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Alexander Zheludov has won the first ever Russian WRC candidate event - "Novorossiysk Rally of Russia 2008"- to clinch his second title of the national champion - in addition to the one he got back in 2006. The driver, competing in a Tommi Makinen Racing-built Subaru Impreza N12, took the lead on the evening loop of Friday stages, and since that has never looked back, despite numerous problems hitting both him and his rivals. This victory became third in a row and fourth in the season for the experienced driver, and once again showed his unique ability to combine great performance with high reliability.

After a dramatic opening day of the WRC candidate Novorossiysk Rally of Russia 2008 Alexander Zheludov, driving Subaru Impreza N12, started the final day with a lead of forty seconds. The current leader of the national championship approached the morning stages in a careful, but rapid manner, which, combined with retirement of his main rival, allowed him to increase his advantage to almost 6 minutes by the afternoon service.

Before crews started driving on SS7 a quadrocycle with a driver and 3 (!) passangers had been repeatedly trying to enter the closed stage.

Safety marshals each time explained that it was strictly prohibited and that there was no tresspassing, so the quadrocycle had to move away.

However, having used the off-road abilities of their vehicles, the troublemakers climbed up a hill, then drove down a slope, entered the route and moved directly towards crew #41 (Formanyuk/Gorovoy).