise to be leading by so much and the afternoon went better than I expected. I've learned how to drive in these difficult conditions." #19 : Khalid Al Qassimi/Michael Orr: "It's my first ever winter rally so I'm driving cautiously," said 35-year-old Al Qassimi. "Ironically for a snow event, my biggest problem has been mud coming onto my windscreen and obscuring the view. For some, driving in these conditions is like driving in the desert for me, but it's all new to me here." Citroen Total World Rally Team http://citroen.rallye-info.com/teams.asp?sid=1 The opening leg of the 2008 Swedish Rally saw Citroën C4 WRC crew Dani Sordo and Marc Martí complete today's stages in 7th place in the classification for drivers eligible to score Manufacturers' points. An 'off' on the day's third test put an end to the run of Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena who were unhurt in the incident. #1 : Sebastien Loeb/Daniel Elena: "I hit a snowbank with the front of my car on the inside of a fast left-hander, and that sent us into a spin. I tried to get the car back in line but we hit a bank and rolled. We landed on the stage but a problem with the clutch meant that we weren't able to re-start at once. It was a driver error but the car didn't really take a big knock. Had we been able to service after the stage, I think we would have been able to continue." #2 : Daniel Sordo/Marc Marti: "I knew it wouldn't be easy to recover the fiveminute time penalty we were given before the start for putting in a new engine. I therefore chose a pace that would enable me to find my marks again on ice and check my pacenotes. Once I began to feel confident, I was able to start pushing harder and I felt quite comfortable, so that's very encouraging for tomorrow." Subaru World Rally Team http://subaru.rallye-info.com/teams.asp?sid=5 The Subaru World Rally Team entry of Petter Solberg and Phil Mills finished a treacherous first day of the Swedish Rally in a solid fifth overall. Team-mates Chris Atkinson and Stéphane Prévot were early victims to the challenging conditions when a spin on the narrow routes dropped them down the leaderboard. #5 : Petter Solberg/Phil Mills: “I’ve been driving to my pace all day today, going as fast as we can in these conditions. They’re very strange as the first few stages this morning were good and icy but this afternoon was full gravel with lots of water in the ruts. If you go one hour north there’s 1.5 metres of snow, but in the stages there’s not that much. I think tomorrow will be warmer as well so we will see how the conditions in the stages are. Grip is very very tricky so it was very tough today. We’re going flat out, so we will see what happens tomorrow and Sunday.” #6 : Chris Atkinson/Stephane Prevot: “The conditions were very hard today. The slide into the bank was quite a surprise for me. I wasn’t feeling entirely comfortable with the car in the conditions, which were a mixture of snow and gravel and so made the level of grip tricky. We would normally have made some changes at the midday service, but here we are only allowed to change tyres and refuel (in a remote service) so there’s not much you can do. The roads are so narrow here, and we can’t use the snow banks as they’re too soft. They’re very fast, so if you step a little off-line there’s just no room to sort it out before you’re off. Our focus now is on gaining manufacturer points by the end of Sunday. We’ll make some changes tonight and start again tomorrow.” Stobart VK M-Sport Ford World Rally Team http://ford.rallye-info.com/teams.asp?sid=2 After one complete day of the Uddeholm Swedish Rally, round two of the FIA World Rally Championship, all three Stobart VK M-Sport Ford crews nestle in point scoring positions with Henning Solberg/Cato Menkerud leading the way on a podium spot in third. Gigi Galli/Giovanni Bernacchini follow close behind their team-mates in fourth place while Brits Matthew Wilson/Scott Martin run in seventh after a great day of consistent driving. #7 : Gigi Galli/Giovanni Bernacchini: “I am extremely happy with everything today we have had a good run and the Pirelli tyres have coped well as there has been a lot of gravel in some stages. This is only my second rally in the car and we must be happy with our performance. I have made no mistakes today except one small slide where we lost about five seconds. The car is feeling really good and tomorrow’s stages we did last year so hopefully we can maintain the pace.” #8 : Henning Solberg/Cato Menkerud: “It’s been a good day for us and I’m happy with this position. The gap to second is close and I’d like to be able to close it tomorrow. It’s no secret I have been pushing hard today maybe a little too hard in places and we have had a few slides because of this. We made a very big jump on stage 6 it was incredible and very exciting inside the car. Tomorrow we will keep pushing for sure.” #16 : Matthew Wilson/Scott Martin: “Seventh is a great position to be in after day 1 and our performance today has been really positive. We started off well on the first stage this morning which gave me more confidence for the rest of today. The car has felt good with no problems at all and we have maintained a constant safe pace all day. I’m happy to be safely inside the points.” Suzuki World Rally Team http://suzuki.rallye-info.com/teams.asp?sid=12 On just the second event of its full World Rally Championship career, Toni Gardemeister has driven the Suzuki SX4 WRC to a promising eighth position after day one of the Swedish Rally. #11 : Toni Gardemeister/Tomi Tuominen: “The road conditions have been far from easy but we have been learning more with every kilometre and this is all useful knowledge for the future. After we softened the suspension the car felt better, but then we had the hydraulic problem. I’m quite happy to be in eighth place at the end of the first day, as we are now in a strong position to improve from here.” #12 : Per-Gunnar Andersson/Jonas Andersson: “This is not what I was hoping from my home rally, but with any new car you have to accept that problems can occur. This was only my second event with the car and I’m happy with the pace we were able to show, which I think was good enough to finish in the points. Now we have to get to the bottom of what happened in order to make sure it doesn’t happen again: this is all part of the learning process.” 5. Remaing Event Schedule Saturday 9 Febuary: Day 2 Karlstad - Karlstad Start Karlstad 06.50 Serv D Karlstad (15 mins) 07.07 SS9 Horssjön 1 14.89km 08.25 SS10 Hagfors 1 20.92km 09.38 SS11 Vargåsen 1 24.63km 10.41 RSZ E Hagfors (15 mins) 11.58 SS12 Horssjön 2 14.89km 13.04 SS13 Hagfors 2 20.92km 14.17 SS14 Vargåsen 2 24.63km 15.20 Serv F Karlstad (45 mins) 17.25 Finish Karlstad 18.50 Sunday 10 February: Day 3 Karlstad - Karlstad Start Karlstad 06.20 Serv G Karlstad (15 mins) 06.37 SS15 Ullen 1 16.25km 08.08 SS16 Lesjöfors 1 10.49km 09.13 SS17 Rämmen 1 21.87km 09.45 RSZ H Hagfors (15 mins) 10.39 SS18 Ullen 2 16.25km 11.21 SS19 Lesjöfors 2 10.49km 12.26 SS20 Rämmen 2 21.87km 12.58 Serv I Karlstad (10 mins) 14.58 Finish Karlstad 15.08 |