Miniatures of Juan Manuel Fangio and a flying Tommi Makinen

Sweden 2008


THIS WAS A RALLY OF MANY FIRSTS! JARI-MATTI LATVALA WON HIS FIRST WRC RALLY AFTER A STORMING DRIVE THAT SHOWED WHAT HIS POTENTIAL IS AND WHY MALCOLM WILSON, FORD'S WRC BOSS, WAS QUICK TO PROMOTE HIM FROM WILSON'S OWN STOBART VK FORD TEAM AFTER MARCUS GRONHOLM'S RETIREMENT. NOT ONLY WAS IT HIS FIRST WIN BUT HE IS ALSO NOW THE YOUNGEST-EVER DRIVER TO WIN A WRC EVENT - ONLY 22 YEARS OF AGE.

HE COMPREHENSIVELY BEAT HIS TEAM-MATE, MIKKO HIRVONEN, WHO FINISHED SECOND BUT WHO NOW LEADS THE TITLE RACE FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER - ANOTHER FIRST. NEXT ON THE PODIUM, AND NEXT IN THIS LIST OF FIRSTS, WAS GIGI GALLI - THIS WAS HIS FIRST PODIUM FINISH FOR TWO YEARS. ANDREAS MIKKELSON, THE 18 YEAR-OLD PROTEGÉ OF MARCUS GRONHOLM, GAINED HIS FIRST WORLD RALLY POINTS FINISH IN 5TH PLACE. FOR ALL THESE REASONS, ALL FOUR WERE HIGHLY DELIGHTED.

THE SAME COULD NOT BE SAID FOR SEBASTIEN LOEB! THIS WAS HIS 100TH RALLY AND, WHILST PLAYING DOWN EXPECTATIONS BEFOREHAND, HE WOULD HAVE EXPECTED TO HAVE A BETTER RALLY THAN HE DID. ANOTHER FIRST - AS CHAMPIONSHIP LEADER HE WAS THE FIRST TO EXPERIENCE THE SNOW OF SWEDEN. BUT THERE WASN'T ANY! THE BULK OF THE RALLY WAS ESSENTIALLY A GRAVEL RALLY WITH SOME ICY STRETCHES BUT RACED ON NARROW, STUDDED SNOW TYRES. EARLY ON DAY 1 HE MADE A RARE MISTAKE (ALMOST ANOTHER FIRST), WENT OFF, DAMAGED THE CAR BEYOND THE STOCK OF SPARES AT THE REMOTE SERVICE, RETIRED ON THE NEXT ROAD SECTION, RE-JOINED NEXT DAY UNDER SUPER RALLY RULES, GOT BOOKED FOR SPEEDING ON A ROAD SECTION AND RETIRED WHEN THE ENGINE FAILED.

HE'LL REMEMBER THIS RALLY FOR ALL THE WRONG REASONS WHEREAS JARI-MATTI WILL NEVER FORGET IT FOR ALL THE RIGHT REASONS. C'EST LA VIE!




RESULT
1. Jari-Matti Latvala / BP-Ford
2. Mikko Hirvonen / BP-Ford
3. Gigi Galli / Stobart VK Ford
4. Petter Solberg / Subaru
5. Andreas Mikkelsen / Ford
6. Daniel Sordo / Citroen Total
7. Toni Gardemeister / Suzuki
8. Juho Hanninen / Mitsubishi

 

CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS

Drivers :
Mikko Hirvonen 16
Sebastien Loeb 10
=Jari-Matti Latvala 10
Gigi Galli 9
=Petter Solberg 9
Chris Atkinson 6
Francois Duval 5
Andreas Mikkelsen 4

Constructors :
BP-Ford 26
Stobart VK Ford 16
=Subaru 16
Citroën Total 15
Suzuki 5

Rally Results posted by
David Little
11th February 2008

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