BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team driver Jari-Matti Latvala leads the 2008 Uddeholm Swedish Rally after the opening day of competition. The Finn has set a blistering speed and overnights with a 48.2 second advantage over team-mate Mikko Hirvonen. Fords dominate the top of the leaderboard, with Stobart VK M-Sport driver Henning Solberg in third position and his team-mate Gigi Galli in fourth.
The Swedish Rally got underway last night with a short super special stage in the host town of Karlstad. Subaru’s Petter Solberg won the stage, but the forestry action began today with two loops of three stages to the north of the city, before a return for a second run at the super special stage this evening.
Latvala set the pace from the outset and has been the dominant force throughout the day. He was fastest on each of the six forest stages and takes an impressive overnight lead. Behind him, Hirvonen, Henning Solberg and Galli are all closely matched in second, third and fourth respectively.
Petter Solberg, in fifth, has had a trouble-free day but the Norwegian is nearly two minutes adrift of Latvala after 122.14 competitive kilometres. Fellow countryman Mads Řstberg, in another Subaru, is sixth while Britain’s Matthew Wilson has climbed from 11th to seventh. Finn Toni Gardemeister (Suzuki) rounds off the top eight.
Leading retirements of the day include Sébastien Loeb (Citroën), who went off the road in stage four and then had clutch problems that ultimately forced him out of the day’s competition. Local hero Per-Gunnar Andersson (Suzuki) also retired with an engine problem.
Uddeholm Swedish Rally - Results after Day 1
| 1 | Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila | Ford Focus RS WRC | 1 hr 03 min 33.3sec |
| 2 | Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen | Ford Focus RS WRC | 1 hr 04 min 21.5sec |
| 3 | Henning Solberg/Cato Menkerud | Ford Focus RS WRC | 1 hr 04 min 29.6sec |
| 4 | Gigi Galli/Giovanni Bernacchini | Ford Focus RS WRC | 1 hr 04 min 35.3sec |
| 5 | Petter Solberg/Phil Mills | Subaru Impreza WRC | 1 hr 05 min 18.5sec |
| 6 | Mads Řstberg/Ole Unnerud | Subaru Impreza WRC | 1 hr 05 min 48.4sec |
| 7 | Matthew Wilson/Scott Martin | Ford Focus RS WRC | 1 hr 06 min 32.9sec |
| 8 | Toni Gardemeister/Tomi Tuominen | Suzuki SX4 | 1 hr 06 min 54.9sec |
Note to editors: Attached image of rally leader Jari-Matti Latvala is copyright free for editorial use. Please Click here.
