2008 Rally Japan
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2008 Rally Japan
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. On the 19th stage, Toni Gardemeister took the Suzuki World Rally Team's first-ever stage win. Suzuki also ...
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2008 World Rally Championship Season
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 The term 'leg' has been replaced by 'day' in order to sound more understandable.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 att ...
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Per-Gunnar Andersson (rally Driver)
Per-Gunnar "P-G" Andersson (born 10 March 1980 in Årjäng) is a Swedish rally driver. He is a two-time winner of the Junior World Rally Championship. Career Andersson was competing in Junior World Rally Championship since 2003. He became JWRC champion in 2004 during his first complete season. Piloting a Suzuki Ignis S1600, he earned three wins, a second place, an eight place, and two retirements. He scored 39 points during this year while runner-up Nicolas Bernardi, piloting Renault Clio S1600, scored only 2 fewer points. In 2005 season, Andersson continued competing in the JWRC with Suzuki Ignis S1600 and later Suzuki Swift S1600. Although he won Rally Acropolis, the rest of season wasn't that successful and, in final standings, Andersson finished sixth with 30 points. In 2006, Andersson was still racing in JWRC with a Suzuki Swift S1600. He won Rally Sweden but was excluded from Rally Turkey and crashed at Rally GB. He finished the season in third place with 29 points. ...
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Suzuki SX4 WRC
The Suzuki SX4 WRC is a World Rally Car built for the Suzuki World Rally Team by Suzuki in the World Rally Championship. It is based upon the Suzuki SX4 road car, and was debuted at the 2007 Tour de Corse. Competition history World Rally Championship At the 2007 Geneva Motor Show, Suzuki announced it would enter the FIA World Rally Championship, with the factory backed Suzuki World Rally Team in the World Rally Car category in 2007, using the SX4 WRC with AWD and the J20 engine producing and of torque. However, due to WRC calendar changes Suzuki officially debuted in 2008, using the season of 2007 as further development time for the SX4. The SX4 competed on a test basis in two 2007 WRC events: the Rallye de France in October 2007 (finishing 31st overall) and the Rally GB in November 2007 (finishing 27th overall). In the first event of 2008, the Rallye Monte Carlo, Suzuki driver Per-Gunnar Andersson finished eighth. Hillclimbing A race car called 'Suzuki SX4 Hill Climb Speci ...
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Jonas Andersson (co-driver)
Jonas Andersson (born 1 January 1977) is a Swedish rally co-driver. Currently, he is the co-driver of Gus Greensmith. Rally career Jonas Andersson began his rally career in 2002, co-driving for Per-Gunnar Andersson. In the 2002 Rally Sweden, he made his WRC debut in a Renault Clio RS. From 2009, he started to partner with the Norwegian rally driver Mads Østberg. In the 2011 Rally Sweden, they achieved their first podium finish. One year later, in Portugal, the crew won their first and only WRC victory after Mikko Hirvonen's disqualification. Starting from 2017, Andersson began to cooperate with Pontus Tidemand. They won the 2017 WRC-2 title at Škoda Motorsport in a Škoda Fabia R5. The 2022 World Rally Championship, 2022 season saw Andersson moved to M-Sport World Rally Team, M-Sport, co-driving for Gus Greensmith Fergus "Gus" Greensmith (born 26 December 1996) is a British rally driver. Rally career Greensmith's family owns fuel and lubricants distributor Crown O ...
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Subaru Impreza WRC
The Subaru Impreza WRC is a World Rally Car based on the Subaru Impreza road car. It was used by Subaru World Rally Team, Subaru's factory team, and replaced Subaru Legacy RS in 1993. The car was debuted at 1993 Rally Finland and won a total of six world rally titles, including three consecutive manufacturers' titles and three drivers' titles. Evolution history Group A Impreza GC, 1993–1996 For 1993, Prodrive recognized that a smaller, nimbler car would make a better platform for a rally car, and work on a Group A Impreza rally car began. It was 160 mm shorter in overall length with a 60 mm shorter wheelbase, as well as having a more neutral front/rear weight ratio. It also featured active differentials, a first for a rally car. At the 1000 Lakes Rally, Subaru debuted their new Prodrive developed Impreza derived Group A rally car, driven by Vatanen and Alén. Vatanen drove the car to second place on its debut. In 1994, the Subaru team switched from Michelin to Pir ...
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Stéphane Prévot
Stéphane Prévot is a Belgian rally co-driver. Prévot was born in Huy. He has codriven for 74 rally drivers, including Bruno Thiry, François Duval and Chris Atkinson Chris Atkinson (born 30 November 1979 in Bega, New South Wales, Australia) is a professional rally driver. In the World Rally Championship (WRC), Atkinson drove for the Subaru World Rally Team between 2004 and 2008. His best finish on an indi .... References 1969 births Living people Belgian rally co-drivers World Rally Championship co-drivers People from Huy Sportspeople from Liège Province {{Belgium-autoracing-bio-stub ...
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Chris Atkinson
Chris Atkinson (born 30 November 1979 in Bega, New South Wales, Australia) is a professional rally driver. In the World Rally Championship (WRC), Atkinson drove for the Subaru World Rally Team between 2004 and 2008. His best finish on an individual WRC event is second, which he achieved at the 2008 Rally México and Rally Argentina. Other podium placings include third-place finishes at the 2005 Rally Japan and the 2008 Monte Carlo Rally. Atkinson drives for Team MRF, and competed in the 2012 Asia-Pacific Rally Championship and made a guest appearance in the World Rally Championship. Atkinson won the 2012 Asia-Pacific Rally Championship. On 16 August 2012, it was announced that Atkinson would be the number one driver for the WRC Team Mini Portugal outfit for the last five races of the 2012 WRC season. Early career Prior to his motorsport career, Atkinson had a career as a stockbroker. He graduated at Bond University in commerce, majoring in finance and accounting in 1999 aft ...
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Citroën C4 WRC
The Citroën C4 WRC is a World Rally Car built for the Citroën World Rally Team by Citroën Racing to compete in the World Rally Championship. It is based upon the Citroën C4 road car and replaced the Citroën Xsara WRC. The car was introduced for the 2007 World Rally Championship season and has taken the drivers' title each year since in the hands of Sébastien Loeb, as well as the manufacturers' title in 2008, 2009 and 2010. The C4 WRC and Loeb maintained a 100% record on asphalt events during its WRC career, winning all 13 pure asphalt rounds of the World Rally Championship. Competition history 2007 The car made its debut at the 2007 Monte Carlo Rally in the hands of Citroën World Rally Team drivers Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Sordo. Loeb won the rally after leading throughout, with Sordo finishing as runner-up, with the pair winning the first nine of 15 stages. Loeb went on to win seven of the remaining 15 rallies that season to beat Ford's Marcus Grönholm to the title ...
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Daniel Elena
Daniel Elena (born 26 October 1972) also known as "Danos" is a Monégasque rally co-driver working most notably with Sébastien Loeb. Between them the pair have won the World Rally Championship (WRC) nine times with Citroën, later competing with Hyundai. Their 79 wins together make him the co-driver with the most victories in the history of the WRC. Career He started rallying in 1992 as co-driver to Christophe Bovini but his first 'full season' came in 1996 with Hervé Bernard in the French national championships. In 1998 he became Loeb's co-driver and quickly developed a strong relationship with him, winning every event they finished in the Citroën Saxo Trophy in 1998, then the overall trophy itself in 1999. The following year with Citroën part-backing the duo, they won the two-wheel drive class of the French gravel title. In 2001, they won both the FIA Super 1600 championship (later J-WRC) in their Citroën Saxo and the French national championship in a Citroën Xsara Kit ...
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Miikka Anttila
Miikka Anttila (born 10 September 1972) is a Finnish rally co-driver, currently teaming with Jari-Matti Latvala at Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT. Anttila has previously served alongside such drivers as Mikko Hirvonen, Janne Tuohino and Kosti Katajamäki. Career Debuting in the World Rally Championship in 1999, Anttila began co-driving Latvala at the 2003 Rallye Deutschland and got his first win at the 2008 Swedish Rally. He missed the birth of his second child to participate in the Rally de Espana in 2011. He joined Volkswagen Motorsport after its formation as a manufacturer team in 2013. For 2017, Anttila is racing for the works Toyota team. At the 2018 Tour de Corse, Anttila made his 197th WRC start which made him the most experienced competitor in the history of the sport. The record was previously held by Spanish driver and two times world-champion Carlos Sainz who started 196 events. He became the first-ever competitor to start 200 rallies in the WRC at the 2018 Rally d'Italia. ...
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Ford Focus RS WRC
The Ford Focus RS WRC is a car built for the Ford World Rally Team by Ford Europe and M-Sport and based on the Ford Focus Climate 2-litre production hatchback, developed to compete in the World Rally Championship. The RS stands for ''Rallye Sport'' and the WRC for ''World Rally Car'', the car's FIA specification. The Focus RS WRC was in competition from 1999 to 2010, winning 44 world rallies and two manufacturers' world titles (2006 and 2007). It was replaced by the Ford Fiesta RS WRC. Like all contemporary World Rally Cars, the car is heavily modified from the production version, with which it shares only the basic shape and some parts of the bodyshell. The car features four-wheel drive, rather than the front-wheel drive of the road car. The engine used in the 2007 Focus WRC is based on Ford's 2.0 Litre Duratec from other models in the Focus range as rallying rules do not permit the standard 2.5-litre engine of the Focus ST or road going RS. As with most rally cars, the 2.0-litre ...
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Jarmo Lehtinen
Jarmo Lehtinen (born 3 January 1969) is a rally co-driver from Finland. He was the co-driver to former World Rally Championship driver Mikko Hirvonen and have scored 15 WRC wins competing under Ford World Rally Team and Citroën Total. As of 2019, he is current co-driver for M-Sport driver Teemu Suninen. Career Lehtinen started co-driving in 1988 alongside friend Jari Mikkola. He later partnered Marko Ramanen in the Finnish Rally Championship, and he made his WRC debut in the 1997 Rally Finland. In 1999 Lehtinen partnered Ramanen in the British Rally Championship and accompanied Jouni Ampuja to sixth in Group N in the Finnish Championship. He worked with Ampuja in the Finnish Championship for another two seasons. In 2002 he took up a new role in the gravel crew for Skoda driver Toni Gardemeister on the world championship. He also began to work with Hirvonen on international events. The pair have worked together on all their WRC outings since 2003, with Subaru in 2004 and with F ...
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