Competition in the 2008 FIA
World Rally Championship (WRC) intensifies with this weekend's (14-17 August)
tenth round in Germany, an all-tarmac rally run the fortnight before the
all-gravel Repco Rally New Zealand.
ADAC Rallye Deutschland
features three days of action in Germany's
south-west, with the rally heart alongside the Moselle
River in the city of Trier. An estimated 200,000 spectators are
expected to line the 19 special stages of the event's historic location.
Heading the field of 87
teams from 25 countries, Finland's Mikko Hirvonen starts with a slender one
point lead over current driver champion and six-time winner of the Germany
event, Sébastien Loeb, of France.
"It's good to be first in
the start order here," said Hirvonen, driving for the BP Ford Abu Dhabi World
Rally Team. "Although on asphalt the advantages and disadvantages aren't
as great as on gravel. The first cars pull mud and dirt onto the road so
it makes it harder for those lower down the order, so road conditions are the
single most important factor on this rally. If the weather is dry then
it's an enjoyable event with some fast and flowing stages."
Hirvonen and team-mate
Jari-Matti Latvala will debut the 2008 version of the Focus RS, with changes to
the front grill area reflecting the looks of the recently-released Focus RS
road car. The new turbo and crankshaft are expected to increase the range
of power available to the team's two drivers.
Along with a new car,
Hirvonen also has to contend with his arch-rival, Loeb, who has won the German
event every year for Citroën for the past six years and will be keen to retake
the drivers' championship points' lead with another victory.
The tarmac event will also
be the first test of this kind for the new hatchback-shaped Subaru Impreza
WRC2008. Currently third in the driver standings, Australia's Chris
Atkinson says current form should help them bench-mark the new car: "...this year
we have a new car on new tyres and the first rally on tarmac so it's hard to
know where we are speed-wise. If we can carry the same form we had last
year it would be good. We will go there pushing hard and get a gauge of our
performance, and then see how we go from there," said 28-year old Atkinson.
An event famous for its
unforgiving nature, the narrow roads through wine country in the Mosel region
are characterised by fast stretches punctuated with tight hair-pin turns at
irregular intervals. Adding to the variety, a day spent in the Baumholder
military ranges introduces the hinkelstein, a large concrete kerb block set
alongside the road edge to deter army tanks from traversing through the
fields. With the road surface varying between concrete and asphalt, ever-changing
weather will alter grip levels significantly on the roads. At this event, drivers
will have the choice between a hard or soft compound of the Pirelli PZero
asphalt tyre to account for both wet and dry conditions.
Starting on Thursday
evening at 8pm from Trier's Porta Nigra, a
UNESCO World Heritage site, the action begins on Friday morning at 8:30am with
six stages covering 108km of competition through the Mosel
wine region. Saturday's eight stages traverse the Baumholder and Saarland areas with Sunday's remaining five stages again
through the Mosel to bring the competitive
total to 352.89km.
Also a qualifying round of
the Junior World Rally Championship (J-WRC), the fifth of seven events, France's
Sébastien Ogier currently leads with crews needing to start six events to
qualify for the title.
FIA World Rally Championship 2008
Drivers' Championship points - after round nine of 15
1. M Hirvonen - 67pts
2. S Loeb -
66pts
3. C Atkinson -
37pts
4. D Sordo -
35pts
5. J-M Latvala -
34pts
6. P Solberg -
23pts
Manufacturers' Championship points - after round nine of 15
