2008 Rally México

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]

2008 Rally México 22º Corona Rally México
Round 3 of the 2008 World Rally Championship ← Previous event Next 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 miles)
Stage surface	Gravel
Overall distance	830.83 km (516.25 miles)
Results
Overall winner	Sébastien Loeb Citroën-Total World Rally Team
Crews	39 at start, 29 at finish

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.	Sébastien Loeb	Daniel Elena	Citroën C4 WRC	3:33:29.9		10
2.	Chris Atkinson	Stéphane Prévot	Subaru Impreza WRC2007	3:34:36.0	1:06.1	8
3.	Jari-Matti Latvala	Miikka Anttila	Ford Focus RS WRC 07	3:35:09.6	1:39.7	6
4.	Mikko Hirvonen	Jarmo Lehtinen	Ford Focus RS WRC 07	3:37:08.6	3:38.7	5
5.	Henning Solberg	Cato Menkerud	Ford Focus RS WRC 07	3:38:27.8	4:57.9	4
6.	Matthew Wilson	Michael Orr	Ford Focus RS WRC 07	3:39:58.8	6:28.9	3
7.	Federico Villagra	Jorge Perez Companc	Ford Focus RS WRC 07	3:52:32.9	19:03.0	2
DSQ ^a	Ricardo Triviño	Sergio Salom	Peugeot 206 WRC	3:54:47.2	21:17.3	1
8.	Sebastien Ogier	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.)	Sebastien Ogier	Julien Ingrassia	Citroën C2 S1600	3:58:54.8		10
2. (9.)	Jaan Mölder	Frederic Miclotte	Suzuki Swift S1600	4:00:26.7	1:31.9	8
3. (10.)	Michał Kościuszko	Maciej Szczepaniak	Suzuki Swift S1600	4:02:00.0	3:05.2	6
4. (12.)	Aaron Burkart	Michael Kölbach	Citroën C2 S1600	4:04:56.6	6:01.8	5
5. (13.)	Patrik Sandell	Emil Axelsson	Renault Clio S1600	4:06:40.5	7:45.7	4
6. (19.)	Shaun Gallagher	Clive Jenkins	Citroën C2 S1600	4:14:16.0	15:21.2	3
7. (22.)	Martin Prokop	Jan Tománek	Citroën C2 S1600	4:48:43.2	49:48.4	2
8. (23.)	Francesco Fanari	Massimiliano Bosi	Citroën C2 S1600	4:51:28.8	52:34.0	1

Special stages

All dates and times are CST (UTC-6).

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

Footnotes

• A ^ all times local

Championship standings after the event

Drivers' championship

Pos Driver MON SWE MEX ARG JOR ITA GRC TUR FIN GER NZL ESP FRA JPN GBR  Pts  1 Mikko Hirvonen 2 2 4 21 2 Sébastien Loeb 1 Ret. 1 20 3 Jari-Matti Latvala 12 1 3 16 4 Chris Atkinson 3 21 2 14 5 Gigi Galli 6 3 Ret. 9 Petter Solberg 5 4 12 9 7 François Duval 4 5 8 Henning Solberg 9 13 5 4 Andreas Mikkelsen 5 4 10 Dani Sordo 11 6 17 3 Matthew Wilson 10 Ret. 6 3 12 Jean-Marie Cuoq 7 2 Toni Gardemeister Ret. 7 Ret. 2 Federico Villagra 7 2 15 Per-Gunnar Andersson 8 Ret. Ret. 1 Juho Hänninen 8 1 Sebastien Ogier 8 1 Pos Driver MON SWE MEX ARG JOR ITA GRC TUR FIN GER NZL ESP FRA JPN GBR Pts

Key Colour Result Gold Winner Silver 2nd place Bronze 3rd place Green Points finish Blue Non-points finish Non-classified finish (NC) Purple Did not finish (Ret) Black Excluded (EX) Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Cancelled (C) Blank Withdrew entry from the event (WD)

Manufacturers' championship

Rank	Driver	Event															Total points
		MON	SWE	MEX	ARG	JOR	ITA	GRC	TUR	FIN	GER	NZL	ESP	FRA	JPN	GBR
1	BP Ford World Rally Team	8	18	11	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	37
2	Subaru World Rally Team	10	6	9	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	25
	Citroën Total World Rally Team	11	4	10	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	25
4	Stobart M-Sport Ford Rally Team	8	8	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	19
5	Munchi's Ford World Rally Team			6	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	6
6	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	JOR	ITA	FIN	GER	ESP	FRA	Pts
1	Sébastien Ogier	1							10
2	Jaan Mölder	2							8
3	Michał Kościuszko	3							6
4	Aaron Burkart	4							5
5	Patrik Sandell	5							4
6	Shaun Gallagher	6							3
7	Martin Prokop	7							2
8	Francesco Fanari	8							1
Pos	Driver	MEX	JOR	ITA	FIN	GER	ESP	FRA	Pts

References

1. "Preview: Rally Mexico - Pt. 1". Crash.net. 2008-02-26. Retrieved 2008-03-01.
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. "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

• Results at eWRC-results.com
• Results at official page WRC.com