2008 Rally New Zealand

December 2020 2008 Rally New Zealand 38th Repco Rally New Zealand 11 2008 World Rally Championship 2008 Rallye Deutschland 2008 Rally Catalunya Hamilton 28 August 31 2008 18 353.04 juwra.com  |  Rallies - New Zealand 2008 http://www.juwra.com/new_zealand_2008.html juwra.com 31 August 2008 1218.20 Gravel FRA Sébastien Loeb Citroën Total World Rally Team 64 35 The 2008 Rally New Zealand was the eleventh round of the 2008 World Rally Championship season. The event was based on the northern island of the country near the city of Hamilton. The stages were run on gravel roads characterised by their pronounced camber, which gives them a fast flowing nature. They are also known for their picturesque qualities. World Rally Championship - Rallies - Rally New Zealand http://www.wrc.com/jsp/index.jsp?lnk=401&desc=Rally%20New%20Zealand&season=2008&rally_id=NZ wrc.com 31 August 2008 31 August 2008 https://web.archive.org/web/20080831054636/http://www.wrc.com/jsp/index.jsp?lnk=401&desc=Rally%20New%20Zealand&season=2008&rally_id=NZ 31 August 2008 dead The rally ran between 28 and 31 August. Sébastien Loeb won his forty-fourth WRC rally, and his eighth of the season, in a dramatic event, where Mikko Hirvonen came third after being passed in the latter stages of the rally. Daniel Sordo, like Loeb, also driving for Citroën, claimed 2nd place. After the event Loeb had an eight-point lead over Hirvonen in the drivers championship with four events remaining. Event Heavy rain in the buildup before the event forced a change to the itinerary, with the 43 km Waitomo stage having to be split into two due to a landslip.Weather causes route changes http://www.wrc.com/jsp/index.jsp?lnk=101&id=2392&desc=Weather%20causes%20route%20changes wrc.com 25 August 2008 31 August 2008 https://web.archive.org/web/20080915155113/http://www.wrc.com/jsp/index.jsp?lnk=101&id=2392&desc=Weather%2Bcauses%2Broute%2Bchanges 15 September 2008 dead Despite the poor weather before the event Matthew Wilson still believed the first car would be at a disadvantage, Wilson: Leader faces disadvantage http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/70095 Autosport 27 August 2008 31 August 2008 https://web.archive.org/web/20080915231814/http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/70095 15 September 2008 live thus making team tactics - as seen at Turkey - more likely.Dry roads in New Zealand make tactical driving likely http://www.wrc.com/jsp/index.jsp?lnk=101&id=2423&desc=Dry%20roads%20in%20New%20Zealand%20make%20tactical%20driving%20likely wrc.com 28 August 2008 31 August 2008 https://web.archive.org/web/20080903072334/http://www.wrc.com/jsp/index.jsp?lnk=101&id=2423&desc=Dry%20roads%20in%20New%20Zealand%20make%20tactical%20driving%20likely 3 September 2008 dead After Gigi Galli's accident in Germany, François Duval was called up by Stobart Ford to replace him as an approach to two time world champion Marcus Grönholm failed to lure him out of retirement. Duval replaces Galli for New Zealand http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/69912 Autosport 21 August 2008 31 August 2008 https://web.archive.org/web/20080824073708/http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/69912 24 August 2008 live Day one Despite sweeping the roads for the other competitors, and a big moment when he nearly rolled his car during the very first stage, SS1 - Early scare for Loeb and others... http://www.wrc.com/jsp/index.jsp?lnk=101&id=2441&desc=SS1%20-%20Early%20scare%20for%20Loeb%20and%20others... wrc.com 29 August 2008 4 September 2008 https://web.archive.org/web/20080904160230/http://www.wrc.com/jsp/index.jsp?lnk=101&id=2441&desc=SS1%20-%20Early%20scare%20for%20Loeb%20and%20others... 4 September 2008 dead Loeb was just 0.7 seconds behind Hirvonen going into the penultimate stage of the day. With road positions for day two being decided at the end of this stage, rather than at the short Super special stage at Mystery Creek, Hirvonen was expected to intentionally drop behind Loeb to ensure a better starting position. Loeb then suffered a starter motor problem SS6 - High drama and tactics on decisive stage http://www.wrc.com/jsp/index.jsp?lnk=101&id=2466&desc=SS6%20-%20High%20drama%20and%20tactics%20on%20decisive%20stage wrc.com 29 August 2008 4 September 2008 https://web.archive.org/web/20080905095419/http://www.wrc.com/jsp/index.jsp?lnk=101&id=2466&desc=SS6%20-%20High%20drama%20and%20tactics%20on%20decisive%20stage 5 September 2008 dead which meant he couldn't start at his allotted time. With Hirvonen now effectively running first on the road, he was unable to play the tactical game and therefore ended day one in front, and as road sweeper for day two. When questioned after the stage, Loeb denied any suggestion of tactics - citing the thirty-second time penalty he picked up for starting the stage late - "Do you really think I'd give away that much time?" Evans David Ford Spins, Citroen Wins Autosport 193 42–47 4 September 2008 Hirvonen agreed that Loeb seemed to have a genuine problem. Jari-Matti Latvala also tried to improve his starting position but although falling behind Loeb, he managed to stay ahead of Dani Sordo by 0.1 second - despite backing off before the end of the stage. Behind the two factory Ford and Citroën drivers was Duval, who was just under ninety seconds off the lead. Urmo Aava was in sixth, Petter Solberg in seventh with Suzuki driver PG Andersson enjoying a trouble free run in eighth place. Drivers who weren't so lucky included Henning Solberg - who lost seven and a half minutes with power steering problems, Matthew Wilson - who suffered gearbox problems and had to retire for the day after SS4, the same stage as Subaru driver Chris Atkinson - who rolled his car halfway through the stage SS4 - Atkinson rolls out of fifth place http://www.wrc.com/jsp/index.jsp?lnk=101&id=2459&desc=SS4%20-%20Atkinson%20rolls%20out%20of%20fifth%20place wrc.com 29 August 2008 4 September 2008 https://web.archive.org/web/20080904103533/http://www.wrc.com/jsp/index.jsp?lnk=101&id=2459&desc=SS4%20-%20Atkinson%20rolls%20out%20of%20fifth%20place 4 September 2008 dead Day two Loeb used his starting position to close on Hirvonen throughout the day. After taking seven seconds out of his lead on the first stage of the day, SS8: Loeb takes a big chunk from Hirvonen’s lead http://www.wrc.com/jsp/index.jsp?lnk=101&id=2489&desc=SS8:%20Loeb%20takes%20a%20big%20chunk%20from%20Hirvonen’s%20lead wrc.com 30 September 2008 13 September 2008 Loeb took over the lead on stage twelve. With only one stage left to run on the day Loeb was 4.2 seconds clear - below his target time of a twenty-second lead.SS10: Loeb aiming for a 20-second lead http://www.wrc.com/jsp/index.jsp?lnk=101&id=2492&desc=SS10:%20Loeb%20aiming%20for%20a%2020-second%20lead wrc.com 30 August 2008 13 September 2008 https://web.archive.org/web/20080912040744/http://www.wrc.com/jsp/index.jsp?lnk=101&id=2492&desc=SS10%3A%20Loeb%20aiming%20for%20a%2020-second%20lead 12 September 2008 dead With this in mind he slowed down at the end of Te Akau North to let Hirvonen back into the lead. Latvala was able to help Hirvonen by finishing ahead of him on time and to start the final day in front. Latvala handed New Zealand lead http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/70152 Autosport 30 August 2008 13 September 2008 https://web.archive.org/web/20080911224753/http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/70152 11 September 2008 live With Sordo keeping close to the pace of the other leaders, there was only a sixteen-second gap between the first four drivers. Behind the leading pack, the points positions remained the same as on day one. The most noteworthy performance came from Henning Solberg, who used his advantageous road position to claim four stage wins on his climb back up the leaderboard. Results Pos. Driver Co-driver Car Time Difference Points WRC 1. FRA Sébastien Loeb MON Daniel Elena Citroën C4 WRC 3:59:18.9 0.0 10 2. ESP Dani Sordo ESP Marc Marti Citroën C4 WRC 3:59;36.4 17.5 8 3. FIN Mikko Hirvonen FIN Jarmo Lehtinen Ford Focus RS WRC 08 4:00:00.4 41.5 6 4. NOR Petter Solberg GBR Phil Mills Subaru Impreza WRC 2008 4:02:07.8 2:48.9 5 5. EST Urmo Aava EST Kuldar Sikk Citroën C4 WRC 4:02:49.6 3:30.7 4 6. SWE PG Andersson SWE Jonas Andersson Suzuki SX4 WRC 4:06:56.3 7:37.4 3 7. FIN Toni Gardemeister FIN Tomi Tuominen Suzuki SX4 WRC 4:07:13.8 7:54.9 2 8. ARG Federico Villagra ARG Jorge Perez Companc Ford Focus RS WRC 07 4:07:53.9 8:35.0 1 PCWRC 1. (10.) CZE Martin Prokop CZE Jan Tomanek Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX 4:13:07.9 0.0 10 2. (11.) SWE Patrik Sandell SWE Emil Axelsson Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX 4:13:44.1 36.2 8 3. (12.) EST Martin Rauam EST Silver Kütt Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX 4:14:05.7 57.8 6 Championship standings after the event Drivers' championship Pos Driver MONMonaco SWESweden MEXMexico ARGArgentina JORJordan ITAItaly GRCGreece TURTurkey FINFinland GERGermany NZLNew Zealand ESPSpain FRAFrance JPNJapan GBRUnited Kingdom  Pts  1 France Sébastien Loeb 1 Ret. 1 1 10 1 1 3 1 1 1 86 2 Finland Mikko Hirvonen 2 2 4 5 1 2 3 1 2 4 3 78 3 ESP Dani Sordo 11 6 17 3 2 5 5 4 4 2 2 51 4 Australia Chris Atkinson 3 21 2 2 3 6 Ret. 13 3 6 Ret. 40 5 Finland Jari-Matti Latvala 12 1 3 15 7 3 7 2 39 9 Ret. 346 Norway Petter Solberg 5 4 12 Ret. Ret. 10 2 6 6 5 4 32 7 NOR Henning Solberg 9 13 5 Ret. 4 7 8 5 5 5 9 22 8 Italy Gigi Galli 6 3 Ret. 7 8 4 Ret. Ret. Ret. Ret. 17 9 GBR Matthew Wilson 10 Ret. 6 Ret. 5 12 6 7 9 12 17 12 10 Belgium François Duval 4 3 Ret. 11 EST Urmo Aava 18 Ret. 8 4 Ret. 16 8 5 12 ARG Federico Villagra 7 6 6 14 13 9 Ret. 8 9 13 Zimbabwe Conrad Rautenbach Ret. 16 16 4 26 13 10 8 10 10 Ret. 6 14 FIN Toni Gardemeister Ret. 7 Ret. Ret. Ret. Ret. 9 Ret. 8 10 7 5 15 NOR Andreas Mikkelsen 5 Ret. 26 12 11 4 16 Sweden Per-Gunnar Andersson 8 Ret. Ret. 24 Ret. 9 11 Ret. Ret. 15 6 17 France Jean-Marie Cuoq 7 2 Finland Matti Rantanen 7 18 FIN Juho Hänninen 8 21 13 14 1 FRA Sébastien Ogier 8 11 22 36 19 AUT Andreas Aigner 31 8 14 11 Ret. Ret. Pos Driver MONMonaco SWESweden MEXMexico ARGArgentina JORJordan ITAItaly GRCGreece TURTurkey FINFinland GERGermany NZLNew Zealand ESPSpain FRAFrance JPNJapan GBRUnited Kingdom Pts Manufacturers' championship Rank Team Event Totalpoints MONMonaco SWESweden MEXMexico ARGArgentina JORJordan ITAItaly GRCGreece TURTurkey FINFinland GERGermany NZLNew Zealand ESPSpain FRAFrance JPNJapan GBRUnited Kingdom 1 France Citroën Total World Rally Team 11 4 10 16 9 14 15 11 15 18 18 - - - - 141 2 United Kingdom BP Ford World Rally Team 8 18 11 7 13 14 10 18 9 7 6 - - - - 121 3 Japan Subaru World Rally Team 10 6 9 8 6 3 8 3 9 7 5 - - - - 74 4 United Kingdom Stobart M-Sport Ford Rally Team 8 8 3 3 7 5 3 4 4 6 0 - - - - 51 5 Argentina Munchi's Ford World Rally Team 0 0 6 4 4 2 0 3 0 0 3 - - - - 22 6 Japan Suzuki World Rally Team 2 3 0 1 0 1 3 0 2 1 7 - - - - 20 References External links Results from the official site wrc.com 2008 New Zealand Rally New Zealand, 2008