The Central Europe Rally was a rally-raid endurance race held in Romania

Romania

Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...

 and Hungary

Hungary

Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...

. It was held in 2008 as a replacement for the canceled 2008 Dakar Rally

Dakar Rally

The Dakar Rally is an annual rally raid type of off-road automobile race, organised by the Amaury Sport Organisation...

. It was organized by the Amaury Sport Organisation

Amaury Sport Organisation

The Amaury Sport Organisation is part of the French media group, EPA . It organises sporting events including the Tour de France and Paris–Nice professional cycle road races, and the Dakar Rally...

.

Route

The event began in Budapest on April 19 and finished at Lake Balaton in Hungary on April 26, 2008.

Here is a table with the locations of the start and finish points of each stage of the Rally, as well as each stage's distance.

Date (2008, April)	Stage	Start	Finish	KM Special Stage*	KM Road Section*	TOTAL*
Saturday 19	Checks in	Budapest
Sunday 20	1	Budapest	Baia Mare	63	468	531
Monday 21	2	Baia Mare	Baia Mare	152	140	292
Tuesday 22	3	Baia Mare	Debrecen	152	285	437
Wednesday 23	4	Debrecen	Veszprem	150	430	580
Thursday 24	5	Veszprem	Veszprem	210	107	317
Friday 25	6	Veszprem	Veszprem	210	107	317
Saturday 26	7	Veszprem	Balatonfured	155	42	197
*Route may be subject to change				1,092	1,579	2, 671

Motorcycles

1. David Casteu (KTM) 12:21:14

2. Francisco Lopez (KTM) +2:58

3. Alain Duclos (KTM) +19:39

4. J.M. Pellicer (YAMAHA) +21:20

5. Cyril Despres

Cyril Despres

Cyril Despres is a French rally racing motorcycle rider, resident of Andorra. He won the Dakar Rally in 2005, 2007 and 2010; riding a KTM motorcycle.- Rallye Dakar results:* 2000 : 16th* 2000 : 16th...

 (KTM) +22:50

Cars

1. Carlos Sainz

Carlos Sainz

Carlos Sainz Cenamor is a Spanish rally driver. He won the World Rally Championship drivers' title with Toyota in 1990 and 1992, and finished runner-up four times...

/Michel Périn, Volkswagen Race Touareg 2, 11h18m08s

2. Stéphane Peterhansel

Stéphane Peterhansel

Stéphane Peterhansel is a rally racing driver from France. He won the Paris Dakar Rally riding Yamaha motorcycles in 1991, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1997, and 1998 and then again driving Mitsubishi Pajero SUVs in 2004, 2005 and 2007, making him one of the most successful drivers in the history of that race...

/Jean-Paul Cottret, Mitsubishi Pajero Evolution, + 2.01m

3. Dieter Depping/Timo Gottschalk, Volkswagen Race Touareg 2, + 6.34m

4. Luc Alphand

Luc Alphand

Luc Alphand is a French former alpine skier and race car driver.- Skiing :Born in Briançon , Alphand made his World Cup skiing debut in 1984...

/Gilles Picard, Mitsubishi Pajero Evolution, + 7.28m

5. Carlos Sousa/Andreas Schulz, Volkswagen Race Touareg 2, + 33.45m

6. Bruno Saby

Bruno Saby

Bruno Saby is a rally driver from France.In 1981, Saby became French Rally Champion in a Renault 5 Turbo. He drove for the works teams of Renault, Peugeot, Volkswagen and Lancia during his career in the World Rally Championship...

/Alain Guehennec, BMW X3

BMW X3

The BMW X3 is a compact crossover SUV marketed by the German automaker BMW, based on the BMW 3-Series automobile platform, and now in its second generation. BMW designed the X3 in conjunction with Magna Steyr of Graz, Austria — who manufactured all X3s under contract to BMW for the first...

 CC, + 46.30m

7. Robert Baldwin

Robert Baldwin

Robert Baldwin was born at York . He, along with his political partner Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine, led the first responsible ministry in Canada, regarded by some as the first truly Canadian government....

/Kevin Heath, Hummer H3

Hummer H3

The Hummer H3 was a crossover SUV/Sport Utility Truck from General Motors' Hummer division introduced in 2005 based on the GMT355 underpinning the Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon compact pickup trucks. Produced at GM's Shreveport, Louisiana factory and the Port Elizabeth plant in South Africa the...

, + 56.02m

8. Philippe Gache

Philippe Gache

Philippe Gache is a French racecar driver. He has raced in a number of disciplines, but for the last 20 years has specialized in off-road racing. In 1992 he competed in the Indianapolis 500, but crashed his car. He has driven in the Dakar Rally in 2003-2006 and 7 times in the 24 Hours of Le Mans...

/François Flick, SMG, + 1h07m08s

9. Miroslav Zapletal/Valdimir Nemajer, Mitsubishi L200, + 1h12m19s

10. Robby Gordon

Robby Gordon

Robert W. "Robby" Gordon is an American racecar driver who currently competes in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series as an owner-driver, driving the No. 7 Speed Energy Dodge Charger for Robby Gordon Motorsports, and also competes part-time in the Nationwide Series...

/Andy Grider, Hummer H3, + 1h25m38s

Trucks

1. Hans Stacey

Hans Stacey

Hans Stacey is a Dutch rally car driver. He participated in various national championships, where he became the champion of his country in 1991 and 1992, driving a Mitsubishi Galant VR 4...

, Chevaillier, Der Kinderen, MAN TGA, 11:43:20

2. Van Ginkel, Bruinsma, De Rooy, GINAF

GINAF

GINAF is a Dutch truck manufacturer which produces trucks mainly for heavy duty off-road transport, construction and agricultural work. About 250 trucks are made each year in the company's factory in Veenendaal in the Netherlands...

 X2222, +0:33:43

3. Karel Loprais

Karel Loprais

Karel Loprais, born in Ostrava, Czechoslovakia, on March 4, 1949, is a Czech rally raid driver and multiple winner of the Rally Paris-Dakar in the truck category....

, Lala, Holan, Tatra T815

Tatra T815

Tatra T815 is a truck family, produced by Czech company Tatra. It uses the traditional tatra concept of rigid backbone tube and swinging half-axles giving independent suspension. The vehicles are available in 4x4, 6x6, 8x8, 10x8, 10x10, 12x8 and 12x12 variants. There are both air-cooled and...

 - 2, +0:53:18

4. Spacil, Zak Jiri, Nemec, Liaz

LIAZ (Czech Republic)

LIAZ is a defunct Czech and Czechoslovak manufacturer of trucks. The company was formed in 1951 by the government as a division of Škoda. In 1953 LIAZ became independent of Škoda, but still continued to use its name until 1984...

 151154, +1:27:42

5. Dono, Bettiga, Fumagalli, Iveco

Iveco

Iveco, an acronym for Industrial Vehicle Corporation, originally an alliance of European commercial vehicle manufacturers such as Fiat , Unic and Magirus. Iveco is now an Italian truck, bus, and diesel engine manufacturer, based in Turin...

, +1:28:27