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.

2008 Swedish Rally
57th Uddeholm Swedish Rally
Round 2 of the 2008 World Rally Championship
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Host country Sweden
Rally baseKarlstad, Sweden
Dates runFebruary 7 – 10 2008
Stages20 (340.24 km; 211.42 miles)
Stage surfaceSnow/Ice-covered gravel
Overall distance1,440.08 km (894.82 miles)
Statistics
Crews61 at start, 49 at finish
Overall results
Overall winnerFinland Jari-Matti Latvala
United Kingdom BP-Ford World Rally Team

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.[1][2]

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.[3][4] 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.[5] 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;[6] 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;[7] his own record would stand until the 2021 Rally Estonia where it would be broken by the 20-year-old Kalle Rovanperä.

Results

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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 [1] 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
[1] — Including 5 minute penalty for replacing the damaged engine after malfunction during 2008 Monte Carlo Rally.[8]
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

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All dates and times are CET (UTC+1).

Day Stage Time Name Length Winner Time Avg. 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. Solberg
2
(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/h
3
(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 [1]
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/h
4
(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 [2]
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

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Drivers' championship

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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
Key
Colour Result
Gold Winner
Silver 2nd place
Bronze 3rd place
Green Points finish
Blue Non-points finish
Non-classified finish (NC)
Purple Did not finish (Ret)
Black Excluded (EX)
Disqualified (DSQ)
White Did not start (DNS)
Cancelled (C)
Blank Withdrew entry from
the event (WD)

Manufacturers' championship

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Rank Driver Event Total
points
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

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Points table:[9]

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

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  1. ^ a b "Swedish Rally: SS12 - cancelled". Crash.net. 2008-02-09. Retrieved 2008-02-11.
  2. ^ a b "Second stage cancelled". Crash.net. 2008-02-10. Retrieved 2008-02-11.
  3. ^ "NEWS FLASH: Wilson Jr loses fifth". Crash.net. 2008-02-10. Retrieved 2008-02-11.
  4. ^ "Throttle issue robs Wilson Jr". Crash.net. 2008-02-11. Archived from the original on 15 February 2008. Retrieved 2008-02-11.
  5. ^ "Loeb: Engine was on its last legs". Crash.net. 2008-02-09. Archived from the original on 12 February 2008. Retrieved 2008-02-11.
  6. ^ "NEWS FLASH: Henning goes off". Crash.net. 2008-02-09. Archived from the original on 12 February 2008. Retrieved 2008-02-11.
  7. ^ "Latvala claims historic Swedish win". Autosport. Archived from the original on 11 February 2008. Retrieved 2008-02-10.
  8. ^ "Engine blow for Sordo". Crash.net. 2008-02-07. Archived from the original on 11 February 2008. Retrieved 2008-02-11.
  9. ^ "2008 Production WRC Classification". Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. Retrieved 2009-02-01.
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