The 2008 Rally GB was the fifteenth and final round of the 2008 World Rally Championship season and was held between December 5–7, 2008. The event was again held in Wales, with Cardiff being the host of the ceremonial start and finish, and Swansea providing the service park. The special stages took place on gravel roads on private land, owned either by the Forestry Commission (for the special stages run on Friday and Sunday, and the Resolfen stage on Saturday) or the Army (for the remaining Saturday stages). The event saw a return to the mid Wales stages of Hafren, Sweet Lamb, and Myherin for the first time since 2000. The rally was won by Sébastien Loeb in a Citroën C4 WRC. This was his eleventh win of the season - breaking his own previous record set in 2005. Second place went to Ford driver Jari-Matti Latvala who was just 12.7 seconds behind. The final podium position was filled by Loebs teammate Dani Sordo. With this result Citroën clinched the manufacturers championship. This was the final appearance of the Subaru and Suzuki in the World Rally Championship. Entry The event was supported by the usual works entries from Citroën, Ford, Subaru, Stobart Ford, and Suzuki, plus regular privateers Conrad Rautenbach in his Citroën C4 WRC and Mads Ostberg in a Subaru Impreza WRC. A notable omission was Urmo Aava who was scheduled to enter the event with his semi-works effort Citroën C4, but had to pull out only days before the event due to the ongoing economic problems. In another Citroën C4 was Frenchman Sébastien Ogier who was handed the drive as a reward for winning the JWRC category of the 2008 championship. The most newsworthy entry of all was that of 2008 Moto GP champion Valentino Rossi who was competing in a Ford Focus WRC complete with a Children in Need livery. Rossi was aiming to beat his previous two efforts in a WRC event, an early retirement at 2002 Rally GB and an eleventh-place finish at the 2006 Rally New Zealand. Summary Day one The rally began in tricky conditions with ice and heavy rain making the roads very slippery and fog hampering the competitors' visibility. For safety reasons, the first and fourth stages held in Hafren (which had already been shortened from 19 km to 3 km) were cancelled. Stages 2 and 4 (Sweet Lamb) were slightly