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| 2008 Rally Italia Sardinia : WRC Round 6 of 15 : 16th - 18th May Final Unofficial Leaderboard Final News Final Team by Team News Championship Points Next Event 1. Final Unofficial Leaderboard 1. S Loeb/D Elena FRA Citroen C4 3hr 57min 17.2sec 2. M Hirvonen/J Lehtinen FIN Ford Focus RS 3hr 57min 27.8sec 3. J-M Latvala/M Anttila FIN Ford Focus RS 3hr 57min 32.5sec 4. G Galli/G Bernacchini ITA Ford Focus RS 3hr 58min 59.7sec 5. D Sordo/M Marti ESP Citroen C4 3hr 59min 22.8sec 6. C Atkinson/S Prévot AUS Subaru Impreza 4hr 02min 25.8sec 7. H Solberg/C Menkerud NOR Ford Focus RS 4hr 03min 18.2sec 8. U Aava/K Sikk EST Citroen C4 4hr 03min 38.5sec 9. P-G Andersson/J Andersson SWE Suzuki SX4 4hr 05min 05.9sec 10 P Solberg/P Mills NOR Subaru Impreza 4hr 06min 58.2sec 2. Final News Sébastien Loeb (Citroen) claimed a record 40th world rally win with his fourth success of the season. Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen claimed second in a Ford Focus RS World Rally Car, with Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila third in a similar car. Ford preserves its seven- point advantage in the manufacturers' series while Hirvonen is three points ahead in the drivers' table. Stobart's Gigi Galli (Ford) took fourth with Dani Sordo (Citroen) and Chris Atkinson(Subaru) rounding off the top six. Ninth for Per-Gunnar Andersson gave Suzuki the final manufacturers' point. Today's only major retirement was Toni Gardemeister (Suzuki), who stopped after an electrical fire. 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 finished second and third in an enthralling Rally d'Italia Sardegna today to retain the lead in both the manufacturers' and drivers' standings in the FIA World Rally Championship. Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen claimed second in a Ford Focus RS World Rally Car, with Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila third in a similar car. Ford preserves its seven- point advantage in the manufacturers' series while Hirvonen is three points ahead in the drivers' table. Hirvonen and Latvala began today's final leg in equal second place, tied to the tenth of a second. Both endured a disappointing opening day when Hirvonen struggled for speed after being first in the start order on roads covered by slippery loose gravel, and Latvala dropped more than 90sec with a puncture. However, the Finns fought back yesterday to take first and second on every stage to reel in leader Sébastien Loeb and start today just 29.4sec behind. Both drivers ate into the Frenchman's lead during the opening three special stages, Hirvonen leading the charge. But when they realised the time gap was too big, they eased their pace, content to settle for podium positions. Twenty-seven-year-old Hirvonen won two tests today and eventually finished just 10.6sec behind Loeb and 4.7sec ahead of his 23-year-old team-mate. #3 : Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen: Latvala won 10 of the 17 tests and was delighted with a podium after sliding to 14th following Friday's error when his car hit a bank and punctured. "It was a shame as after that I did so well. On Friday I would have been happy to finish in the top five, so third is fantastic and gives me a big confidence boost. If I hadn't made the mistake, who knows what the outcome might have been," he said. "This morning I had a big fight with Mikko and I should have driven better. I had a good road position for two days and today I didn't. I didn't have the same confidence because the roads were slippery and there wasn't the same flow. I saw that I couldn't catch Mikko so I started to ease off. I was tracking his split times during the stage and followed his pace but I didn't want to take stupid risks to try to pass him. Mikko won the fight on the morning stages and second belonged to him," added Latvala. #4 : Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila: "The first stage this morning was great but I went off the road briefly on the next about 1km after the start," said Hirvonen. "I hit a rock and didn't know what damage I had done so I knew I had to ease off slightly. I thought I had a puncture but Pirelli's tyres are strong and the rubber stayed inflated. At one point I was worried I wouldn't make the finish. This afternoon I started to go flat out to try to take time from Loeb, but I realised it wasn't going to happen so I decided not to take any more risks and dropped my pace. Jari-Matti's split times were good so I couldn't ease off too much. "I needed more speed on Friday but apart from that, this was a good rally. If I continue to lead the championship and be first in the start order, then I need to find more speed on the first day when conditions are slippery. If I can't win, then I need to take second and that's what I did here," he added. #19 : Khalid Al Qassimi/Michael Orr: Abu Dhabi's Khalid Al Qassimi and co-driver Michael Orr were 16th in another Focus RS, finishing under SupeRally rules after crashing yesterday. "I didn’t drive well this morning, the stages were narrow and I wasn’t confident. Things were much better in the afternoon when I built up confidence. Driving in this rally for the first time with new pace notes was a learning curve," said Al Qassimi. Citroen Total World Rally Team http://citroen.rallye-info.com/teams.asp?sid=1 The finish ceremony of the Rally d'Italia Sardegna this afternoon alongside Porto Cervo's Marina Vechia saw Sébastien Loeb, Daniel Elena and their C4 WRC claim top prize in the sixth round of the 2008 World Championship. The second Citroën Total car finished fifth in the hands of Dani Sordo and Marc Martí. Today's result takes the reigning champions' total to a record 40 world class wins and sees them move to within three points of the provisional championship lead, while the gap at the sharp end of the Manufacturers' standings remains unchanged. #1 : Sebastien Loeb/Daniel Elena: With their closest chasers just 29.4s behind, Sébastien Loeb/Daniel Elena knew exactly what they needed to do: "We'll be first on the road again," detailed Seb, "so there's every chance we will see the same scenario as yesterday…". Indeed, the Frenchman dropped 10.3s on SS13, "which was slow, narrow, and very bumpy in places," he later reported after achieving the exploit of posting the fastest time on the following test: "We gave it everything we had on SS14. We put off our braking to the last possible moment and profited from the wider, faster road which probably had less surface gravel." Seb went into the day's second loop with a cushion of 23 seconds, a handy yet relatively slender lead. The crew of the N°1 C4 WRC succeeded in controlling superbly from in front, however, to line up for the short, final stage with an advantage of 12.9s, which they promptly converted into victory over the last, 2.62km test. "Our 40th WRC win was certainly hard work," beamed Seb at the finish. "The weekend was very frustrating at times, especially because of all the 'road sweeping' that had to be done, but we managed to hold on to a big enough lead to finish on top. There was little more we could have done: we didn't make any mistakes and our C4 performed absolutely perfectly. Not to have won would have been a huge disappointment, so I'm very happy, not only for us but also for the team and for our situation in the two championships. The weekend showed once again that our car is competitive over this sort of terrain, and that's encouraging for the coming rounds." #2 : Daniel Sordo/Marc Marti: Dani Sordo and Marc Martí finish fifth after a good rally and a thrilling fight with Gigi Galli. "I didn't succeed in really upping my pace," commented Dani. "We tried several solutions, but I failed to find a set-up that allowed me to make the most of our C4's potential. I'm a bit disappointed, but I'm still pleased with our performance on the first day and with the points we have scored for Citroën. There is still a long way to go this season, and there will be other opportunities to finish on the podium…" Subaru World Rally Team http://subaru.rallye-info.com/teams.asp?sid=5 After a tough Rally Sardinia, Chris Atkinson and Stéphane Prevot collected a crucial three championship points for their sixth position finish, keeping the duo third in the drivers’ title hunt. Similarly, the Subaru World Rally Team remain third in the Manufacturers’ race. The final day of this rally proved no let-up for the team as Atkinson and Solberg were not able to match the pace of the front-runners, who were pushing hard in their own battle for the win. The day comprised the event’s roughest stages, whilst stage fourteen’s river crossing added patches of thick mud to the mix. With Subaru’s all-new Impreza WRC2008 on the horizon, drivers and the team alike are eagerly awaiting its first public appearance. #5 : Petter Solberg/Phil Mills: Petter Solberg and Phil Mills had another hard day aboard their number five Impreza, slipping to twelfth before doggedly climbing to finish tenth overall, eking some impressive split times from their machine including second fastest time on the final stage. With the third place they held on day one only too distant, the vociferous Norwegian was uncharacteristically subdued, letting the team do the talking for him. #6 : Chris Atkinson/Stephane Prevot: Atkinson and Prévot retained their comfortable placing from yesterday to complete the event in sixth position overall, demonstrating their consistency this year to add more points to their championship tally. It is their fifth points score from the six rallies this season, retaining third place in the championship and consolidating their impressive start to 2008 whilst keeping them in touch with the top of the leaderboard.“OK, it’s good to get more points and to still be third in the championship, but it’s definitely not been an easy weekend” said Chris Atkinson. “I drove the best I could and made no mistakes, and that’s it.” Stobart VK M-Sport Ford World Rally Team http://ford.rallye-info.com/teams.asp?sid=2 Italians Gigi Galli/Giovanni Bernacchini have impressed this weekend finishing fourth on their home event of Rally d’Italia Sardegna; round six of the FIA World Rally Championship. The fantastic achievement also helps the Stobart VK M-Sport Ford rally team edge closer to third in the Manufacturers’ Championship as they narrow the gap to just eight points. Stobart team-mates Matthew Wilson/Scott Martin dusted off some early cobwebs to finish the event a well earned 12th position. The pair struggled with small setup issues on Friday morning losing a large chunk of time but were able to battle their way back to a solid position by the end of the event. Galli’s form was on-song from beginning until end and even though he picked up a puncture on stage 2 due to a hard impact with a bank, his Pirelli tyres held up well until the end of the stage. He lost just 70 seconds and finished less than two minutes off the rally winner by the end of today’s leg. Among his multitude of top-three fastest stage times, nine of which he set, stage 4 was his greatest effort which he won by 1.5 seconds over BP Ford Abu Dhabi driver Jari-Matti Latvala. The achievement made it his 15th WRC career stage win. Unfortunately the event was not the most desirable for Wilson whose setup woes on Friday swayed the balance of his plans for this event. Saturday’s morning loop of stages also saw trouble for the Brit as he lost feeling in his brakes and consequently his confidence over the three opening tests until the problem could be rectified in service. Galli too was not without incident as he also had a spin on the first run over the 29.31 kilometre Monte Lerno stage. Putting it down to driver error, the spin lost the Italian around 20 seconds and a possible second stage win on his home event. #8 : Gigi Galli/Giovanni Bernacchini: “It’s been a good finish to my home event. I was a bit disappointed on the first day after the puncture but Malcolm Wilson told me that I could still be fourth and the Chief was right. For the rest of the rally we set a good pace with consistent times and I just wanted to put in a good performance for all the Italian fans on the stages. We have now found a level that I am happy with and I am much more comfortable with the car. It was important for me to finish well here and do a good job in front of my fans and my sponsors.” #16 : Matthew Wilson/Scott Martin: “We’ve had a few different problems on this rally and it’s definitely one we need to but behind us and move on. We just weren’t able to get a good feeling with the car and in this sport once you lose time it is very difficult to get it back again. When we had no problems the times I set were pretty good and this is important for me to be able to take these positives to Greece and improve on our performance.” Suzuki World Rally Team http://suzuki.rallye-info.com/teams.asp?sid=12 P-G Andersson has ended the Rally d¹Italia Sardegna inside the top 10, following three days of faultless running for his SX4 WRC. Andersson who ended up ninth described his car as ³perfect² throughout the entire rally, with the SX4 WRC requiring nothing more than routine servicing at the end of every day. On the final stage he set an excellent sixth-fastest time to finish the rally in style. His team mate Toni Gardemeister was not so lucky, having retired from day two with broken suspension and failing to finish the final day. Nonetheless, the Suzuki World Rally Team achieved its key objective of improving the reliability of the SX4 WRC in every area, and building solid foundations for the future. #11 : Toni Gardemeister/Tomi Tuominen: ³It¹s not been a perfect rally for us, but the most important thing is that the team has completed lots of valuable development work on the car and proved with P-G that we can have a good level of reliability. It¹s always tough in your first year, but I think now we are really beginning to turn a corner and make some solid progress. I have always said that when the car is running reliably it can be a good package, and I think we have shown some potential on this rally. Of course there is plenty of work still to do but we are definitely on the right road.² #12 : Per-Gunnar Andersson/Jonas Andersson: ³It¹s been a very tough rally for us but a good one: the car has been perfect from start to finish and I have been very happy with it. We¹ve had no major problems despite the extremely challenging conditions, which made it very difficult to judge the correct pace, particularly under braking. I hope now that we have got a good basis to work from for the future. I wasn¹t actually thinking much about points on this event: for all of us the priority was to get the car to the finish safely and I¹m very pleased that we have been able to do that.² 5. Championship Points Drivers 1. M Hirvonen 43pts 2. S Loeb 40pts 3. C Atkinson 31pts 4. J-M Latvala 24pts 5. D Sordo 21pts 6. G Galli 17pts Manufacturers 1. BP Ford Abu Dhabi 71pts 2. Citroen Total 64pts 3. Subaru 42pts 4. Stobart VK M-Sport 34pts 5. Munchi's Ford 16pts 6. Suzuki 7pts 6. Next Event Next up for the WRC is the punishing Acropolis Rally, 29 May to 1 June. Another of the WRC’s iconic events, 2008 is the 54th running of the Acropolis Rally. The gravel event is again focused around Athens, with the service park based in Markopoulo. The stages themselves will be outside of the Greek capital city, but the Hippodrome superspecial makes three appearances, bringing to a close Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. The Acropolis Rally is one of the toughest and rockiest events of the year, renowned for the searingly hot temperatures, and is notoriously hard on equipment. The combination of heat, rough gravel and unforgiving rocks has brought many crews’ rallies to a premature end. |