The 2008 World Rally Championship was the 36th season of the FIA World Rally Championship. The season consisted of 15 rallies and began on 24 January, with the 2008 Monte Carlo Rally. Frenchman Sébastien Loeb successfully retained the Drivers' World Championship, his and co-driver Daniel Elena's record-breaking fifth consecutive title, all of them attained driving Citroëns. In addition, Citroën secured their fourth Manufacturers' title, and their first since 2005, from 2006 and 2007 victors, Ford.
Rule changes
The running order for the first day is governed by championship position, with the championship leader running first on the road. For every other day of a rally, the order is decided by the previous end of day classification (with the leader on classification running first). The term 'leg' has been replaced by 'day' in order to sound more understandable. Extra 10-minute service prior to the finish podium has been added, intended to allow the service park to remain an attraction until the end of the event.
With the switch to Pirelli tyres, tyre mousse (along with all anti-deflation devices) has been banned, and fewer compounds are available. Also the teams aren't allowed to modify tyres by themselves (e.g. by making additional cuts) anymore. At the first event of the season, the available tires were the soft slick DS tire (Pirelli PZero), the WX snow tire without studs, and the WX snow tire with studs (both variants of Pirelli Sottozero). The same snow tyres were used in Sweden as well. Later on loose surface tyres were introduced: Pirelli Scorpion, available in two variants – hard compound for abrasive surfaces, such as roads in Mexico or Greece, and soft one, for more muddy stages as seen on Welsh event. Tire walls have been strengthened in order to endure long, rough gravel stages often full of sharp rocks. The tread on Scorpions is asymmetric and directional, as it has proven more efficient during the tests.
Calendar The 2008 championship was contested over fifteen rounds in Europe, the Middle East, Asia, the Americas and Oceania. Rd.Start dateFinish dateRallyRally headquartersSurfaceStagesDistanceSupport class124 January27 January 76th Rallye Automobile Monte-CarloValence, Drôme, FranceMixed19365.09 kmNone28 February10 February 57th Uddeholm Swedish RallyKarlstad, Värmland CountySnow20340.24 kmPWRC328 February2 March 5th Corona Rally MexicoLeón, GuanajuatoGravel20353.75 kmJWRC427 March30 March 28th Rally ArgentinaCarlos Paz, CórdobaGravel21347.91 kmPWRC524 April27 April 1st Jordan RallyAmmanGravel22359.26 kmJWRC616 May18 May 5th Rally d'Italia SardiniaOlbia, SardiniaGravel17344.73 kmJWRC729 May1 June 55th BP Ultimate Acropolis Rally of GreeceTatoi, Northern AtticaGravel20331.52 kmPWRC813 June15 June 9th Rally of TurkeyKemer, Antalya ProvinceGravel19360.12 kmPWRC931 July3 August 58th Neste Oil Rally FinlandJyväskylä, Central FinlandGravel24340.42 kmPWRC/JWRC1015 August17 August 27th ADAC Rallye DeutschlandTrier, Rhineland-PalatinateTarmac19352.63 kmJWRC1128 August31 August 39th Repco Rally New ZealandHamilton, WaikatoGravel18353.04 kmPWRC122 October5 October 44th RallyRACC Catalunya - Costa DauradaSalou, CataloniaTarmac18353.62 kmJWRC1310 October12 October 52nd Tour de Corse - Rallye de FranceAjaccio, CorsicaTarmac16359.02 kmJWRC1431 October2 November 8th Pioneer Carrozzeria Rally JapanSapporo, HokkaidoGravel29343.69 kmPWRC155 December7 December 64th Wales Rally GBCardiff, WalesGravel19282.35 kmPWRCSources:
Calendar changes The 2008 season included 15 rallies, which was one less than the 2007 season. Rally Norway, Rally Portugal and Rally Ireland were dropped from the calendar for 2008. Rally of Turkey returned to the schedule, and Jordan Rally was part of the calendar for the first time. Rally Australia was planned to make a return after being absent in 2007, but the organizers submitted a request to the FIA to delay the event's return to the schedule until 2009.
The events also part of the Production World Rally Championship were Sweden, Argentina, Greece, Turkey, Finland, New Zealand, Japan and GB. The seven rallies also on the Junior World Rally Championship schedule were Mexico, Jordan, Italy, Finland, Germany, Spain and France.
Teams and drivers In 2008 two categories are valid to compete for the Manufacturer's championship:
Manufacturer (M) must take part in all the rallies of the Championship with two cars of the same make must enter only cars corresponding to the latest homologated version of a World Rally Car in conformity with the 2008 Appendix J must inform the FIA of the name of the first driver entered for the season at the time of registration for the Championship. No change of the first driver is authorised, except in a case of force majeure. The driver of the second car may be changed for each of the rallies in the Championship
Manufacturer Team (MT) must take part in a minimum of 10 Championship rallies with two cars of the same make; those rallies must be nominated on registering for the Championship cannot enter World Rally Cars homologated during the year 2008 and cannot use parts homologated after 2 January 2008 can only score points in the events it nominated on registering.
The teams and drivers for the 2008 season are as follows:
All teams ran Pirelli tyres.
Manufacturers Manufacturer Car TeamTyre No Drivers Co-drivers Rounds Citroën C4 WRC Citroën Total World Rally Team 1 Sébastien Loeb Daniel Elena All 2 Daniel Sordo Marc Marti All Ford Focus RS WRC 07 1-9Focus RS WRC 08 10-15 BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team 3 Mikko Hirvonen Jarmo Lehtinen All 4 Jari-Matti Latvala Miikka Anttila 1–11, 14–15 François Duval Patrick Pivato 12–13 Subaru Impreza WRC 2007 1-6Impreza WRC 2008 7-15 Subaru World Rally Team 5 Petter Solberg Phil Mills All 6 Chris Atkinson Stéphane Prévot All Suzuki SX4 WRC Suzuki World Rally Team 11 Toni Gardemeister Tomi Tuominen All 12 Per-Gunnar Andersson Jonas Andersson All Manufacturer Teams Ford Focus RS WRC 07 Stobart VK M-Sport Ford Rally Team 7 Gianluigi Galli Giovanni Bernacchini 1–10 François Duval Patrick Pivato 11, 14 Denis Giraudet 15 Matthew Wilson Scott Martin 12–13 8 François Duval Eddy Chevaillier 1 Patrick Pivato 10 Henning Solberg Cato Menkerud 2, 4–5, 7–9 Matthew Wilson Scott Martin 3, 6, 11, 14–15 Jari-Matti Latvala Miikka Anttila 12–13 Munchi's Ford World Rally Team 9 Federico Villagra Jorge Pérez Companc 3–9, 11–12, 14 10 Henning Solberg Cato Menkerud 3, 6, 11–12, 14 Luís Pérez Companc Jose Maria Volta 4, 9 Barry Clark José Díaz 5 Paul Nagle 8 Armodios Vovos Loris Meletopoulos 7 World Rally Car entries ineligible to score manufacturer points Manufacturer Car Team Tire Drivers Co-driversRounds Citroën C4 WRC World Rally Team Estonia Urmo Aava Kuldar Sikk 2, 5–13, 15 Equipe de France FFSA Sébastien Ogier Julien Ingrassia 15 Conrad Rautenbach Conrad Rautenbach David Senior 3–15 Xsara WRC 1–2 Ford Focus RS WRC 07 BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team Khalid Al Qassimi Michael Orr 1–2, 5–7, 9–10, 12–13, 15 Stobart VK M-Sport Ford Rally Team Henning Solberg Cato Menkerud 1, 10, 13, 15 Matthew Wilson Scott Martin 1, 4–5, 7–10 Barry Clark Paul Nagle 13, 15 Valentino Rossi Carlo Cassina 15 Focus RS WRC 04 Steve Perez Paul Spooner 15 Dave Weston Jr. Aled Davies 15Focus RS WRC 07 Van Merksteijn Motorsport Peter van Merksteijn Sr. Erwin Berkhof12 Hilco van Beek10Focus RS WRC 06 10Focus RS WRC 062, 6Focus RS WRC 06 Peter van Merksteijn Jr. Eddy Chevaillier 10, 12Focus RS WRC 06 Ramsport Andreas Mikkelsen Ola Fløene 2, 8–10, 12–13Focus RS WRC 07 Maria Andersson 6Focus RS WRC 06 Matti Rantanen Jan Lönegren 9 Ipatec Racing René Kuipers Erwin Mombaerts 10 Dennis Kuipers Kees Hagman 10 Erik Wevers Erik Wevers Jalmar van Weeren 10 Focus RS WRC 04 Clo Racing Jouni Arolainen Risto Pietiläinen 9 Peugeot 307 WRC Team Rallye Cuoq Jean-Marie Cuoq Philippe Janvier 1 Laurent Carbonaro Laurent Carbonaro Marc-Emilien Choudey 1 Armando Pereira Armando Pereira Antoine Paque 13 José Micheli José Micheli Virginie Dejoye 13 206 WRC Frédéric Romeyer Frédéric Romeyer Thomas Fournel 1 Triviño Racing Ricardo Triviño Sergio Salom 3 Escuderia Osona Albert Orriols Lluis Pujolar 12 Alain Vauthier Alain Vauthier Gaëtan Houssin 13 Georges Guebey Georges Guebey Nadège Passaquin 13 Škoda Fabia WRC Harry Kleinjan Harry Kleinjan Annemieke Hulzebos 10 Octavia WRC Evo3 Errani Team Riccardo Errani Stefano Casadio 1 Jukka Metsälä Jukka Metsälä Sari Ohra-Aho 9 Subaru Impreza WRC 2008 Subaru World Rally Team Brice Tirabassi Fabrice Gordon 12–13 Impreza WRC 2007 Adapta World Rally Team Mads Østberg Ole Kristian Unnerud 2, 6–7, 9–10, 12–13, 15 Eamonn Boland Eamonn Boland Michael Joseph Morrissey 12, 15 Gareth Jones Gareth Jones David Moynihan10 Clive Jenkins12–13, 15 Mark van Eldik Mark van Eldik Michel Groenewoud 10Impreza WRC 2001 Escuderia Motor Terrassa Joan Ollé Nicolas del Corral 12Impreza WRC 2005 François Padrona François Padrona Jean-François Mancini 13
Team and driver changes Suzuki made their full season debut in the WRC after a part time campaign in 2007. Their drivers were reigning JWRC champion Per-Gunnar Andersson and Toni Gardemeister.
Kronos left the WRC after the 2007 season to focus on running Peugeot Team Belux in the Intercontinental Rally Challenge.
Marcus Grönholm retired from the WRC after the 2007 season. He was replaced by Jari-Matti Latvala who had driven for Stobart VK M-Sport Ford Rally Team the previous season. Latvala himself was replaced by Gianlugi Galli at Stobart. The second Stobart seat was shared between 2007 drivers Matthew Wilson and Henning Solberg although the Norwegian would sometimes be nominated to score points for Munchi’s Ford.
François Duval was given a one off drive Stobart VK M-Sport in Monte Carlo as a tarmac specialist. He was given another one off drive in Germany. After Gianlugi Galli broke his left femur in a crash, Duval would replace Galli from New Zealand onwards, despite Marcus Grönholm being initially offered the drive. Duval would be promoted to the main Ford team for the remaining two Tarmac rallies in France and Spain, replacing the struggling Latvala.
2007 Ford Fiesta Sporting Trophy winner Barry Clark was signed by Ford on a part time campaign where he would participate in four events with Stobart and Munchi’s.
Subaru had planned to run a third full time car for Xavier Pons, but the deal fell through before the Monte Carlo Rally.
J-WRC entries