Rally Germany 2008

 Rally Germany 2008

Racing data
10th of 15 races of the 2008 World Rally Championship
Surname:	Rally Germany
Date:	15-17 August 2008
Begin:	trier
Exams:	19 tests over 352.63 km
Distance:	1165.09 km
Covering:	asphalt
Podium
First:	Sébastien Loeb Citroën Total World Rally Team
Second:	Dani Sordo Citroën Total World Rally Team
Third:	François Duval Stobart M-Sport Ford RT

The 27th Rallye Deutschland was the tenth of 15 FIA World Championship races in 2008. The rally consisted of 19 special stages and was held between August 15th and 17th.

Race report

Sébastien Loeb (Citroën) won the Rally Germany for the seventh time in a row in Trier . With this success in the drivers' world championship, Loeb overtook title rival Mikko Hirvonen (Ford), who did not get past fourth place. Loeb's team-mate Daniel Sordo finished second, more than 47 seconds behind, in front of a faultless François Duval (Ford).

Loeb laid the foundation for success on Friday. The Citroën driver set the fastest time on all the special stages and always showed the competition the rear. Only Sordo and Hirvonen could keep up in the beginning. On Saturday Loeb turned it up again and clearly distanced his teammates.

In the last special stage on Sunday, Loeb didn't let anything go wrong. There was a particularly close duel around the Porta Nigra . On the 4.37-kilometer final lap, Petter Solberg (Subaru), Loeb and Andreas Mikkelsen (Ford) drove exactly the same time of 3: 22.4 minutes, so there were no more changes to the final result of the rally in the top positions.

François Duval had already resigned himself to fourth position, but benefited from Hirvenen's tire damage and took third place without a fight. Despite great efforts, Hirvonen was unable to regain third place and was finally satisfied with fourth and five world championship points.

The rally was overshadowed by a serious accident by Gianluigi Gallis (Ford). On Friday, Galli had an accident in a wooded area and suffered a broken thigh in the accident. Galli was operated on that evening. Co-driver Giovanni Bernacchini got away with a few bruises.

Classifications

Loeb / Elena (Citroën C4 WRC) in Trier 2008

Duval / Pivato (Ford Focus RS WRC) on the second special stage

Bottom line

Item	driver	Co-driver	automobile	time	Residue	Points
WRC
1	Sébastien Loeb	Daniel Elena	Citroën C4 WRC	3: 26: 19.7		10
2	Daniel Sordo	Marc Martí	Citroën C4 WRC	3: 27: 07.4	+ 00: 47.7	8th
3	François Duval	Patrick Pivato	Ford Focus RS WRC	3: 27: 39.7	+ 01: 20.0	6th
4th	Mikko Hirvonen	Jarmo Lehtinen	Ford Focus RS WRC	3: 27: 49.8	+ 01: 30.1	5
5	Petter Solberg	Phil Mills	Subaru Impreza WRC	3: 28: 55.0	+ 02: 35.3	4th
6th	Chris Atkinson	Stéphane Prévot	Subaru Impreza WRC	3: 31: 05.6	+ 04: 45.9	3
7th	Henning Solberg	Cato Menkerud	Ford Focus RS WRC	3: 31: 55.9	+ 05: 36.2	2
8th	Urmo Aava	Kuldar Sikk	Citroën C4 WRC	3: 31: 57.5	+ 05: 37.8	1
JWRC
1 (19)	Sébastien Ogier	Julien Ingrassia	Citroën C2 S1600	3: 47: 36.0	+ 21: 16.3	10
2 (22)	Aaron Burkart	Michael Koelbach	Citroën C2 S1600	3: 51: 10.2	+ 24: 50.5	8th
3 (25)	Alessandro Bettega	Simone Scattolin	Renault Clio R3	3: 52: 50.4	+ 26: 30.7	6th
4 (26)	Shaun Gallagher	Paul Kiely	Citroën C2 S1600	3: 53: 16.9	+ 26: 57.2	5
5 (30)	Simone Bertolotti	Daniele Vernuccio	Renault Clio S1600	3: 58: 51.7	+ 32: 32.0	4th
6 (34)	Kevin Abbring	Bjorn Degandt	Renault Clio R3	4: 09: 57.9	+ 43: 38.2	3
7 (36)	Andrea Cortinovis	Giancarla Guzzi	Renault Clio S1600	4: 10: 55.5	+ 44: 35.8	2
8 (38)	Florian Niegel	André tile	Suzuki Swift S1600	4: 12: 35.9	+ 46: 16.2	1

Special stages

Day	WP number	WP name	length	WP winner	time	Ø km / h	leader
Day 1 (15th Aug)	WP1	Ruwertal / Fell 1	21.22 km	Sébastien Loeb	11: 31.6	110.5 km / h	Sébastien Loeb
	WP2	County of Veldenz 1	23.04 km	Sébastien Loeb	13: 14.4	104.4 km / h
	WP3	Moselland 1	9.82 km	Sébastien Loeb	5: 29.3	107.4 km / h
	WP4	Ruwertal / Fell 2	21.22 km	Sébastien Loeb	11: 28.7	110.9 km / h
	WP5	County of Veldenz 2	23.04 km	Sébastien Loeb	13: 12.3	104.7 km / h
	WP6	Moselland 2	9.82 km	Sébastien Loeb	5: 26.2	108.4 km / h
Day 2 (16 Aug)	WP7	Bosenberg 1	19.12 km	Sébastien Loeb	10: 50.1	105.9 km / h
	WP8	Freisen / Westrich 1	16.16 km	Sébastien Loeb	9: 26.9	102.6 km / h
	WP9	Birkenfelder Land 1	14.22 km	Sébastien Loeb	7: 57.1	107.3 km / h
	WP10	Armor plate 1	30.38 km	Sébastien Loeb	17: 44.5	102.7 km / h
	WP11	Bosenberg 2	19.12 km	Sébastien Loeb	10: 50.6	105.8 km / h
	WP12	Freisen / Westrich 2	16.16 km	Sébastien Loeb	9: 30.4	102.0 km / h
	WP13	Birkenfelder Land 2	14.22 km	Sébastien Loeb	7: 56.3	107.5 km / h
	WP14	Armor plate 2	30.38 km	Daniel Sordo	17: 41.5	103.0 km / h
Day 3 (17th Aug)	WP15	Dhrontal 1	22.09 km	François Duval	14: 23.1	92.1 km / h
	WP16	Moselle wine 1	18.08 km	François Duval	10: 43.9	101.1 km / h
	WP17	Dhrontal 2	22.09 km	François Duval	14: 15.7	92.9 km / h
	WP18	Moselle wine 2	18.08 km	François Duval	10: 45.4	100.8 km / h
	19WP	Circus Maximus Trier	4.37 km	Sébastien Loeb Andreas Mikkelsen Petter Solberg	3: 22.4	77.7 km / h

Source:

Individual evidence

1. ↑ motorsport-total.com: Loeb wins for the seventh time in Germany , accessed on January 31, 2016
2. ↑ ewrc-results.com: Stage results , accessed on October 10, 2015

Web links

Commons : World Rally Championship 2008  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Official website