Rally Japan – Dag 1

The first day of Rally Japan are finished, and Petter is in fifth position. Mikko Hirvonen is leading the rally ahead of Jari-Matti Latvala in second. Sebastien Loeb is third, and on his way to secure the championship.

10 stages were on the itinerary today, but two of them were cancelled already this morning, due to the snowy conditions.  Duval had an accident on stage 6, and the stage was stopped afterwards. Duvals codriver, Patrick Pivato, was taken to hospital for surgery after the accident. Due to the delays after the accident, stage 8 was also cancelled.

Rally Japan continues with 10 more stages Saturday, first car is on the road at 0828 local time.

Overall classification, day 1

1. Mikko Hirvonen, Ford

2. Jari-Matti Latvala, Ford +26,2

3. Sebastien Loeb, Citroen +30,6

4. Chris Atkinson, Subaru +1.00,3

5. Petter Solberg, Subaru +1.02,0

6. Matthew Wilson, Ford +1.11,2

7. PG Andersson, Suzuki +1.11,6

8. Toni Gardemeister, Suzuki +1.36,8

9. Henning Solberg, Ford +1.46,6

Read the rest of this entry »

Rally Japan – day 1 after 8 stages

Still two more stages to go before day 1 is completed, but after 8 stages the overall-list is like this:

1. Hirvonen
2. Latvala +22,1
3. Loeb +27,3
4. Petter Solberg +54,4
5. Henning Solberg +1.38,8

Big in Japan

If you ask Petter to demonstrate how to use a mountain-bike, anything can happen. Subaru has produced one piece of this fantastic mountain-bike, and Petter really showed the photographers how to use it.

On Wednesday evening Petter was invited to a Subaru dealer in Sapporo to meet with supporters. He brought with him a pair of shoes and gloves as prizes in a competition. This little fellow was so happy about getting one of the shoes, that he put it on his head as a hat. His younger brother got the other shoe, whilst the mother – who actually won the competition – left empty handed.

Shakedown – Japan

Petter and Sebastien Loeb both ended with fifth fastest time at todays Shakedown in Japan. Dani Sordo was fastest. The test was done inside the Sapporo Dome Stadium, and this is the same as the Super Special that will be used five times during the weekend. The surface at the stadium is concrete and tarmac, while the rest of the stages are on gravel.

1. Dani Sordo, Citroen 2:34.2
2. Francois Duval, Ford 2:34.5
3. Mikko Hirvonen, Ford 2:34.6
4. Henning Solberg, Ford 2:35.0
5. Sebastien Loeb, Citroen 2:35.1
5. Petter Solberg, Subaru 2:35.1
7. Chris Atkinson, Subaru 2:35.3
8. Jari-Matti Latvala, Ford 2:35.6

Rally Japan 2008

The penultimate round of the 2008 WRC is here – it’s all set for Rally Japan. This is the third rally in October and after two tarmac events in the southern part of Europe, we are now heading for the gravel roads on the island Hokkaido. Forget the sun and high temperature in Spain and Corsica, Sapporo could easily have temperatures below zero and a lot of rain. Since some of the stages are used up to five times, you can imagine how the stages could be at the end.

Hokkaido is one of four big islands in Japan, with Sapporo being the largest city. This is the fifth time Japan is hosting a rally. 344km and 29 stages are waiting, and it will be a tough weekend for both drivers and cars.

Petter won this event in 2004, and both he and the team have been working hard to prepare for this rally, as Japan is the home rally for Subaru. Mikko Hirvonen won here last year, while both Marcus Grønholm and Sebastien Loeb retired.

Read the rest of this entry »

Viki’s report – Wednesday

Yoichi, Michiko, Hiromi, crazy woman in the middle, Hiroyuki, Yoshi & Shige.

Rear Cars:
STI Impreza Replica of Michiko & Yoichi from Obihiro, Viki’s Legacy B-Sport Replica (Petter says it is too slow but I kept up with him all
yesterday) & Yoshi’s new STI Legacy Replica!!!
Phil finally signed Michiko’s Impreza at the hotel this morning and Phil & Petter both signed Yoshi’s Legacy. My car will not be unique anymore!

Petter talks to Yoshi, Hiromi & Shige at service after recce

Viki & her WRBlue nails have a last picture with Petter before everyone went to Hokkaido Subaru for a talk show!

Read the rest of this entry »

Viki’s report – Tuesday