RallyRACC Catalunya – Costa Daurada 2008 Results, photos and Eurosport coverage: Sebastien Loeb makes it win #45
Images: ©willyweyens-rallyworld
Seb Loeb secured his 45th victory with relative ease on Rally Catalunya and was never threatened throughout the three days as he extended his lead in the drivers' championship.
His teammate Dani Sordo secured second after a trouble free rally to put Citroen in control of the manufacturers' title race. Hirvonen took third for Ford after team-orders allowed him to pass Duval on the final day to give him a slight chance in the drivers' championship. Loeb's victory is his fourth in a row this year and ninth of the season so far.
Duval had a faultless run in the works Focus and kept Hirvonen at bay until the team-orders but the 08 Focus just had no answer for the dominant Citroen's. Petter Solberg claimed fifth after a rally long battle with Aava which ended when the Citroen driver retired on the penultimate stage with mechanical problems. Latvala was sixth on his first appearance of two for the Stobart team in his Structo Focus and was just glad to get a finish after crashing out on the last three successive rallies.
Onboard Loeb:
Onboard Sordo:
Chris Atkinson was a distant seventh for Subaru with Andreas Mikkelsen 8th after being as high as fifth at the start of the rally. Matt Wilson netted 9th and Brice Tirabassi was tenth in the SWRT S14 WRC on his first of two runs with the team. Suzuki had a rather demanding rally with PG crashing on the first day due to a pacenote error resulting in SupeRally while Garde suffered some costly punctures eventually finishing 13th o/a.
PG Andersson crash:
Martin Prokop took a deservered JWRC win after Sebastien Ogier uncharacteristically crashed out of the final day whilst leading. Only Aaron Burkart can deprive Ogier of the title in Corsica and is now only four points behind. Shaun Gallagher finished fourth and lies joint second with Burkart in the championship but has no more scoring opportunities left. Alex Bettega finished second JWRC in Spain with his Renault Clio R3.
Kris Meeke looked good in shakedown with the R3 Clio but was plagued by various issues right from SS1 when he punctured then suffered from no brakes near the end of the stage. The brake problems would continue throughout the weekend as well as a flat engine and Kris would eventually retire with alternator problems on the final day.
Images from Catalunya provided coutesy ©willyweyens-rallyworld
Eurosport video footage from Day 1 and 2 of Rally Catalunya:
RACC Rally Catalunya 2008 Final Standings:
1. Sebastien Loeb Citroen Total WRT C4 WRC 3hours 21mins 17.4secs M
2. Daniel Sordo Citroen Total WRT C4 WRC +00mins 24.9secs M
3. Mikko Hirvonen BP Ford Abu Dhabi Focus RS WRC 08 +01mins 02.5secs M
4. Francois Duval BP Ford Abu Dhabi Focus RS WRC 08 +01mins 10.8secs M
5. Petter Solberg Subaru WRT Impreza WRC 2008 +03mins 27.4secs M
6. Jari-Matti Latvala Stobart VK Ford Focus WRC 07 +04mins 03.8secs MT
7. Chris Atkinson Subaru WRT Impreza WRC 2008 +04mins 04.9secs M
8. Andreas Mikkelsen Ramsport Ford Focus WRC 07 +05mins 19.6secs A8
9. Matthew Wilson Stobart VK Ford Focus WRC 07 +07mins 43.2secs MT
10. Brice Tirabassi Subaru WRT Impreza WRC 2008 +09mins 05.0secs A8
11. Henning Solberg Munchi's Ford Focus WRC 07 +10mins 08.6secs MT
12. Federico Villagra Munchi's Ford Focus WRC 07 +10mins 37.3secs MT
13. Toni Gardemeister Suzuki WRT SX4 WRC +11mins 26.1secs M
14. Mads Ostberg Adapta Subaru WRC S12b +11mins 57.0secs A8
15. Eamonn Boland Subaru Impreza WRC S12b +18mins 52.1secs A8
16. Martin Prokop Citroen C2 S1600 +20mins 07.6secs J
17. Alessandro Bettega Renault Clio R3 +20mins 32.2secs J
18. Gareth Jones Subaru Impreza WRC S12B +20mins 36.4secs A8
19. Jasper van den Heuvel Mitsubishi Evo 9 +21mins 05.0secs N4
20. Aaron Burkart Citroen C2 S1600 +21mins 12.1secs J
World Rally Drivers' Championship (after 12 of 15 rounds):
1. Sebastien Loeb Citroen Total WRT C4 WRC 96 points
2. Mikko Hirvonen BP Ford Abu Dhabi Focus RS WRC 84 points
3. Daniel Sordo Citroen Total WRT C4 WRC 59 points
4. Chris Atkinson Subaru WRT Impreza WRC 42 points
5. Jari-Matti Latvala BP Ford Abu Dhabi Focus RS WRC 37 points
6. Petter Solberg Subaru WRT Impreza WRC 36 points
7. Henning Solberg Stobart/Munchi's Ford Focus WRC 22 points
8. Gigi Galli Stobart VK M-Sport Ford Focus WRC 17 points
9. Francois Duval Stobart VK M-Sport Ford Focus WRC 16 points
10. Matthew Wilson Stobart VK M-Sport Ford Focus WRC 12 points
World Rally Manufacturers' Championship (after 12 of 15 rounds):
1. Citroen Total WRT 159 points
2. BP Ford Abu Dhabi WRT 132 points
3. Subaru WRT 80 points
4. Stobart VK M-Sport Ford RT 55 points
5. Munchi's Ford WRT 22 points
6. Suzuki WRT 20 points
Junior Rally Championship (for drivers) (after 6 of 7 rounds):
1. Sebastien Ogier Citroen C2 S1600 34 points
2. Aaron Burkart Citroen C2 S1600 30 points
= Shaun Gallagher Citroen C2 S1600 30 points
4. Michal Kosciuszko Suzuki Swift S1600 22 points
= Martin Prokop Citroen C2 S1600 22 points
= Alessandro Bettega Renault Clio R3 22 points
7. Patrik Sandell Renault Clio S1600 18 points
8. Jaan Molder Suzuki Swift S1600 11 points
9. Stefano Albertini Renault Clio 9 points
10. Gilles Schammel Renault Clio R3 8 points
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