ADAC Rally Deutschland 2008 Day 1 Results: Loeb leads as Gigi Galli suffers horrific crash and breaks leg

Seb Loeb dominated the opening day of Rally Germany to take a 19.9s overnight lead ahead, of the surprise of the day, Mikko Hirvonen. Loeb was quickest on all 6 stages but the final two stages had to be cut short after Gigi Galli suffered a horrendous crash on SS5 followed by spectator problems on SS6.

Galli suffered a broken left femur after hitting a tree when flat in sixth gear. He was trapped in the car for a period but was then airlifted to hospital where he was operated on. His co-driver Giovanni Bernacchini was uninjured. Galli will be out for the rest of the season and his earliest possible return will be Rally Ireland 2009. Ford will decide soon who replaces him for New Zealand with, Francois Duval and Barry Clark in the frame. Matt Wilson is already a nominated driver for NZ as Henning is drafted into the Munchi's squad.

Meanwhile, Duval who was expected to challenge for the lead, was only fourth as he struggled in the morning with a gearbox glitch and getting used to the soft compound Pirelli's. Subaru struggled in the morning as they used hard compound tyres and finished the day in 5th and 6th.

The JWRC class was being lead by Martin Prokop who was 7s ahead of rival Ogier in a bit of a needle match as Prokop resents the lack of Citroen support he receives compared to Ogier. Ulster's Kris Meeke had been ahead of this bunch until he spun on SS2 and lost 15s. Though Meeke isn't running in the JWRC he is in the same A6 class and is only 1s behind Prokop and 7 ahead of Ogier at the close of a shortened day for many of the crews. Ireland's Brian O'Mahoney was going very well in his Clio S1600 on his first asphalt WRC event only to crash out on SS4. Shaun Gallagher was 9th JWRC after slipping from 5th.

Gallagher slipped to 9th in JWRC

Image www.rallye-deutschland.de

There has still been no sign of Suzuki boss "Monster" Tajima and it is believed that Suzuki will release him from the team in the next few days. The squad have been under quite a bit of pressure in the last few months when they cancelled their test and development work in Finland, despite assurances to the conrary, Autosport reported a couple of weeks ago.

Read more about Kris Meeke's first day at http://krismeeke.blogspot.com/

Galli's huge crash, viewer discretion advised

Poor Gigi

Onboard Duval

Seb in his customary position

Wevers is 16th

Aava needs a finish, he's 9th

Images Ellato

Day 1 Positions 2008 Rallye Deutschland:

9. Urmo Aava PH Sport-Citroen C4 WRC +01mins 39.4secs A8
10. Toni Gardemeister Suzuki WRT SX4 WRC +02mins 12.4secs M
11. P-G Andersson Suzuki WRT SX4 WRC +02mins 12.9ecs M
12. Andreas Mikkelsen Ramsport Ford Focus RS WRC 06 +02mins 23.8secs A8
13. Matthew Wilson Stobart VK Ford Focus WRC 07 +02mins 32.8secs A8
14. Conrad Rautenbach PH Sport-Citroen C4 WRC +03mins 07.0secs A8
15. Peter van Merksteijn Ford Focus RS WRC 07 +03mins 13.6secs A8
16. Erik Wevers Ford Focus RS WRC 06 +03mins 30.4secs A8
17. Peter van Merksteijn Jr Ford Focus RS WRC 06 +03mins 37.3secs A8
18. Khalid Al Qassimi BP Ford Abu Dhabi Focus RS WRC 08 +03mins 37.7secs
19. Gareth Jones Subaru Impreza WRC 07 +04mins 32.5secs A8
20. Martin Prokop Citroen C2 S1600 +04mins 37.1secs J

1. Martin Prokop Citroen C2 S1600 1hour 04mins 59.6secs J
2. Sebastien Ogier Citroen C2 S1600 +00mins 07.6secs J
3. Aaron Burkart Citroen C2 S1600 +00mins 44.6secs J
4. Gilles Schammel Renault Clio R3 +01mins 33.6secs J
5. Florian Niegel ' Suzuki Swift S1600 +01mins 59.4secs J
6. Alessandro Bettega Renault Clio R3 +02mins 04.4secs J
7. Kevin Abbring Renault Clio R3 +02mins 18.3secs J
8. Andrea Cortinovis Renault Clio +02mins 36.7secs

9. Shaun Gallagher Citroen C2 S1600 +02mins 44.8secs J
10. Simone Bertolotti Renault Clio Sport +03mins 06.5secs J

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