2008 Rally Japan

2008 Rally Japan 5th Pioneer Carrozzeria Rally Japan
Round 14 of the 2008 World Rally Championship ← Previous event Next event →
Petter Solberg at the Sapporo Dome.
Rally base	Sapporo
Dates run	October 31 – November 2, 2008
Stages	29 (343.69 km; 213.56 miles)[1]
Stage surface	Gravel
Overall distance	1,316.28 km (817.90 miles)[1]
Statistics
Crews	88 at start, 59 at finish
Overall results
Overall winner	Mikko Hirvonen BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team

The 2008 Rally Japan was the fourteenth and penultimate round of the 2008 World Rally Championship season. The event saw Sébastien Loeb clinch his fifth consecutive world drivers title with his drive to a third-place finish. The event was won by Mikko Hirvonen in a Ford Focus, who led the event from start to finish to claim his third win of the season. Second place went to Hirvonen's teammate Jari-Matti Latvala, his fifth podium of the year and his first since the Rally of Turkey back in June.

Stobart M-Sport Ford's François Duval crashed out from second place during the sixth stage. Duval was not injured in the crash, but his co-driver Patrick Pivato sustained a fractured pelvis and tibia. He was rushed to the hospital, and internal bleeding was discovered during surgery. On day two of the rally, after a second operation, his condition was described as critical but stable.^[2]

On the 19th stage, Toni Gardemeister took the Suzuki World Rally Team's first-ever stage win. Suzuki also had their most successful rally to date with Gardemeister finishing sixth and teammate Per-Gunnar Andersson recording his best ever finish of fifth position.

The event was originally planned to run on October 24−26, but as to make full use of venues, including the Sapporo Dome, with its tenant the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters possibly needing it for the Japan Series, the event was approved by FIA to be delayed for a week. The dome was not needed for baseball, as the Ham Fighters didn't make it to the Japan Series.^[3]

The Sapporo Dome Super Special Stage was the second to be held in indoor venues in WRC history.

Pos.	Driver	Co-driver	Car	Time	Difference	Points
WRC
1.	Mikko Hirvonen	Jarmo Lehtinen	Ford Focus RS WRC 08	3:25:03.0	0.0	10
2.	Jari-Matti Latvala	Miikka Anttila	Ford Focus RS WRC 08	3:25:34.1	31.1	8
3.	Sébastien Loeb	Daniel Elena	Citroën C4 WRC	3:27:33.6	2:30.6	6
4.	Chris Atkinson	Stéphane Prévot	Subaru Impreza WRC2008	3:28:45.4	3:42.4	5
5.	Per-Gunnar Andersson	Jonas Andersson	Suzuki SX4 WRC	3:30:15.9	5:12.9	4
6.	Toni Gardemeister	Tomi Tuominen	Suzuki SX4 WRC	3:31:12.4	6:09.4	3
7.	Matthew Wilson	Scott Martin	Ford Focus RS WRC 07	3:32:08.3	7:05.3	2
8.	Petter Solberg	Phil Mills	Subaru Impreza WRC2008	3:38:22.9	13:19.9	1
PCWRC
1.	Juho Hänninen	Mikko Markkula	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX	3:43:30.4	0.0	10
2.	Evgeny Novikov	Dale Moscatt	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX	3:43:36.7	6.3	8
3.	Toshihiro Arai	Glenn MacNeall	Subaru Impreza WRX STI	3:43:39.6	9.2	6

All dates and times are JST (UTC+9).

Day	Stage	Time	Name	Length	Winner	Time	Avg. spd.	Rally leader
1 (31 OCT)	SS1	09:11	Heper 1	13.24 km	M. Hirvonen	9:57.9	79.7 km/h	M. Hirvonen
	SS2	09:39	Yuparo 1	11.10 km	M. Hirvonen	8:24.2	79.3 km/h
	SS3	10:42	Isepo 1	13.67 km	Cancelled
	SS4	11:28	Pipaoi 1	5.74 km	S. Loeb	3:17.3	104.7 km/h
	SS5	14:28	Heper 2	13.24 km	M. Hirvonen	9:35.6	82.8 km/h
	SS6	14:56	Yuparo 2	11.10 km	M. Hirvonen	8:02.5	82.8 km/h
	SS7	15:59	Isepo 2	13.67 km	Cancelled
	SS8	16:45	Pipaoi 2	5.74 km	Cancelled
	SS9	18:14	Sapporo 1	1.49 km	M. Hirvonen	1:39.4	54.0 km/h
	SS10	18:24	Sapporo 2	1.49 km	M. Hirvonen	1:41.6	52.8 km/h
2 (1 NOV)	SS11	08:28	Imeru 1	2.30 km	D. Sordo	1:42.5	80.8 km/h
	SS12	09:21	Nikara 1	31.12 km	P. Solberg	18:37.0	100.3 km/h
	SS13	10:37	Kamuycep 1	33.66 km	J. Latvala	21:58.1	91.9 km/h
	SS14	11:32	Kina 1	9.55 km	H. Solberg	5:54.6	97.0 km/h
	SS15	13:50	Imeru 2	2.30 km	S. Loeb	1:42.5	80.8 km/h
	SS16	14:43	Nikara 2	31.12 km	J. Latvala	18:22.8	101.6 km/h
	SS17	15:59	Kamuycep 2	33.66 km	M. Hirvonen	21:22.7	94.5 km/h
	SS18	16:54	Kina 2	9.55 km	M. Hirvonen	5:54.3	97.0 km/h
	SS19	18:09	Sapporo 3	1.49 km	T. Gardemeister D. Sordo	1:25.4	62.8 km/h
	SS20	18:09	Sapporo 4	1.49 km	D. Sordo	1:23.2	64.5 km/h
3 (2 NOV)	SS21	07:07	Koyka 1	3.57 km	P. Solberg	2:00.2	106.9 km/h
	SS22	07:56	Iwanke 1	13.57 km	M. Hirvonen	8:13.0	99.1 km/h
	SS23	08:21	Sikot 1	27.76 km	J. Latvala	17:49.5	93.4 km/h
	SS24	08:53	Imeru 3	2.30 km	J. Latvala	1:57.3	70.6 km/h
	SS25	10:06	Sapporo 5	1.49 km	A. Kim	1:45.7	50.7 km/h
	SS26	11:58	Koyka 2	3.57 km	M. Hirvonen	2:08.6	99.9 km/h
	SS27	12:47	Iwanke 2	13.57 km	M. Hirvonen	8:39.9	94.0 km/h
	SS28	13:12	Sikot 2	27.76 km	P. Solberg	18:00.2	92.5 km/h
	SS29	13:44	Imeru 4	2.30 km	P. Solberg	2:03.8	66.9 km/h

Pos Driver MON SWE MEX ARG JOR ITA GRC TUR FIN GER NZL ESP FRA JPN GBR  Pts  1 Sébastien Loeb 1 Ret 1 1 10 1 1 3 1 1 1 1 1 3 112 2 Mikko Hirvonen 2 2 4 5 1 2 3 1 2 4 3 3 2 1 102 3 Dani Sordo 11 6 17 3 2 5 5 4 4 2 2 2 Ret DSQ 59 4 Jari-Matti Latvala 12 1 3 15 7 3 7 2 39 9 Ret 6 4 2 50 5 Chris Atkinson 3 21 2 2 3 6 Ret 13 3 6 Ret 7 6 4 6 Petter Solberg 5 4 12 Ret Ret 10 2 6 6 5 4 5 5 8 41 7 François Duval 4 3 Ret 4 3 Ret 22 8 Henning Solberg 9 13 5 Ret 4 7 8 5 5 7 9 11 15 Ret 9 Gigi Galli 6 3 Ret 7 8 4 Ret Ret Ret Ret Inj Inj Inj Inj 17 10 Matthew Wilson 10 Ret 6 Ret 5 12 6 7 9 12 17 9 8 7 15 11 Urmo Aava 18 Ret 8 4 Ret 16 8 5 35 7 13 12 Federico Villagra 7 6 6 14 13 9 Ret 8 12 9 9 13 Toni Gardemeister Ret 7 Ret Ret Ret Ret 9 Ret 8 10 7 13 13 6 8 14 Per-Gunnar Andersson 8 Ret Ret 24 Ret 9 11 Ret Ret 15 6 32 17 5 15 Conrad Rautenbach Ret 16 16 4 26 13 10 8 10 10 Ret Ret 14 Ret 6 16 Andreas Mikkelsen 5 Ret 19 12 11 8 11 5 17 Jean-Marie Cuoq 7 2 Matti Rantanen 7 19 Juho Hänninen 8 21 13 14 29 24 10 1 Sébastien Ogier 8 11 22 36 19 Ret 20 Andreas Aigner 31 8 14 11 Ret Ret 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)

Rank	Team	Event															Total points
		MON	SWE	MEX	ARG	JOR	ITA	GRC	TUR	FIN	GER	NZL	ESP	FRA	JPN	GBR
1	Citroën Total World Rally Team	11	4	10	16	9	14	15	11	15	18	18	18	10	6	-	175
2	BP Ford World Rally Team	8	18	11	7	13	14	10	18	9	7	6	11	14	18	-	164
3	Subaru World Rally Team	10	6	9	8	6	3	8	3	9	7	5	6	7	6	-	93
4	Stobart M-Sport Ford Rally Team	8	8	3	3	7	5	3	4	4	6	0	4	7	2	-	64
5	Suzuki World Rally Team	2	3	0	1	0	1	3	0	2	1	7	0	1	7	-	28
6	Munchi's Ford World Rally Team	0	0	6	4	4	2	0	3	0	0	3	0	0	0	-	22

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 2008 Rally Japan.

• Results from the official site wrc.com
• Results at eWRC.com
• Results from Jonkka's World Rally Archive