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| 2008 Wales Rally GB : WRC Round 15 of 15 : 5th - 7th November In this issue: 1. Leg 2 Unofficial Leaderboard 2. Leg 2 News 4. Leg 2 Team by Team News 5. Remaining Event Schedule 1. Unofficial Leaderboard 1. J-M Latvala/M Anttila FIN Ford Focus RS 1hr 47min 52.4sec 2. S Loeb/D Elena FRA Citroen C4 1hr 47min 59.7sec 3. D Sordo/M Marti ESP Citroen C4 1hr 48min 20.3sec 4. P Solberg/P Mills NOR Subaru Impreza 1hr 48min 44.9sec 5. P-G Andersson/J Andersson SWE Suzuki SX4 1hr 49min 58.5sec 6. H Solberg/C Menkerud NOR Ford Focus RS 1hr 50min 01.7sec 7. F Duval/D Giraudet BEL Ford Focus RS 1hr 50min 22.0sec 8. T Gardemeister/T Tuominen FIN Suzuki SX4 1hr 51min 25.4sec 9. M Hirvonen/J Lehtinen FIN Ford Focus RS 1hr 52min 36.9sec 10 M Wilson/S Martin GBR Ford Focus RS 1hr 52min 41.9sec 2. Leg News Behind Latvala, Sébastien Loeb (Citroen) won two tests as he maintained second place while team-mate Dani Sordo, boosted by two stage wins this morning, completes the top three. Petter Solberg (Subaru) moved ahead of Per-Gunnar Andersson (Suzuki) to hold fourth, with Stobart driver Henning Solberg rounding off the top six. Mads Ostberg (Subaru) looked set to hold onto fifth but the young Norwegian slid into a ditch on the penultimate stage and retired. The day's other major retirement was junior world champion Sébastien Ogier, making his debut at the top level, who rolled into retirement on the opening stage after leading for much of yesterday. 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 Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila continue to lead Wales Rally GB after a second day of fighting ice-bound forest tracks. The Finns won two speed tests in the slippery forests of south Wales to overnight with a 7.3sec lead in their Ford Focus RS World Rally Car in this 15th and final round of the FIA World Rally Championship. Team-mates Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen recovered from yesterday's roll to climb to ninth in another Focus RS. #3 : Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen: "I'm trying to climb as high as I can but the aim is also to stay on the road so I'm not taking risks. There was a lot of ice this morning and it was hard to find a good rhythm. The cars ahead of me polished the ice and it was hard to tell where there was grip and where there wasn't," #4 : Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila: "I had no chance in the conditions on the first stage this morning because the road was very frosty. The surface was rock hard and every time I hit the throttle the wheels were spinning, so I eased off. Before bends I steered the car towards the side of the road, away from the ice, to brake in the gravel where there was more grip. I'm being pressured by those behind but I really want to win here for the team. However, we've had two tricky days and tomorrow will be just as hard," #19 : Khalid Al Qassimi/Michael Orr: "I have no experience on this type of surface and I'm struggling to build confidence. That said, I'm still in the rally and I'm in front of some far more experienced drivers than me. If I can keep that going and finish in the top 16, I will be happy," Citroen Total World Rally Team http://citroen.rallye-info.com/teams.asp?sid=1 The weather promised to stay bright and sunny as crews set out this morning for Leg 2 of the Wales Rally GB, the final round of the 2008 World Rally Championship. Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena approached the day intent on attacking, while at the same time keeping a close on eye on the way the situation unfolded, their objective being to both consolidate their overnight second place and keep the provisional leaders under as much pressure as possible. Dani Sordo and Marc Martí, who tackled the day in a similar frame of mind, also produced a solid run to complete Saturday's action in third place. With both its C4 WRCs on tonight's podium, Citroën Total appears to be in a strong position to perhaps collect its fourth Manufacturers' world title when the event finishes on Sunday. #1 : Sebastien Loeb/Daniel Elena: We tried to take things cautiously, while at the same time keeping an eye on the times of our rivals. I think we're in a good position going into the last leg…" #2 : Daniel Sordo/Marc Marti: "My car handled perfectly and I felt very confident, especially after we succeeded in moving into third place this morning. This afternoon, we tried to keep to a speed which would enable us to defend our footing on the podium with taking any risks. I was happy with my driving, but we will need to carry on in the same vein tomorrow if we want to make sure that the 2008 Manufacturers' title goes to Citroën." Subaru World Rally Team http://subaru.rallye-info.com/teams.asp?sid=5 On the second day of frosty competition in Wales, the sole remaining Subaru World Rally Team entry of Petter Solberg and Phil Mills performed strongly on their way to claiming fourth position overall. #5 : Petter Solberg/Phil Mills: "It's all about having consistent grip here, but the car is going forward and looking more positive. So many places I have been much faster than anybody but then we come to ice and it goes. I'm quite happy with my performance and the improvements in the car so we'll see for tomorrow. We will make some small changes to the dampers, but otherwise I'm quite happy with everything else with the car." #6 : Chris Atkinson/Stephane Prevot: No quote available. Stobart VK M-Sport Ford World Rally Team http://ford.rallye-info.com/teams.asp?sid=2 After two days of Wales Rally GB complete the Stobart VK M-Sport Ford rally team have two crews inside the top-seven as the final round of the 2008 FIA World Rally Championship comes to a dramatic close. Leading the charge is Henning Solberg/Cato Menkerud who have advanced two places from their overnight position to occupy sixth overall. Crucial differential setup changes prior to stage 11 saw the Norwegian set a raft of top-six stage times as he blasted up the leaderboard to be perfectly positioned to post his best Rally GB result ever. With just 3.2 seconds separating Solberg and fifth placed PG Andersson he will be looking to push for the position on tomorrow's final leg. #7 : Francois Duval/Denis Giraudet: "This morning was difficult and not easy to drive with all of the ice. For me the main thing is to stay on the road and try to stay in the points as well, so everything is going to plan at the minute. The grip is varying quite a lot and it's really tricky to keep going hard without some scares. Sometimes you get the feeling that everything is safe and going ok then we have a big slide." #8 : Matthew Wilson/Scott Martin: "We have had another difficult day and the conditions have remained tricky. It was very icy this morning but some patches had thawed this afternoon making it more inconsistent. We had a big scare where Ostberg crashed and were lucky that the marshals slowed us down. Hopefully the conditions will be better tomorrow as I'd like to push for points." #16 : Henning Solberg/Cato Menkerud: "It was very slippery in some places but we have made it back today and moved up a couple of places. I found a really good setting with the diff and from them my times have improved quite a bit. So, yes, a good day I would say but also very difficult. It's so hard trying to guess the amount of grip there is." Suzuki World Rally Team http://suzuki.rallye-info.com/teams.asp?sid=12 With just one day of this year's World Rally Championship remaining, both the factory Suzuki SX4 WRCs are in the points and are set to finish the team's debut season on a high. P-G Andersson is currently fifth while Toni Gardemeister is eighth, with neither car encountering any problems throughout the day's seven stages. #11 : Toni Gardemeister/Tomi Tuominen: "Today has been a very tough day: typical Rally Great Britain. We've had quite a good run and managed to set some decent times, particularly on the first stage, but maybe I was a bit too cautious sometimes as well. On the final stage before service the engine stopped, but it was just a small problem that we fixed at service. Now we have to keep concentrated and make sure that we avoid making any mistakes on the final day tomorrow - but we need some bad conditions to help us as well." #12 : Per-Gunnar Andersson/Jonas Andersson: "I've enjoyed the stages, but after our provisional podium place yesterday, today has not been quite as good as we had hoped. I couldn't quite get the feeling that I needed to push hard, which was a little bit frustrating. I think the car works a bit better in the softer conditions of yesterday but the big thing today for us has been the ice, which was really difficult. Having said that, fifth overall is still an excellent position and we can look forward to a really exciting battle tomorrow, as Henning Solberg is right behind us." 5. Remaing Event Schedule Sunday 7 December: Day 3 Swansea - Swansea Start Swansea 06.50 Serv F Swansea (15 mins) 07.00 SS16 Rheola 1 27.96km 07.55 SS17 Port Talbot 1 20.09km 09.03 Serv G Swansea (30 mins) 10.00 SS18 Rheola 2 27.96km 11.10 SS19 Port Talbot 2 20.09km 12.18 Serv H Swansea (10 mins) 13.03 Finish Law Courts, Cardiff 14.56 Total 96.10km Rally total 348.99km |