2008 Rally México

2008 Rally México
22º Corona Rally México

Round 3 of the 2008 World Rally Championship

 Previous eventNext event 

Sierra Madre mountains in México.
Host country  Mexico
Rally base León, México
Dates run February 29 March 2, 2008
Stages 20 (353.75 km; 219.81 mi)
Stage surface Gravel
Overall distance 830.83 km (516.25 mi)
Results
Overall winner France Sébastien Loeb
France Citroën-Total World Rally Team
Crews 39 at start, 29 at finish

The 2008 Rally México, officially 22º Corona Rally México, was the third round of the 2008 World Rally Championship season. The rally was held on February 29 March 2 and began with a ceremonial start on Thursday, February 28. It was the first gravel event of the season and also the opening round of the Junior World Rally Championship this season.[1]

The event

The rally consisted of 20 special stages, one of which was cancelled due to safety reasons, as there were too many spectators gathered around the road.[2] Also five of the stages were Super Special Stages. Some of the sections were placed as high as 2700 meters over sea level, causing significant engine power loss due to lower air pressure.[1]

Sebastien Ogier's Citroën C2 S1600 parked in the service area.

The event was won by the previous edition's winner, Sébastien Loeb. Before the rally there was some controversy with Citroën Team changing the engine in his car after a major malfunction during the shakedown,[3] but the team reverted to the original unit and avoided a five minutes penalty.[4] The first rally leader was Jari-Matti Latvala, but after having to be the opening driver on the second day's stages and suffering from the broken intercooler pipe, causing the turbo to overheat and break, he dropped to third.[5] Subaru's Chris Atkinson finished second after constant pace placing him in the top eight on every stage, achieving the best result in his career so far. Fourth overall was Mikko Hirvonen who lost large amounts of time after a few punctures and having to change a wheel in his Ford Focus RS WRC 07.[6] Henning Solberg lost his battle for fourth with Hirvonen and had to settle for fifth after damaging his damper.[7] The rest of pointing drivers were Matthew Wilson, Federico Villagra, both in Focuses 2007 spec and privateer Ricardo Triviño driving a Peugeot 206 WRC. Petter Solberg managed to score the last point in Manufacturers' Championship, even though having to restart under SupeRally format after having mechanical problems with the front left driveshaft in his Subaru Impreza WRC2007 on SS10.[8] Citroën's number two, Daniel Sordo, came back into the fight after breaking the suspension in his C4 WRC and retiring too,[9] but even though he won 3 stages overall, he wasn't able to regain the penalty he was given.

Suzuki drivers suffered from mechanical problems during the first day and both Toni Gardemeister and Per-Gunnar Andersson had to retire from the rally for good.[10][11] Also Stobart's Gigi Galli wasn't able to finish the event - the Italian had to retire from top-eight position after breaking the suspension in his Ford Focus.[12]

The top eight was followed by the JWRC podium - Frenchman Sebastien Ogier in Citroën C2 S1600, Estonian Jaan Mölder and Pole Michał Kościuszko, both in Suzuki Swifts S1600.

Result change

Mexican Ricardo Triviño was disqualified during the second day of the event for using non-homologated driving gloves; he was able to complete the rally after deciding to appeal his case to higher jurisdiction. His request was later rejected and Triviño was excluded from the event, which resulted in Sebastien Ogier, WRC debutant, to score one point in drivers' championship.[13] It was the first time in World Rally history that JWRC driver driving Super 1600 front-wheel drive rally car scored points in overall classification.[14]

Results

Pos. Driver Co-driver Car Time Difference Points
WRC
1. France Sébastien Loeb Monaco Daniel Elena Citroën C4 WRC 3:33:29.9 10
2. Australia Chris Atkinson Belgium Stéphane Prévot Subaru Impreza WRC2007 3:34:36.0 1:06.1 8
3. Finland Jari-Matti Latvala Finland Miikka Anttila Ford Focus RS WRC 07 3:35:09.6 1:39.7 6
4. Finland Mikko Hirvonen Finland Jarmo Lehtinen Ford Focus RS WRC 07 3:37:08.6 3:38.7 5
5. Norway Henning Solberg Norway Cato Menkerud Ford Focus RS WRC 07 3:38:27.8 4:57.9 4
6. United Kingdom Matthew Wilson Republic of Ireland Michael Orr Ford Focus RS WRC 07 3:39:58.8 6:28.9 3
7. Argentina Federico Villagra Argentina Jorge Perez Companc Ford Focus RS WRC 07 3:52:32.9 19:03.0 2
DSQ a Mexico Ricardo Triviño Spain Sergio Salom Peugeot 206 WRC 3:54:47.2 21:17.3 1
8. France Sebastien Ogier France Julien Ingrassia Citroën C2 S1600 3:58:54.8 25:24.9 1
^ Ricardo Triviño was disqualified for wearing non-homologated driving gloves.[13]
JWRC
1. (8.) France Sebastien Ogier France Julien Ingrassia Citroën C2 S1600 3:58:54.8 10
2. (9.) Estonia Jaan Mölder Belgium Frederic Miclotte Suzuki Swift S1600 4:00:26.7 1:31.9 8
3. (10.) Poland Michał Kościuszko Poland Maciej Szczepaniak Suzuki Swift S1600 4:02:00.0 3:05.2 6
4. (12.) Germany Aaron Burkart Germany Michael Kölbach Citroën C2 S1600 4:04:56.6 6:01.8 5
5. (13.) Sweden Patrik Sandell Sweden Emil Axelsson Renault Clio S1600 4:06:40.5 7:45.7 4
6. (19.) Republic of Ireland Shaun Gallagher United Kingdom Clive Jenkins Citroën C2 S1600 4:14:16.0 15:21.2 3
7. (22.) Czech Republic Martin Prokop Czech Republic Jan Tománek Citroën C2 S1600 4:48:43.2 49:48.4 2
8. (23.) Italy Francesco Fanari Italy Massimiliano Bosi Citroën C2 S1600 4:51:28.8 52:34.0 1

Special stages

Day Stage Time[A] Name Length Winner Time Avg. spd. Rally leader
1
(29 FEB)
SS1 08:28 Alfaro 1 22.96 km Finland J. Latvala 14:14.6 96.7 km/h Finland J. Latvala
SS2 09:51 Ortega 1 23.83 km France S. Loeb 14:11.8 100.7 km/h
SS3 10:39 El Cubilete 1 18.87 km France S. Loeb 11:51.5 95.5 km/h
SS4 13:02 Alfaro 2 22.96 km Norway P. Solberg 14:02.5 98.1 km/h
SS5 14:25 Ortega 2 23.83 km Finland J. Latvala 14:00.1 102.1 km/h
SS6 15:13 El Cubilete 2 18.87 km Finland J. Latvala 11:45.5 96.3 km/h
SS7 16:33 Super Special 1 2.21 km Norway P. Solberg 1:41.7 78.2 km/h
SS8 16:38 Super Special 2 2.21 km France S. Loeb 1:42.0 78.0 km/h
2
(1 MAR)
SS9 08:24 Ibarilla 1 29.90 km France S. Loeb 18:35.7 96.5 km/h
SS10 09:47 Duarte 1 23.27 km France S. Loeb 18:19.6 76.2 km/h France S. Loeb
SS11 10:38 Derramadero 1 23.28 km Spain D. Sordo 14:04.6 99.2 km/h
SS12 13:12 Ibarilla 2 29.90 km France S. Loeb 18:21.0 97.8 km/h
SS13 14:35 Duarte 2 23.27 km Spain D. Sordo 17:56.2 77.8 km/h
SS14 15:26 Derramadero 2 23.28 km Norway H. Solberg 13:52.9 100.6 km/h
SS15 16:41 Super Special 3 2.21 km France S. Loeb
Norway H. Solberg
1:41.9 78.1 km/h
SS16 16:46 Super Special 4 2.21 km Australia C. Atkinson
France S. Loeb
1:40.8 78.9 km/h
3
(2 MAR)
SS17 08:28 Leon 16.09 km Finland J. Latvala 10:43.3 90.0 km/h
SS18 08:56 Guanajuatito 22.30 km Cancelled [2]
SS19 10:19 Comanjilla 17.88 km Finland M. Hirvonen 10:12.7 105.1 km/h
SS20 11:34 Super Special 5 4.42 km Spain D. Sordo 3:19.3 79.8 km/h

Footnotes

Championship standings after the event

Drivers' championship

Pos Driver MON
Monaco
SWE
Sweden
MEX
Mexico
ARG
Argentina
JOR
Jordan
ITA
Italy
GRC
Greece
TUR
Turkey
FIN
Finland
GER
Germany
NZL
New Zealand
ESP
Spain
FRA
France
JPN
Japan
GBR
United Kingdom
 Pts 
1 Finland Mikko Hirvonen 2 2 4 21
2 France Sébastien Loeb 1 Ret. 1 20
3 Finland Jari-Matti Latvala 12 1 3 16
4 Australia Chris Atkinson 3 21 2 14
5 Italy Gigi Galli 6 3 Ret. 9
Norway Petter Solberg 5 4 12 9
7 Belgium François Duval 4 5
8 Norway Henning Solberg 9 13 5 4
Norway Andreas Mikkelsen 5 4
10 Spain Dani Sordo 11 6 17 3
United Kingdom Matthew Wilson 10 Ret. 6 3
12 France Jean-Marie Cuoq 7 2
Finland Toni Gardemeister Ret. 7 Ret. 2
Argentina Federico Villagra 7 2
15 Sweden Per-Gunnar Andersson 8 Ret. Ret. 1
Finland Juho Hänninen 8 1
France Sebastien Ogier 8 1
Pos Driver MON
Monaco
SWE
Sweden
MEX
Mexico
ARG
Argentina
JOR
Jordan
ITA
Italy
GRC
Greece
TUR
Turkey
FIN
Finland
GER
Germany
NZL
New Zealand
ESP
Spain
FRA
France
JPN
Japan
GBR
United Kingdom
Pts
Colour Result
Gold Winner
Silver 2nd place
Bronze 3rd place
Green Points finish
Blue Non-points finish
Non-classified finish (NC)
Purple Retired (DNF)
Black Excluded (EX)
Disqualified (DSQ)
White Did not start (DNS)
Cancelled (C)
Blank Withdrew entry before the event (WD)

Manufacturers' championship

Rank Driver Event Total
points
MON
Monaco
SWE
Sweden
MEX
Mexico
ARG
Argentina
JOR
Jordan
ITA
Italy
GRC
Greece
TUR
Turkey
FIN
Finland
GER
Germany
NZL
New Zealand
ESP
Spain
FRA
France
JPN
Japan
GBR
United Kingdom
1 United Kingdom BP Ford World Rally Team 8 18 11 - - - - - - - - - - - - 37
2 Japan Subaru World Rally Team 10 6 9 - - - - - - - - - - - - 25
France Citroën Total World Rally Team 11 4 10 - - - - - - - - - - - - 25
4 United Kingdom Stobart M-Sport Ford Rally Team 8 8 3 - - - - - - - - - - - - 19
5 Argentina Munchi's Ford World Rally Team 6 - - - - - - - - - - - - 6
6 Japan Suzuki World Rally Team 2 3 0 - - - - - - - - - - - - 5

Junior championship

Junior world champion Sébastien Ogier competing in a Citroën C2 S1600 at the 2008 Rallye Deutschland.
Pos Driver MEX
Mexico
JOR
Jordan
ITA
Italy
FIN
Finland
GER
Germany
ESP
Spain
FRA
France
 Pts 
1 France Sébastien Ogier 1 10
2 Estonia Jaan Mölder 2 8
3 Poland Michał Kościuszko 3 6
4 Germany Aaron Burkart 4 5
5 Sweden Patrik Sandell 5 4
6 Republic of Ireland Shaun Gallagher 6 3
7 Czech Republic Martin Prokop 7 2
8 Italy Francesco Fanari 8 1
Pos Driver MEX
Mexico
JOR
Jordan
ITA
Italy
FIN
Finland
GER
Germany
ESP
Spain
FRA
France
Pts

References

  1. 1 2 "Preview: Rally Mexico - Pt. 1.". Crash.net. 2008-02-26. Retrieved 2008-03-01.
  2. 1 2 "Rally Mexico: SS18 - cancelled.". Crash.net. 2008-03-02. Archived from the original on 5 March 2008. Retrieved 2008-03-02.
  3. "Loeb hit by engine problems.". Crash.net. 2008-02-29. Retrieved 2008-03-02.
  4. "Loeb reverts to original engine, avoids penalty.". Crash.net. 2008-02-29. Retrieved 2008-03-02.
  5. "Latvala out to 'save' his podium.". Crash.net. 2008-03-02. Archived from the original on 5 March 2008. Retrieved 2008-03-02.
  6. "Rally reactions: Rally Mexico - Day 2.". Crash.net. 2008-03-01. Archived from the original on 5 March 2008. Retrieved 2008-03-02.
  7. "Rally Mexico 2008 results - SS20 - drivers comments". ewrc-results.com. Archived from the original on 4 March 2008. Retrieved 2008-03-02.
  8. "NEWS FLASH: Petter out.". Crash.net. 2008-03-01. Archived from the original on 5 March 2008. Retrieved 2008-03-02.
  9. "Official: Sordo to re-start.". Crash.net. 2008-03-01. Retrieved 2008-03-02.
  10. "NEWS FLASH: P-G retires.". Crash.net. 2008-02-29. Archived from the original on 5 March 2008. Retrieved 2008-03-02.
  11. "NEWS FLASH: Galli, Gardemeister join retirees.". Crash.net. 2008-02-29. Archived from the original on 5 March 2008. Retrieved 2008-03-02.
  12. "Galli 'very disappointed' to retire.". Crash.net. 2008-03-01. Archived from the original on 5 March 2008. Retrieved 2008-03-02.
  13. 1 2 "Rally Mexico result revised.". Crash.net. 2008-03-20. Archived from the original on 23 March 2008. Retrieved 2008-03-20.
  14. "Amended Mexico result makes Ogier a record breaker". www.WRC.com. 2008-03-20. Archived from the original on 25 March 2008. Retrieved 2008-03-21.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 2008 Rally Mexico.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/30/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.