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| 2008 Rally Finland : WRC Round 9 of 15 : 1st - 3rd August In this issue: 1. Final Unofficial Leaderboard 2. Final News 4. Final Team by Team News 5. Championship Points 6. Next Event 7. Subscription Information 1. Final Unofficial Leaderboard 1. S Loeb/D Elena FRA Citroen C4 2hr 54min 05.5sec 2. M Hirvonen/J Lehtinen FIN Ford Focus RS 2hr 54min 14.5sec 3. C Atkinson/S Prévot AUS Subaru Impreza 2hr 57min 22.5sec 4. D Sordo/M Marti ESP Citroen C4 2hr 57min 36.4sec 5. H Solberg/C Menkerud NOR Ford Focus RS 2hr 58min 03.2sec 6. P Solberg/P Mills NOR Subaru Impreza 2hr 58min 09.6sec 7. M Rantanen/J Lönegren FIN Ford Focus RS 3hr 00min 16.6sec 8. T Gardemeister/T Tuominen FIN Suzuki SX4 3hr 02min 24.2sec 9. M Wilson/S Martin GBR Ford Focus RS 3hr 02min 42.8sec 10 C Rautenbach/D Senior ZIM Citroen C4 3hr 04min 36.4sec 2. Final News Sébastien Loeb (Citroen) became only the seventh non-Finn to win the rally in 58 years, ahead of local boy Hirvonen in his Focus WRC. Behind the top two cars, Chris Atkinson (Subaru) completed the podium after extending his slender overnight advantage over Dani Sordo (Citroen). Stobart driver Henning Solberg (Ford) and brother Petter (Subaru) completed the top six. There were no major incidents or retirements today. 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 drivers Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen finished second in Rally Finland today after a thrilling duel with arch-rival Sébastien Loeb during the four-day event. The Finns' seventh podium in nine rallies this year preserves their lead in the FIA World Rally Championship driver standings and keeps Ford on top in the manufacturers' series with the record-breaking Focus RS World Rally Car. #3 : Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen: "It was a fantastic rally and an amazing fight and it's unfortunate I didn't win in front of my home fans. I pushed right to the end but it wasn't enough. I'm pleased to still lead the championship but one point isn't much. The speed was crazy. Sometimes we could have thrown our pace notes away and just gone for it and I've learned that I could have made my notes quicker," #4 : Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila: "The rally didn't go as I expected unfortunately and I didn't achieve what I wanted, which was a podium. I feel quite empty. It ended for me on Friday morning and that was all due to an error I made on the recce when I didn't mark a rock in my pace notes. At least I got my confidence, rhythm and speed back and drove the new stages which is good for the future. It was difficult to be motivated but the best medicine after an accident is to get back behind the wheel. I know the speed is there so I hope that next year I'll have the chance to fight for a win here," #19 : Khalid Al Qassimi/Michael Orr: "This was an excellent result, especially as I haven't competed for over two months. It was difficult to find the required balance of attacking hard enough and being cautious over the huge crests. One error on the big jumps is enough to drain a drivers' confidence and this is the ultimate 'confidence' event. I'm looking forward to the next rally in Germany which is a very different kind of rally," Citroen Total World Rally Team http://citroen.rallye-info.com/teams.asp?sid=1 The 58th Rally Finland, ninth round of the 2008 World Rally Championship, promises to be remembered as a landmark event in the history of world class rallying. The final leg saw Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena clinch their first ever win here, while Dani Sordo and Marc Martí claimed fourth overall in the second Citroën Total C4 WRC to harvest valuable Manufacturers' points for Citroën. #1 : Sebastien Loeb/Daniel Elena: "I'm thrilled to have won this rally," beamed Sébastien Loeb at the finish. "and I'm especially pleased with the way we won it. From start to finish, the scrap reminded me of the thrilling clashes we had last year with Marcus Grönholm. It was a very close run thing throughout and we were never able to relax. The decision to keep the lead at the end of the opening day involved a certain amount of risk because we didn't know exactly how much road-sweeping we would have to do. It meant pushing hard all the way, but the tactic finally paid off." #2 : Daniel Sordo/Marc Marti: "I am pleased with my performance this weekend and I didn't make any mistakes. I have learnt even more about how to drive on this highly specific event where experience counts for so much. There are still a few areas where I can improve, notably the way I brake. It's nice to be at the finish and it's the first time I've had that pleasure here in a WRC car. Our C4 WRC was extremely competitive and the points that Citroën has scored promise to be important as the rest of the season unfolds." Subaru World Rally Team http://subaru.rallye-info.com/teams.asp?sid=5 The Subaru World Rally Team entry of Chris Atkinson and Stéphane Prévot clinched a crucial third place on Rally Finland with a resolute fight-back after they slipped to ninth position on the opening day. The result marks the first points-score for the duo in the new Impreza WRC2008, and moves them back up into third position in the drivers' championship. #5 : Petter Solberg/Phil Mills: "When everything was working it felt very good, but I lost the feeling at times yesterday and Friday. Today was much better, but by then we'd lost too much time to be able to climb back up any higher. We have a week until Germany for the team to keep working on the car, and we'll see what we can do there, the first time on tarmac." #6 : Chris Atkinson/Stephane Prevot: "To finish on the podium in Finland is fantastic, it's one of those rallies that you really, really want to do well on and it's great to add it to the CV. The guys did a fantastic job, the car was great and I was just able to keep pushing hard. I really want to thank everybody in the team, it's just really cool to be here on the podium the first time in Finland with the new car, and of course it's great to be back in third in the championship. It's been a great weekend, really good." Stobart VK M-Sport Ford World Rally Team http://ford.rallye-info.com/teams.asp?sid=2 Round nine of the FIA World Rally Championship has seen an event of mixed fortunes for the Stobart VK M-Sport Ford rally team this weekend. Topping the Neste Oil Rally Finland time-sheets for the team was Henning Solberg/Cato Menkerud who finished in a solid fifth position overall. Matthew Wilson/Scott Martin cruised into the finish ramp this afternoon as the next best placed Stobart crew just one spot adrift a point scoring position in ninth. #7 : Henning Solberg/Cato Menkerud: "We started the rally off really well and it was good to be on the podium after the first day. The car was working well and it was a fine performance as we had no pre-event testing so I had showed a fast pace right from the start. But we lost the feeling on day 2 and had to settle for fifth position which isn't too bad and at least it's some more points; moving me up to seventh in the championship. We got new Expert race suits for this rally so we may not have been the fastest crew but we were definitely the best looking!" #8 : Gigi Galli/Giovanni Bernacchini: "It has been a bitterly disappointing end to the rally here for me. I was just trying to keep our position against Sordo and the accident happened on a tricky left hand corner. My pace notes were slightly out and I ended up sliding into the ditch which then caused the car to roll at high speed into the trees. The car is quite badly damaged and it was obviously a corner that caught out people as two other cars went off in the same place as me. We had got into a good rhythm and found a sensible speed and feeling with the car so I don't think I was pushing too hard on the stage." #16 : Matthew Wilson/Scott Martin: "This is a really tough rally and we have moved forward with some important setting changes for when the rally comes back here. This event is all about experience and finishing today has certainly helped that. It's easy to go fast in some places but you need the experience and the confidence to go fast everywhere. Saturday was tough and it caught many people out so it was good to survive and take these positives to Rally New Zealand." Suzuki World Rally Team http://suzuki.rallye-info.com/teams.asp?sid=12 Toni Gardemeister and Tomi Tuominen drove an inch-perfect final day to bring their Suzuki SX4 WRC home in eighth place. Gardemeister's drive is rewarded with a drivers' championship point for him and two for the Suzuki World Rally Team. The Finn's team-mate P-G Andersson did not re-start this morning following an incident yesterday afternoon, when the car went off the road and into a tree. #11 : Toni Gardemeister/Tomi Tuominen: "It's been a really good day today - a day I've really enjoyed. The stages are nice, the sun was shining and, of course, there were plenty of Finnish flags flying! It looked as though we could be having a big fight with Matthew (Wilson) today, but we managed to keep him behind. Once I realised that we had the speed to stay ahead of him, it was okay. I could relax and enjoy the roads. To end the event in Ruuhimaki, with those jumps at the end of the stage, is fantastic. That's why people love Rally Finland. I came here feeling we could make points and we have done that. It's been a good week." 5. Championship Points For full championship points see: http://www.rallye-info.com/points.asp 6. Next Event The World Rally Championship returns to asphalt for Rallye Deutschland, 15-17 August, for the first time since the season opener in Monte Carlo. The tenth round of the WRC is far from being a conventional sealed-surface event. Providing a wide variety of routes and surfaces from fast and narrow vineyard roads to the notoriously rough concrete tracks of the Baumholder military ranges, the routes are singularly unforgiving. |