2008 Swedish Rally

Infobox Rally
name = 2008 Swedish Rally
native_name = 57th Uddeholm Swedish Rally
round = 2
championship = 2008 World Rally Championship
previous_round = 2008 Monte Carlo Rally
next_round = 2008 Rally México
country = SWE


caption = Snow-covered road during the Swedish winter.
rallybase = Karlstad, Sweden
startdate = February 7
enddate = 10, 2008
stages = 20
stagekm = 340.24
overallkm = 1440.08
surface = Snow-/Ice-covered gravel
driver1 = flagicon|FIN Jari-Matti Latvala
team1 = flagicon|GBR BP-Ford World Rally Team
teamsstart = 61
teamsfinish = 49
commons = The 2008 Swedish Rally, officially "57th Uddeholm Swedish Rally", was the second round of 2008 World Rally Championship season. It was the season's first and only event held on snow- and ice-covered gravel roads. The rally took place during February 7–10, beginning with Super Special Stage placed in rallybase, Karlstad. The rally was also the first round of Production Car World Rally Championship this season.

Even tough it snowed before the rally, eliminating the threat of calling the event off, the mild temperatures caused cancellation of stages 12 and 18, shortening the overall competitive kilometers count.cite web |url=http://www.crash.net/motorsport/wrc/news/159496-0/swedish_rally_ss12_-_cancelled.html |title=Swedish Rally: SS12 - cancelled. |date=2008-02-09 |accessdate=2008-02-11 |work=Crash.net ] cite web |url=http://www.crash.net/motorsport/wrc/news/159526-0/second_stage_cancelled.html |title=Second stage cancelled. |date=2008-02-10 |accessdate=2008-02-11 |work=Crash.net ]

The rally was won by BP Ford World Rally Team's 22-year-old Jari-Matti Latvala. With his debut win, Latvala became the youngest winner in the history of the World Rally Championship, breaking Henri Toivonen's record from the 1980 RAC Rally. [cite web | title=Latvala claims historic Swedish win | work=Autosport | url=http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/65066 | accessdate=2008-02-10] Latvala's team-mate and compatriot Mikko Hirvonen was second and Stobart VK M-Sport Ford's Gigi Galli completed an all-Ford podium. Subaru World Rally Team's Petter Solberg was fourth, followed by Andreas Mikkelsen, Dani Sordo, Toni Gardemeister, Juho Hänninen, Mads Østberg and Jari Ketomaa. Fifth-placed Matthew Wilson ran into technical problems with throttle on the penultimate stage and had to retire. [cite web |url=http://www.crash.net/motorsport/wrc/news/159529-0/news_flash_wilson_jr_loses_fifth.html |title=NEWS FLASH: Wilson Jr loses fifth. |date=2008-02-10 |accessdate=2008-02-11 |work=Crash.net] [cite web |url=http://www.crash.net/motorsport/wrc/news/159568-0/throttle_issue_robs_wilson_jr.html |title=Throttle issue robs Wilson Jr. |date=2008-02-11 |accessdate=2008-02-11 |work=Crash.net] Sébastien Loeb crashed out and rolled his car while running third, then retired again, after restarting under SupeRally and winning two stages, because of the damaged engine. [cite web |url=http://www.crash.net/motorsport/wrc/news/159511-0/loeb_engine_was_on_its_last_legs.html |title=Loeb: Engine was on its last legs. |date=2008-02-09 |accessdate=2008-02-11 |work=Crash.net ] Henning Solberg inherited the third place, but later suffered a puncture causing him to slip further down and then crashed while running fourth and was forced to retire for the second day; [cite web |url=http://www.crash.net/motorsport/wrc/news/159498-0/news_flash_henning_goes_off.html |title=NEWS FLASH: Henning goes off. |date=2008-02-09 |accessdate=2008-02-11 |work=Crash.net ] after rejoining the fight under SupeRally format Norwegian was the fastest driver on day three, winning all the remaining stages.

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Results

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Manufacturers' championship

References

External links

* [http://www.ewrc-results.com/results_main.php?event=150 Results] at [http://www.ewrc-results.com/ eWRC.com]