2008 Rally Argentina

Infobox Rally
name = 2008 Rally Argentina
native_name = 28º Rally Argentina
round = 4
championship = 2008 World Rally Championship
previous_round = 2008 Rally México
next_round = 2008 Jordan Rally
country = ARG


caption = Petter Solberg driving his Subaru Impreza WRC2006 at the 2006 edition.
rallybase = Córdoba, Argentina
startdate = March 28
enddate = 30, 2008
stages = 21
stagekm = 352.07
overallkm = 1619.45cite news
url=http://www.crash.net/motorsport/wrc/news/161182-4/preview_rally_argentina_-_pt_2.html
title=Preview: Rally Argentina - Pt. 2.
date=2008-03-25
accessdate=2008-05-18
publisher="Crash.net"]
surface = Gravel
driver1 = flagicon|FRA Sébastien Loeb
team1 = flagicon|FRA Citroën Total World Rally Team
teamsstart = 56
teamsfinish = 31The 2008 Rally Argentina, officially "28º Rally Argentina", is the fourth round of 2008 World Rally Championship season; it is a second gravel round of the championship and also the second round of the Production World Rally Championship. The event began with a ceremonial start on Thursday, March 27 in Cordoba [cite news
url=http://motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=283295&FS=WRC
title=Rally Argentina: Suzuki ceremonial start notes
date=2008-03-28
accessdate=2008-03-30
publisher=motorsport.com] and ended after a Super Special Stage and ten minutes service "E" in Villa Carlos Paz. [cite web
url=http://www.ewrc-results.com/harmonogram.php?event=152
title=Rally Argentina: Itinerary
work=eWRC-results.com
accessdate=2008-03-30]

Some stages of the rally, especially the ones from final day, similarly to those seen on the Mexican event, are held in the mountainous area of the country, thus drivers climb up to 2100 meters above sea levels. The event, however, is more varied and some competitive kilometers lead through vast Argentinian plains. [cite news
url=http://www.crash.net/motorsport/wrc/news/161181-0/preview_rally_argentina_-_pt_1.html
title=Preview: Rally Argentina - Pt. 1.
date=2008-03-25
accessdate=2008-05-18
publisher="Crash.net"]

ummary

The rally began in rainy and muddy conditions. Mikko Hirvonen was the first on the road as the championship leader and managed to open up a 48-second gap to Jari-Matti Latvala and a 50-second gap to Sébastien Loeb. However, the BP Ford drivers soon dropped out of contention. On the second stage, Latvala spun off and lost about nine minutes, [cite news
url=http://www.crash.net/motorsport/wrc/news/161279-0/news_flash_latvala_goes_off.html
title=NEWS FLASH: Latvala goes off.
date=2008-03-28
accessdate=2008-05-18
publisher=Crash.net] and on the fifth stage, Hirvonen and Stobart VK M-Sport Ford's Henning Solberg damaged their cars while hitting rocks and retired from the rally. [cite news
url=http://www.crash.net/motorsport/wrc/news/161295-0/news_flash_mikko_and_henning_out.html
title=NEWS FLASH: Mikko and Henning out.
date=2008-03-28
accessdate=2008-05-18
publisher=Crash.net] Loeb managed to open up a comfortable gap to Subaru's Chris Atkinson and Petter Solberg. Other drivers in the points after day one were Gigi Galli, Dani Sordo, Federico Villagra, Matthew Wilson and Latvala.

Loeb continued to lead throughout day two, and Solberg passed his teammate Atkinson for second place. Galli retired from fourth place to preserve his vehicle when smoke started to pour from his Ford Focus after SS13. [cite news
url=http://www.crash.net/motorsport/wrc/news/161532-0/galli_shocked_to_still_score.html
title=Galli shocked to still score.
date=2008-04-03
accessdate=2008-05-18
publisher=Crash.net] Latvala also had problems with his Focus and retired. After day two, due to the high level of attrition, Sordo was now in fourth place, Conrad Rautenbach had climbed to fifth, Hirvonen, who re-joined the event under "SupeRally" rules, to sixth and Andreas Aigner to seventh. Villagra was in eighth place.

French World Rally Champion held his lead until the very end of the event and won the event with ove two and a half minute advantage over the Subaru driver, Atkinson. The young Australian's steady pace paid off and he was able to claim second place after electric in Petter Solberg's car malfunctioned [cite news
url=http://www.crash.net/motorsport/wrc/news/161387-0/news_flash_disaster_for_petter.html
title=NEWS FLASH: Disaster for Petter.
date=2008-03-30
accessdate=2008-05-18
publisher=Crash.net] and he had to retire. Petter's brother, Henning, didn't manage to finish either - shock absorber in older Solberg's Focus was blown through the hood again, same way as on Friday, and he ended his rally at the very same spot as his younger sibling. [cite video
date2 = 2008-03-30
title = WRC Argentina Day 3
medium = TV relation
publisher = Eurosport
accessdate = 2008-05-18
time = ~16']

The last man on the podium was second Citroën driver, Dani Sordo, followed by Conrad Rautenbach in another C4 WRC, who was therefore first Zimbabwean to ever score points in an WRC event. [cite news
url=http://www.crash.net/motorsport/wrc/news/161461-0/crazy_fourth_for_rautenbach.html
title='Crazy' fourth for Rautenbach.
date=2008-04-01
accessdate=2008-05-18
publisher="Crash.net"] Fifth was Ford's Mikko Hirvonen who managed to score four points in drivers' and five in manufacturers' championship despite massive penalties for using "SupeRally". [cite news
url=http://www.crash.net/motorsport/wrc/news/161481-0/mikko_i_could_have_won.html
title=Mikko: I could have won.
date=2008-04-01
accessdate=2008-05-18
publisher=Crash.net] Last three pointing drivers were Munchi's Federico Villagra, Stobart's Gigi Galli, who also restarted under SupeRally format and Andreas Aigner driving a group N Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX. He was also first in PWRC classification, followed by Argentinian Sebastián Beltrán and Finn Jari Ketomaa.

Special stages

Footnotes: A all times local

References

External links

* [http://wrc.com/jsp/index.jsp?lnk=405&season=2008&rally_id=RA Results] at official page [http://www.wrc.com/ WRC.com]
* [http://www.ewrc-results.com/final.php?event=152 Results] on [http://www.ewrc-results.com eWRC-results.com]