Apart from the initial superspecial close to rally headquarters in Borovetz, Krum Donchev led the European championship qualifying Rally Bulgaria from start to finish but eventual victory was close. For several stages his Peugeot 207 S2000 was lacking third gear, then on the final stage he also lost second gear. The result of this was the Turkish driver Volkan Isik (Fiat Grande Punto S2000) was able to close on Donchev and finally the Bulgaria won only by 6.2 seconds. Following Dimitar Iliev's victory here last year, Donchev has become the second home winner of this event for 37 years. Iliev finished sixth after fuel pump problems which culminated with a delay off the road. Original leader Jasen Popov had turbo pipe trouble on the Mitsubishi and finished eighth. Former Tommi Makinen Racing team Subaru N14 driver Donchev originally entered a Mitsubishi for this event but finally appeared with this S2000 cars having become stablemate in the Racing Lions Peugeot team to Luca Rossetti.

After the Peugeot S2000 which Luca Betti had hoped to drive was damaged the weekend before in France, he had to revert to a Mitsubishi which gave a lot of problems, while fellow Italian Renato Travaglia did not start at all . At the end of the event, Rossetti still leads the series, ahead
of fellow Peugeot driver Michal Solowow from Poland (who finished third on this event) and Isik third. Donchev's win places him fourth in the series. This event is at the same location where the 2010 world championship rally is due to be held. Many leading FIA officials attended this event and were able to offer useful suggestions on bringing the event up to full WRC standards, especially regarding crown control.

3mmm
photo 1: Peugeot - Donchev
photo 2: Subaru - Gartofan

Rally Bulgaria 2008
1 Donchev/Valchev                 Peugeot 207 S2000        2h42m01.8s
2 Isik/Ozsenler                   Fiat Grande Punto S2000  2h42m08.0s
3 Solowow/Baran                   Peugeot 207 S2000        2h43m35.4s
4 Fontana/Casazza Fiat            Grande Punto S2000       2h43m37.2s
5 Isaev/M Iliev                   Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX 2h47m00.0s
6 D Iliev/Yanakiev                Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX 2h47m22.6s

Overall European Rally Championship Championship (ERC) round 6 of 10: Rossetti 45p; Solowow 35p; Isik 34p; Donchev 28p; Fontana 27p; Travaglia 21p; Betti 21p; Alen 18p; etc