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| 2008 Swedish Rally : WRC Round 2 of 15 : 8th - 10th February Final Unofficial Leaderboard Final News Event Links Final Team by Team News Championship Points Next Event 1. Unofficial Final Leaderboard 1. Latvala / Anttila Ford Focus RS WRC 07 2h 46m 41.2s 2. Hirvonen / Lehtinen Ford Focus RS WRC 07 +58.3s (diff. to 1st) 3. Galli / Bernacchini Ford Focus RS WRC 07 +2m 23.2s 4. Solberg / Mills Subaru Impreza WRC2007 +2m 59.4s 5. Mikkelsen / Floene Ford Focus WRC +5m 46.0s 6. Sordo / Marti (Superally) Citroen C4 WRC +7m 13.1s 7. Gardemeister / Tuominen Suzuki SX4 +10m 35.3s 8. Hanninen / Markkula Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX +12m 27.5s 9. Ostberg / Unnerud Subaru Impreza WRC +13m 28.5s 10. Ketomaa / Teiskonen Subaru Impreza +13m 50.7s 2. Final News BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team driver Jari-Matti Latvala made history by becoming the youngest driver to win a world rally in Sweden today. The 22-year-old Finn and co-driver Miikka Anttila claimed their maiden victory on the Swedish Rally in a Ford Focus RS World Rally Car. Team-mates Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen were second and Ford secured a clean sweep of the podium places as Gigi Galli and Giovanni Bernacchini were third in a Stobart-entered Focus RS. Unseasonably mild weather meant there was little snow and ice on the forest tracks for what is traditionally the championship's only pure winter event. Slush and water filled the rutted gravel roads as cars carved through the soft surface and organisers cancelled two speed tests due to the poor conditions. The weather meant studded winter tyres were far from the perfect option on the Focus RS cars but Pirelli's Sottozero rubber worked perfectly despite the inappropriate conditions. Behind the BP Ford Abu Dhabi cars, Stobart's Gigi Galli (Ford) claimed his second career podium on only his second rally with the team. Petter Solberg (Subaru) took fourth while Andreas Mikkelsen (Ford) completed the Blue Oval's domination of the top positions with a career-best fifth. The Norwegian was involved in a fierce battle with Matthew Wilson (Ford) that ended when the Stobart driver was sidelined in the penultimate test with a throttle problem when 7.9sec ahead. Dani Sordo (Citroen) took sixth, despite a five-minute penalty after his team changed the car's engine following Rallye Monte Carlo. Henning Solberg (Ford) was fastest on all five stages today. 3. Event links 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 driver Jari-Matti Latvala made history by becoming the youngest driver to win a world rally in Sweden today. The 22-year-old Finn and co-driver Miikka Anttila claimed their maiden victory on the Swedish Rally in a Ford Focus RS World Rally Car. Team-mates Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen were second and Ford secured a clean sweep of the podium places as Gigi Galli and Giovanni Bernacchini were third in a Stobart-entered Focus RS. Latvala's victory on this second round of the FIA World Rally Championship eclipses the late Henri Toivonen's win on the 1980 RAC Rally in Britain when the Finn was 24 years old. The maximum points score moves reigning world champion BP Ford Abu Dhabi into a 10-point lead in the manufacturers' series. Hirvonen leads the drivers' standings by six points with Latvala tied for second. Fittingly, as they returned to the team's service park at the end of the rally, Latvala and Anttila were greeted by fellow countryman and double world champion Marcus Grönholm, the man they replaced in the BP Ford Abu Dhabi line-up this season following his retirement. "This is an incredible day for Jari-Matti and one he will never forget," said Grönholm, winner of 30 world rallies. "He is part of rallying's new generation and he and Mikko have great futures to look forward to in the sport." #3 : Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen: Hirvonen had the worst of the conditions on the opening day but settled into second. He quickly realised it was not worth taking risks to chase Latvala and was happy to settle for the points that promoted him into the championship lead. "Jari-Matti and I may be two young lads in the Ford team but we proved that we can still take a 1-2 finish and showed how strong the team is," he said. "I came here to win but Jari-Matti made it clear on Friday that he was the man of the rally so I had to settle for second. My consolation is that I've never led the championship before. I'm sure I will have more battles with Jari-Matti. I was frustrated I couldn't find a rhythm on Friday but then I eased my pace because I wanted to make sure of the points. I've always said that if I can't win this year, I must finish second and that's what I did." #4 : Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila: "Henri Toivonen is a big hero of mine and in my dreams I wanted to beat his record, so this means so much to me," said Latvala. "I couldn't have dreamed I could win on only my second event in a works team, especially after such a disappointing start to the year in Monte Carlo last month. I can't really find the words to describe my feelings. I never thought I would win this weekend and it was only this morning that I started to realise I could do it. I started the rally so well on Friday and made no mistakes so I was able to control my speed. I felt comfortable in the car all weekend and the whole team has a reason to celebrate today," he added. Citroen Total World Rally Team http://citroen.rallye-info.com/teams.asp?sid=1 The second round of the 2008 World Rally Championship ended today in Sweden where Dani Sordo and Marc Martí succeeded in steering their Citroën C4 WRC to sixth place at the end of the three-day event. Their performance earns four additional Manufacturers' points for Citroën. #1 : Sebastien Loeb/Daniel Elena: Retired, engine. #2 : Daniel Sordo/Marc Marti: "It's not much fun competing in conditions like this. The stages were even more treacherous than usual," summed up Dani Sordo. "You just couldn't tell what the surface would be like through the next corner. On today's six scheduled tests, for example, there was more dirt than ice." "Even so, I have to say I am pleased with our run," added the Spaniard. "Replacing our engine before the start meant we carried a five-minute penalty even before we drove off the start ramp! I consequently began by bedding myself in before gradually upping my pace. My pacenotes were better than last year and I felt increasingly confident. I was no doubt helped by the lack of real wintry conditions, but our car performed impeccably, too, and I managed to work my way up the leaderboard to finish sixth, which brings Citroën a few points. I also feel more comfortable in these slippery conditions and our Pirelli Sottozero tyres worked well despite the delicate task they faced. It was a good weekend, but I'm now very much looking forward to Mexico!" 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 the Swedish Rally in fourth overall after the final day of gravel-strewn forest roads. Chris Atkinson and Stéphane Prévot continued to climb the rankings to collect an all-important Manufacturers’ championship point. #5 : Petter Solberg/Phil Mills: “We just drove today to finish the event and collect some more points, for us and the team. There was nothing special today and I’m pleased with fourth” said Petter Solberg. “Everyone at the front backed off today I think and we weren’t fighting for position so we didn’t take any risks. The stages were bad again today, and we pretty much ran them all on gravel. I felt the balance of the car in these conditions was better this morning than yesterday, but we had no reason to push today.” #6 : Chris Atkinson/Stephane Prevot:: Atkinson and Prévot continued their steady run since losing time on Friday to climb to 21st place overall, having gained 24 positions since the close of Friday’s stages. Finishing the final day’s five stages with some top four stage times, the Australian was left pleased with his progress but ruing Friday’s mistake. “We really weren’t pushing today as we didn’t need to take any risks” said Chris Atkinson. “I’m disappointed we went off on Friday, but we’ve come back up through the field and still gained a Manufacturer point. The stages today were the same as yesterday, and we saw those at the front back off so there were no real fights for position. It’s been a difficult rally for us, but we take the point and now look to Mexico which will be a totally different event.” Stobart VK M-Sport Ford World Rally Team http://ford.rallye-info.com/teams.asp?sid=2 On just the second round of the 2008 FIA World Rally Championship the Stobart VK M-Sport Ford rally team have finished on the podium after a fine display of driving this weekend by freshly signed Italian crew Gigi Galli/Giovanni Bernacchini. With team-mates Henning Solberg/Cato Menkerud finishing in a manufacturer points position, the Pirelli-shod Stobart team have moved to equal second in the Manufacturers’ Championship as two Ford teams occupy the top places after the Uddeholm Swedish Rally. Galli drove superbly today to finish third behind both BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team drivers making it a Ford one-two-three. The Italian was in fine form throughout the event keeping things balanced to eventually finish on the final step of the podium for the second time in his career and the first with his new team. He also managed to pick up a stage win on the 1.9 kilometre Karlstad super special in front of a packed crowd; several of who from Galli’s very own #25 fan club. #8 : Gigi Galli/Giovanni Bernacchini: “What a fantastic result for me here. It’s an amazing feeling to be on the podium so early in the year. The Pirelli tyres have been perfect in the difficult conditions and the car has worked extremely well. It is also important for me to have scored more points for the Stobart team and help get three Ford cars onto the podium. I wanted to be fast here but I always had to think about getting to the finish and I can really say I used my head to keep it safe.” #14 : Henning Solberg/Cato Menkerud: “Generally I am disappointed with the mistake we made on Saturday but this was my strongest event and I had to come here and try to win and you can see this from all the fastest times today. I had the speed and I was really trying hard for all the Expert fans who came to spectate on this rally from Norway. The team were fantastic and they knew how important it was to repair my car last night.” #16 : Matthew Wilson/Scott Martin: “I’m obviously gutted at having to retire so close to the finish and in such a good position but there are lots of positives we can take from this event. In the end the throttle was sticking open and it was pretty scary for a while and we just couldn’t continue. My split times for the whole event were well improved and it gives me a big boost in confidence as we go into Mexico. This will be important as I am scoring points for the team there.” Suzuki World Rally Team http://suzuki.rallye-info.com/teams.asp?sid=12 Toni Gardemeister has finished in the points for Suzuki on the Swedish Rally, claiming seventh position and the team's best result to date - scoring two driver points and three manufacturer points. Following on from P-G Andersson's result in Monte Carlo two weeks ago, this means that a Suzuki SX4 WRC has taken points on both rallies held so far in the 2008 World Rally Championship. Gardemeister had no major problems this morning and he was able to drive safely to the finish. The only issue he encountered over the course of the rally was a hydraulic problem that affected the differential and semi-automatic gearshift intermittently on Friday and Saturday. On SS11 he went off the road for three minutes at a fast left-hand corner just a kilometre into the stage. Unfortunately some spectators accidentally pushed him further into the ditch rather than helping him out, which led to the time loss. Apart from those problems, Gardemeister's SX4 WRC performed reliably in only its second-ever rally. Andersson was forced out by a head gasket problem on SS4, having previously climbed up to seventh place overall. The head gasket was from the same batch as Toni Gardemeister's engine in Monte Carlo, which failed under similar circumstances. As the rules state that teams are not allowed to change engines after a rally has started, Andersson became a spectator for the rest of his home event. #11 : Toni Gardemeister/Tomi Tuominen: "I'm very happy to have scored my first points for Suzuki after a tough three days. The biggest problem we had were the conditions. There was a lot of loose gravel, and so we had to soften the suspension a lot on the opening day to deal with the rough stages. Then we had a problem with the hydraulics on the second day, and also we went off the road. That was a really stupid thing, as it should have cost us just 10 or 15 seconds and in the end it took three minutes - although of course we are always grateful for any help in these situations! On the last day we just drove safely to the finish as there was no point in taking any risks. There's lots of development still to do but I'm basically very happy with the pace of the car considering the fact that we did comparatively little testing. By the end of the year, I'm sure we will be a lot closer to the frontrunners." #12 : Per-Gunnar Andersson/Jonas Andersson: "The amount of media interest we had in us on our home rally was incredible - I think it went up by 600%! Obviously the way the rally ended was very disappointing for myself and my co-driver Jonas, but there is a lot for us to be positive about as well. Toni has proved that our SX4 WRC is capable of consistently scoring points, and if we had kept going I think we certainly would have been able to challenge for another place in the points. We have to remember that this is only our second rally with the SX4 WRC, and at least we have a good idea now about the cause of my retirement. We must keep on working hard to fix these problems, and I'm looking forward to coming back and pushing hard again on the next round in Mexico." 5. Championship Points Drivers 1. M Hirvonen 16pts 2= J-M Latvala 10pts 2= S Loeb 10pts 4. G Galli 9pts 5. P Solberg 9pts 6. C Atkinson 6pts Manufacturers 1. BP Ford Abu Dhabi 26pts 2= Stobart VK M-Sport 16pts 2= Subaru 16pts 4. Citroen Total 15pts 5. Suzuki 5pts 6. Next Event Round three is the first pure gravel rally of the season and the first of three consecutive events outside Europe. Rally Mexico is based in León on 28 February - 2 March. |