Rally Germany 2008

Sebastien Loeb drove in to his seventh victory in Germany, when he won the 2008 Rally Germany today. Dani Sordo came second, while Duval ended third. Hirvoenen came fourth and Petter ended fifth, his best in Germany ever.

Next event on the calendar is Rally New Zealand, 28. – 31. August.

Overall classification, Rally Germany 2008

1.  Sebastien Loeb, Citroen    3:26:19.7
2.  Daniel Sordo, Citroen    +47.7
3.  François Duval, Ford    +1:20.0
4.  Mikko Hirvonen, Ford    +1:30.1
5.  Petter Solberg, Subaru    +2:35.3
6.  Chris Atkinson, Subaru    +4:45.9
7.  Henning Solberg, Ford    +5:36.2
8.  Urmo Aava, Citroen    +5:37.8
9.  Jari-Matti Latvala, Ford    +6:17.2
10.  Toni Gardemeister, Suzuki    +7:16.8
11.  Andreas Mikkelsen, Ford    +8:30.8

Rally Germany, day 2

The second day of Rally Germany has come to an end and Sebastien Loeb are still leading the rally. Dani Sordo is second, while Duval has moved up to third. Mikko Hirvonen dropped down to fourth, and Petter climbed up to fifth overall.

Day 2 of Rally Germany started with a thriller-morning. Petter slid off the road and got stuck a bit on the first stage. He lost time, but still he managed to drive in to the 7th fastest time on stage 8. Sordo, who was third after day 1, was very fast on the stage and passed Hirvonen on the overall classification.

PG Andersson damaged a wheel when he hit a concrete kerb on SS8. As a result of that, he was 3 minutes late in to a time control and got 1minute and 50seconds penalty. Latvala drove into a hay bail on stage 9 and dropped down from 5th to 9th overall. On the final stage of the day, Hirvonen dropped down to fourth position due to a puncture. Petter drove in to third fastest time on the same stage, The Panzerplatte, and was quite happy with that. – It went quite well, not bad at all! That was Petters comment when he was at the time-control after the stage.

Sebastien Loeb, who has been fastest on all the stages except one so far in Rally Germany, said to Rally Radio after Stage 13 that he was going on reduced speed, to spare the engine, as they will be using the same engine both in Spain and Corsica. – Loeb and that car is an incredible match, you just have to take the hat off for him, Petter said when he crossed the finish line on the same stage.

Gigi Galli, who went off the road and into a three yesterday, will probably not be back behind the wheel in the WRC for the rest of the 2008 season. Galli broke his leg in the accident and will be kept in hospital in Germany for a few more days. There will be another six weeks before he can walk on the leg.

Rally Germany finishes Sunday with 5 stages. First car will be on stage at 0728.

Overall classification day 2, Rally Germany

1.  Sébastien Loeb, Citroen    
2.  Daniel Sordo, Citroen    +40.3
3.     François Duval, Ford    +1:44.3
4.     Mikko Hirvonen, Ford    +1:48.2
5.  Petter Solberg, Subaru    +2:28.7
6.  Chris Atkinson, Subaru    +3:32.1
7.  Henning Solberg, Ford    +4:33.4
8.  Urmo Aava, Citroen    +4:57.1

Rally Germany, day 1

Day 1 in Germany are over, and Petter is in 6th position overall. Sebastien Loeb has been fastest in every stage today, and is leading the rally overall. Mikko Hirvonen is second and Dani Sordo third.

As the only team today, SWRT chose send Petter and Chris out on the morning loop with hard compound tyre. SWRT later explained that this was just to be cautious, since this is the first rally on tarmac for the new car.

SS6 was cancelled due to too many spectators, in the wrong place. Three cars were sent through before the organiser chose to send the rest of the cars trough the stage in road pace. – Too bad for all the spectators that showed up to see the rally. But on the other hand, it is good for the sport to have a lot of spectators, but they need to stay in a safe place, Petter said when he crossed the time control on Stage 6.

Gigi Galli went off the road on a fast section on SS5, about 12 km after the start. The stage was stopped for a while, since rescue vehicles was needed. Both Galli and his codriver are well, but were taken to hospital for check up.

Another 8 stages are waiting for the drivers Saturday, first car is on stage 08.18.

Overall classification, day 1

1.  Sébastien Loeb, Citroen
2.  Mikko Hirvonen, Ford    +19.9
3.  Daniel Sordo, Citroen    +25.6
4.  François Duval, Ford    +38.7
5.  Jari-Matti Latvala, Ford    +55.7
6.  Petter Solberg, Subaru    +1:03.9
7.  Chris Atkinson, Subaru    +1:34.0
8.  Henning Solberg    +1:36.2

First car on stage

Rally Germany has started. There are 6 stages on the first day, last stage starts at 1658. Mikko Hirvonen is first on the road; Petter will be car number six. The weather is good at the moment, but showers are expected.

Friday, 15. August
09:13 am  SS1 Ruwertal / Fell 1  21.22 km 
10:26 am  SS2 Grafschaft Veldenz 1  23.04 km 
11:19 am  SS3 Moselland 1   9.82 km 
12:34 pm  Regrouping / Service in Trier   
02:52 pm  SS4 Ruwertal / Fell 2  21.22 km 
04:05 pm  SS5 Grafschaft Veldenz 2  23.04 km 
04:58 pm  SS6 Moselland 2   9.82 km

Shakedown-time, Germany

Shakedown-times Germany

1. Sordo 3.31,1
2. Duval +4,4
3. Loeb +5,5
4. Hirvonen +5,7
5. Henning +6,1
6. Galli +7,1
7. Petter +7,7
8. Latvala +8,8
9. Atkinson +10,0

ADAC Rallye Deutschland

It’s rallyweek again, and we are heading to Germany and the 10th event on the 2008 calendar. It is the second asphalt-event this year, but the first for Petter and the brand new Impreza.

Rally Germany is based in the city of Trier, south in Germany and close to Luxembourg. 84 entrants are on the entrylist, only three of them being Norwegian. Petter and Henning, of course, and Andreas Mikkelsen. Mads Østberg decided to withdraw earlier this week, due to problems with the car. Duval is nominated together with Gigi Galli for Stobart.

Petters best result in Germany is 7th in 2007. Sebastien Loeb has won this event every year since 2002.

“Germany is a rally I like, but one I’ve had mixed experiences on. It’s fast, but it’s very unforgiving. We have done two days’ testing in the new car on asphalt, and Markko has done a few more days, so it’s relatively new for us but things so far are feeling good. We’ve been fast in Germany in the past so we will see what we can do there in the new car. It’s a new car on new tyres, so there will be a lot of learning for the team, but it’s important ahead of Spain and Corsica.”

Itinerary

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