The 2008 Swedish Rally, officially 57th Uddeholm Swedish Rally, was the second round of the 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 the Super Special Stage placed in the rally's base, Karlstad. The rally was also the first round of the Production Car World Rally Championship this season.
Even though 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 length.
The rally was won by BP Ford World Rally Team's Jari-Matti Latvala; the first of his championship career. Latvala's teammate 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. 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. 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; after rejoining the fight under SupeRally format Norwegian was the fastest driver on day three, winning all the remaining stages.
With his debut win, the 22-year old Latvala became the then-youngest winner in the history of the WRC, breaking Henri Toivonen's record from the 1980 RAC Rally; his own record would stand until the 2021 Rally Estonia where it would be broken by the 20-year-old Kalle Rovanperä.
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Results Pos. Driver Co-driver Car Time Difference Points WRC 1. Jari-Matti Latvala Miikka Anttila Ford Focus RS WRC 07 2:46:41.2 10 2. Mikko Hirvonen Jarmo Lehtinen Ford Focus RS WRC 07 2:47:39.5 +58.3 8 3. Gigi Galli Giovanni Bernacchini Ford Focus RS WRC 07 2:49:04.4 2:23.2 6 4. Petter Solberg Phil Mills Subaru Impreza WRC2007 2:49:40.6 2:59.4 5 5. Andreas Mikkelsen Ola Floene Ford Focus RS WRC 06 2:52:27.2 5:46.0 4 6. Dani Sordo Marc Marti Citroën C4 WRC 2:53:54.3 7:13.1 3 7. Toni Gardemeister Tomi Tuominen Suzuki SX4 WRC 2:57:16.5 10:35.3 2 8. Juho Hänninen Mikko Markkula Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX 2:59:08.7 12:27.5 1 — Including 5 minute penalty for replacing the damaged engine after malfunction during 2008 Monte Carlo Rally. PCWRC 1. (8.) Juho Hänninen Mikko Markkula Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX 2:59:08.7 10 2. (10.) Jari Ketomaa Miika Teiskonen Subaru Impreza WRX STi N14 3:00:31.9 1:23.2 8 3. (11.) Patrik Sandell Emil Axelsson Peugeot 207 S2000 3:01:00.5 1:51.8 6 4. (12.) Martin Prokop Jan Tománek Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX 3:01:11.7 2:03.0 5 5. (14.) Uwe Nittel Detlef Ruf Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX 3:03:04.0 3:55.3 4 6. (15.) Toshihiro Arai Glenn MacNeall Subaru Impreza WRX STi 3:03:31.6 4:22.9 3 7. (17.) Armindo Araujo Miguel Ramalho Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX 3:05:13.9 6:05.2 2 8. (19.) Bernardo Sousa Carlos Magalhães Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX 3:07:07.3 7:58.6 1
Special stages All dates and times are CET (UTC+1). DayStageTimeNameLengthWinnerTimeAvg. spd.Rally leader 1 (7 FEB) SS1 20:04 SSS Karlstad 1 1.90 km P. Solberg 1:28.9 76.5 km/h P. Solberg2(8 FEB) SS2 09:34 Stensjön 1 15.50 km J. Latvala 7:24.0 125.7 km/h J. Latvala SS3 10:44 Bjälverud 1 21.58 km J. Latvala 10:33.7 122.5 km/h SS4 11:23 Mangen 1 22.09 km J. Latvala 12:20.7 107.4 km/h SS5 13:25 Stensjön 2 15.50 km J. Latvala 7:22.3 126.2 km/h SS6 14:35 Bjälverud 2 21.58 km J. Latvala 10:32.4 122.8 km/h SS7 15:14 Mangen 2 22.09 km J. Latvala 12:21.2 107.3 km/h SS8 18:00 SSS Karlstad 2 1.90 km G. Galli 1:28.2 77.6 km/h3(9 FEB) SS9 08:25 Horssjön 1 14.89 km S. Loeb 9:18.1 96.0 km/h SS10 09:38 Hagfors 1 20.92 km D. Sordo 11:45.8 106.7 km/h SS11 10:41 Vargåsen 1 24.63 km S. Loeb 13:49.1 106.9 km/h SS12 13:04 Horssjön 2 14.89 km Cancelled SS13 14:17 Hagfors 2 20.92 km D. Sordo 11:30.1 109.1 km/h SS14 15:20 Vargåsen 2 24.63 km M. Hirvonen 13:32.5 109.1 km/h4(10 FEB) SS15 08:08 Ullen 1 16.25 km H. Solberg 8:21.7 116.6 km/h SS16 09:13 Lesjöfors 1 10.49 km H. Solberg 5:54.5 106.5 km/h SS17 09:45 Rämmen 1 21.87 km H. Solberg 11:14.4 116.7 km/h SS18 11:21 Ullen 2 16.25 km Cancelled SS19 12:26 Lesjöfors 2 10.49 km H. Solberg 5:43.8 109.7 km/h SS20 12:58 Rämmen 2 21.87 km H. Solberg 11:07.1 118.0 km/h
Championship standings after the event
Drivers' championship Pos Driver MON SWE MEX ARG JOR ITA GRC TUR FIN GER NZL ESP FRA JPN GBR Pts 1 Mikko Hirvonen 2 2 16 2 Jari-Matti Latvala 12 1 10 Sébastien Loeb 1 Ret. 10 4 Gigi Galli 6 3 9 Petter Solberg 5 4 9 6 Chris Atkinson 3 21 6 7 François Duval 4 5 8 Andreas Mikkelsen 5 4 9 Dani Sordo 11 6 3 10 Jean-Marie Cuoq 7 2 Toni Gardemeister Ret. 7 2 12 Per-Gunnar Andersson 8 Ret. 1 Juho Hänninen 8 1 Pos Driver MON SWE MEX ARG JOR ITA GRC TUR FIN GER NZL ESP FRA JPN GBR Pts
Manufacturers' championship Rank Driver Event Totalpoints MON SWE MEX ARG JOR ITA GRC TUR FIN GER NZL ESP FRA JPN GBR 1 BP Ford World Rally Team 8 18 - - - - - - - - - - - - - 26 2 Stobart M-Sport Ford Rally Team 8 8 - - - - - - - - - - - - - 16 Subaru World Rally Team 10 6 - - - - - - - - - - - - - 16 4 Citroën Total World Rally Team 11 4 - - - - - - - - - - - - - 15 5 Suzuki World Rally Team 2 3 - - - - - - - - - - - - - 5 6 Munchi's Ford World Rally Team - - - - - - - - - - - - - 0
Production championship Points table: Pos Driver SWE ARG GRC TUR FIN NZL JPN GBR Pts 1 Juho Hänninen 1 10 2 Jari Ketomaa 2 8 3 Patrik Sandell 3 6 4 Martin Prokop 4 5 5 Uwe Nittel 5 4 6 Toshihiro Arai 6 3 7 Armindo Araújo 7 2 8 Bernardo Sousa 8 1 Pos Driver SWE ARG GRC TUR FIN NZL JPN GBR Pts
References
External links Results at eWRC.com