WORLD RALLY
2008 Rally Jordan
This was the first ever running of Rally Jordan as a WRC event and it was non-stop drama until the finish line on Sunday evening.
Day One
The inaugural running of Rally Jordan as a World Rally Championship event threw up a surprise, on its very first stage as it was Dani Sordo who topped the time sheets along with Petter Solberg who had both benefited from a lower running order. Sordo and Solberg were tied at the end of the first stage with Mikko Hirvonen third followed by Jari-Matti Latvala and then came reigning world champion Sebastien Loeb.
On stage 2 it was again Sordo but this time the Citroen driver beat Solberg by 5.4 seconds on the second test however this morning’s stages had not been kind to the Suzuki team with Per Gunnar Andersson going off on the opening stage and team mate Toni Gardemeister’s engine failure on the next stage.
Stage 2 almost caught out Mikko Hirvonen as he stated that “I had one of the luckiest escapes ever…My pace notes were too optimistic and I came over a crest too fast and went off when the road turned immediately afterwards.”
Once more Sordo was the fastest through the stage although this time he was fastest ahead of team-mate Loeb who was beginning to get to grips with the nature of the test facing him in Jordan.
After the service it was back around the morning’s stages and there was an instant change on the fastest times as Loeb was ahead of Latvala, Hirvonen and then came the pace setters of the morning with Sordo and Solberg once more having the same time.
Stage 5 saw Latvala go fastest from Loeb and Hirvonen with Sordo coming in fourth again and then on to stage 6 where it was here that Petter Solberg retired with suspension failure from fifth after such a promising start. Loeb was ahead of Sordo by only 1.1 seconds and then a further 1.6 seconds back was Latvala and Hirvonen who was 7.1 away from Loeb through this stage.
Loeb again was at the top of the time sheets with Latvala 3.7 seconds behind, with Hirvonen 5.1 seconds behind, and then came Sordo 5.7 seconds back and on the final stage of the day it was Hirvonen who recorded his first fastest time 3.1 seconds quicker than Loeb. Next up was Latvala 5.9 seconds behind and then Sordo 6.7 seconds slower. It was all set up for an intriguing second day amongst the top four.
| 1 Dani Sordo | Citroen C4 | 1h 16m 53.7s |
| 2 Sebastien Loeb | Citroen C4 | +1.1s |
| 3 Jari-Matti Latvala | Ford Focus RS | +8.5s |
| 4 Mikko Hirvonen | Ford Focus RS | +13.4s |
| 5 Chris Atkinson | Subaru Impreza | +1m 08s |
| 6 Urmo Aava | Citroen C4 | +1m 59.3s |
| 7 Matthew Wilson | Ford Focus RS | +2m 51.6s |
| 8 Henning Solberg | Ford Focus RS | +3m 23.3s |
| 9 Federico Villagra | Ford Focus RS | +3m 59.6s |
| 10 Khalid Al-Qassimi | Ford Focus RS | +4m 04.4s |
Day Two
The second day would follow a similar programme as the first with competitors completing four stages before a return run over the four stages again covering 110 kilometres of action.
On the ninth stage it was Loeb who was quickest and quickly settled into a period of dominance on the morning’s stages with gaps of 5.1, 6.7, and 11.3 seconds over Latvala, Hirvonen and Latvala again.
At the end of the eleventh stage Loeb now commanded a gap of 34.1 seconds ahead of team-mate Sordo and then Latvala who was now only 0.4 seconds behind. Hirvonen was fourth but only over 4 seconds back from Sordo.
At the end of stage 12and having opened a sizeable gap there was shock as Sebastien Loeb was involved in a head on collision with Conrad Rautenbach on a narrow access road and although both crews were uninjured it was to be the end of the day for both.
At the service Latvala had remarked that he had also had a lucky escape “I made quite a few mistakes this morning and couldn't find my confidence. I couldn't respond to Sébastien Loeb's speed. I slid wide too often and also ended in a field after a crest on stage 11 because my pace note was wrong. Luckily I didn't damage the car.”
As the cars filtered through service and ready to attack stage 12 it was Sordo who had the first fastest stage after service and so was now back in the lead by 0.7 ahead of Latvala. Stage 13 was the turn of Hirvonen but behind him Latvala beat Sordo by enough to now lead the rally although Sordo had suffered a puncture in this stage.
Stages 14, 15 and 16’s timesheets were all headed by the Italian Gigi Galli who had restarted under Super Rally rules. In the battle for the overall lead it had been Latvala who had extended his lead to 4.6 seconds ahead of team mate Hirvonen . On the final stage both Ford drivers decided to slow down to gain a better road position for the final day.
Latvala acknowledged that this was an event strategy “We had a pre-event team strategy not to be first on the road tomorrow so I slowed before the finish, I believe it's the right tactic bit it was a strange feeling having to slow the car down. I pushed as hard as possible until then.”
Hirvonen also slowed down and said that “With lots of loose gravel on the road surface of tomorrow's stages, my plan was to ensure I didn't start the final day first, Things were made easier for us when Loeb retired. He set incredible times at the front and it seemed as though our plan might not work.”
| 1 Dani Sordo | Citroen C4 | 2h 29m 02.9s |
| 2 Jari-Matti Latvala | Ford Focus RS | +8.5s |
| 3 Mikko Hirvonen | Ford Focus RS | +10.4s |
| 4 Chris Atkinson | Subaru Impreza | +2m 02.5s |
| 5 Urmo Aava | Citroen C4 | +3m07.2s |
| 6 Matthew Wilson | Ford Focus RS | +4m 56.5s |
| 7 Henning Solberg | Ford Focus RS | +5m10.9s |
| 8 Federico Villagra | Ford Focus RS | +6m56.3s |
| 9 Khalid Al-Qassmi | Ford Focus RS | +7m10.5s |
| 10 Gigi Galli | Ford Focus RS | +11m29.7s |
Day Three
The final day of the Rally Jordan was to include the longest stage of the rally and would also be the longest day of the event with over 134 competitive kilometres of driving.
On the very first stage the Fords attacked and their tactics appeared to be working as Hirvonen and Latvala finished with a one-two over the stage which put Latvala first overall ahead of Hirvonen. Sordo lost over 12 seconds and was now 2.4 seconds behind.
On stage 18 Loeb was fastest having returned to the rally under Super Rally rules in the hope of gaining manufacturers points for Citroen. On this stage Latvala’s hopes of a win faltered with a broken left rear suspension while Sordo finished fifth on this stage.
Once more on stage 19 it was Loeb who was fastest by 4 seconds from Hirvonen while Sordo dropped 6.3 seconds to his team mate. Urmo Aava retired from fifth in this stage after damaging his Citroen’s front right suspension. Latvala was quickest through stage 20 having dropped ten minutes on the stage before and so gaining points was now the Finnish driver’s only aim.
On the penultimate test it was Loeb who was fastest from Galli then Hirvonen and Sordo. The overall picture at the top was that Hirvonen had built a gap of 23.7 seconds and in the final stage it was Hirovnen was fastest again and won the rally. Sordo spun and dropped more than 40 seconds and so would have been relieved to make the finish.
Hirvonen reflected that “My strategy paid off but I was nervous in the final stage, no split times were available for Sordo and I didn't know how hard he was pushing. I really needed these 10 points and this is a great result for my championship challenge.” Latvala was left to rue his mistake “I had two perfect days on Friday and Saturday but today was a long one. I need to be more consistent and concentrate without making mistakes. I'm disappointed not to score more points.”
This mistake let Chris Atkinson inherit third and the Subaru driver commented that it had been a difficult event “"It was a difficult rally for us as almost from the start we were in the middle of nowhere with big gaps in front and behind of us. We managed to go along at our own pace, keeping it on the road.”
Final standings
| 1 Mikko Hirvonen | Ford Focus RS | 4h 2m 47.9s |
| 2 Dani Sordo | Citroen C4 | +1m 15.7s |
| 3 Chris Atkinson | Subaru Impreza | +4m 59.5s |
| 4 Henning Solberg | Ford Focus RS | +7m 35.8s |
| 5 Matthew Wilson | Ford Focus RS | +10m 41.7s |
| 6 Federico Villagra | Ford Focus RS | +11m 22.2s |
| 7 Jari-Matti Latvala | Ford Focus RS | +12m 15.6s |
| 8 Gigi Galli | Ford Focus RS | +12m 24.4s |
| 9 Khalid Al-Qassmi | Ford Focus RS | +19m 05.7s |
| 10 Sebastien Loeb | Citroen C4 | +23m 38.1s |
Ciarán McBride
All times subject to FIA approval
Thanks to Ford, Citroen and Subaru World Rally Teams for the use of pictures.