2009 Rally Ireland

2009 Rally Ireland 2nd Rally Ireland 1 2009 World Rally Championship 2009 Rally Norway Ireland/Northern Ireland North Sligo Town.jpg An aerial view of Sligo, where Rally Ireland's headquarters located. Sligo, Ireland 30 January 1 February 2009 19 366.94 1407.68 Tarmac/Mud FRA Sébastien Loeb FRA Citroën Total World Rally Team 36 28 The 2009 Rally Ireland, officially 2nd Rally Ireland, was the first round of the 2009 World Rally Championship season and was held between 30 January and 1 February 2009. It was also the opening round of the Junior World Rally Championship this season. Sligo was once again the rally base with the special stages being held on agricultural tarmac roads and major tarmac roads in the north west of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Introduction The rally returned after a year's absence as to hold the opening round of the World Rally Championship after the Monte Carlo Rally was absent on the year's calendar due to the FIA's Round Rotation calendar system. This happens every two years, so the rally was out for 2010 in favour of Monte Carlo resuming its traditional place as the season opener, but returned in 2011 in the same position.http://wrc.com/jsp/index.jsp?lnk=101&id=3210&desc=2009%20WRC%20calendars%20finalised 2009 WRC calendars finalised 2008-11-06 2008-11-06 WRCSeptember 2018 InternetArchiveBot yes World Rally Championship 250px|thumb|right|Sébastien Loeb, winner of Rally Ireland for the second time. During Friday, heavy rain dominated the weekend and drivers found it difficult to compete in this kind of torrential weather, also mud became a feature, especially on broken tarmac roads. But Sébastien Loeb took the win second time in the row with Dani Sordo sealing a Citroën 1–2, two events in succession since the inaugural Rally Ireland held in 2007. Mikko Hirvonen once again settled for third place against the Citroën's tarmac wizards, with 2:07.8 minutes behind Loeb. Norway's Henning Solberg was the only of the Solberg brothers present after the no-show of 2003 WRC Champion Petter Solberg. He finished fourth, his best result on tarmac, but he was almost beaten by Citroën's newbie Chris Atkinson who finished in fifth overall despite some big scary moments, including hitting a telegraph pole on Leg 1 and spinning on Stage 18. Sébastien Ogier finished in sixth ahead of Matthew Wilson in a tight battle, while Khalid al-Qassimi became the first Arab rally driver since 1993 by compatriot Mohammed Bin Sulayem.http://www.rallyireland.org/news.aspx?article=318 Loeb wins Rally Ireland 2009-02-03 2009-02-03 Rally Ireland https://web.archive.org/web/20110720135929/http://www.rallyireland.org/news.aspx?article=318 2011-07-20 dead But some drivers such as Jari Matti Latvala, who leads after Stage 1 broke his drive shaft after a puncture on two wheels, Ford's new driver Urmo Aava who leads after Stages 2 and 3, slid off the road and crashing without heavy impact at the Aughnasheelan Stage 6, and Conrad Rautenbach slid off at Stage 9 at Sloughan Glen and got his Citroën C4 deeply stuck at the mud, were all able to restart under the SuperRally rules to finish 10th by Aava, 14th by Latvala, and Rautenbach crossed the line in 18th place, and all of them score manufacturer's points for their respective teams. Junior World Rally Championship The JWRC drivers suffered in this torrential weather as well in the rally during the course of the weekend as eight JWRC drivers competed. Aaron Burkart who switch from his longtime associates Citroën to Suzuki this year was confident of the decision,http://wrc.com/jsp/index.jsp?lnk=101&id=3604&desc=Burkart%20confident%20after%20Suzuki%20switch Burkart confident after Suzuki switch 2009-02-03 2009-02-03 https://web.archive.org/web/20090117024045/http://www.wrc.com/jsp/index.jsp?lnk=101&id=3604&desc=Burkart%20confident%20after%20Suzuki%20switch 17 January 2009 dead dmy-all just won his first JWRC rally in his debut with the team, ahead of the Czech driver Martin Prokop, unlike Burkart stayed with Citroën. While a distant third place for Italian Suzuki driver Simone Bertolotti, who previously drove for Renault. But worst thing happened that Dutchman Hans Weijs jr. who crash heavily at Stage 14 at Tempo under heavy rain that cause to stop some times by rally drivers such as Yoann Bonato and countryman Kevin Abbring, both had activated the SuperRally rules after retiring at Leg 1, had to start their runs all over again because of the incident, but both he and his co-driver were uninjured and the car was not badly damaged. Results Pos. Driver Co-driver Car Time Difference Points WRC 1. FRA Sébastien Loeb MCO Daniel Elena Citroën C4 WRC 2:48:25.7 10 2. ESP Dani Sordo ESP Marc Marti Citroën C4 WRC 2:49:53.6 +1:27.9 8 3. FIN Mikko Hirvonen FIN Jarmo Lehtinen Ford Focus RS WRC 08 2:50:33.5 +2:07.8 6 4. NOR Henning Solberg NOR Cato Menkerud Ford Focus RS WRC 08 2:54:58.1 +6:32.4 5 5. AUS Chris Atkinson BEL Stéphane Prévot Citroën C4 WRC 2:56:17.6 +7:51.9 4 6. FRA Sébastien Ogier FRA Julien Ingrassia Citroën C4 WRC 2:59:09.7 +10:44.0 3 7. GBR Matthew Wilson GBR Scott Martin Ford Focus RS WRC 08 2:59:49.5 +11:23.8 2 8. UAE Khalid al-Qassimi GBR Michael Orr Ford Focus RS WRC 08 3:02:33.6 +14:07.9 1 JWRC 1. (16.) DEU Aaron Burkart DEU Michael Kölbach Suzuki Swift S1600 3:16:41.5 10 2. (17.) CZE Martin Prokop CZE Jan Tománek Citroën C2 S1600 3:17:28.8 +47.3 8 3. (19.) ITA Simone Bertolotti ITA Luca Celestini Suzuki Swift S1600 3:25:41.6 +9:00.1 6 4. (20.) FRA Yoann Bonato FRA Benjamin Boulloud Suzuki Swift S1600 3:29:47.7 +13:06.2 5 5. (22.) NED Kevin Abbring NED Erwin Mombaerts Renault Clio S1600 3:34:19.5 +17:38.0 4 6. (25.) ITA Luca Griotti ITA Corrado Bonato Renault Clio S1600 3:43:49.9 +27:08.4 3 Special stages DayStageTime (GMT)NameLengthWinnerTimeAvg. spd.Rally leader 1(30 JAN) SS1 08:13 IRE Glenboy 1 22.25 km FIN Jari-Matti Latvala 12:44.0 104.8 km/h FIN Jari-Matti Latvala SS2 09:01 IRE Cavan 1 15.09 km FRA Sébastien Loeb 8:31.5 106.2 km/h EST Urmo Aava SS3 09:42 IRE Aughnasheelan 1 25.19 km FRA Sébastien Loeb 14:35.2 103.6 km/h SS4 13:02 IRE Glenboy 2 22.25 km FRA Sébastien Loeb 11:37.4 114.9 km/h FRA Sébastien Loeb SS5 13:50 IRE Cavan 2 15.09 km FRA Sébastien Loeb 7:40.5 118.0 km/h SS6 14:31 IRE Aughnasheelan 2 25.19 km FRA Sébastien Loeb 13:44.6 110.0 km/h SS7 18:54 GBR Murley 24.70 km Stage cancelled SS8 19:39 GBR Fardross 14.77 km Stage cancelled 2(31 JAN) SS9 08:13 GBR Sloughan Glen 1 27.76 km FRA Sébastien Loeb 14:43.3 113.1 km/h SS10 09:06 GBR Ballinamallard 1 25.46 km FRA Sébastien Loeb 13:02.1 117.2 km/h SS11 09:49 GBR Tempo 1 13.46 km FRA Sébastien Loeb 7:33.1 106.9 km/h SS12 13:57 GBR Sloughan Glen 2 27.76 km FIN Mikko Hirvonen 14:33.9 114.4 km/h SS13 14:50 GBR Ballinamallard 2 25.46 km FRA Sébastien Loeb 12:51.4 118.8 km/h SS14 15:33 GBR Tempo 2 13.46 km FRA Sébastien Loeb 7:30.1 107.7 km/h 3(1 FEB) SS15 08:35 IRE Geevagh 11.48 km FIN Mikko Hirvonen 6:11.3 111.3 km/h SS16 09:00 IRE Arigna 10.88 km FRA Sébastien Loeb 6:03.6 107.7 km/h SS17 09:51 IRE Lough Gill 13.51 km FIN Mikko Hirvonen 6:27.0 125.7 km/h SS18 12:09 IRE Donegal Bay 14.47 km FIN Mikko Hirvonen 8:09.7 106.4 km/h SS19 13:10 IRE Donegal Town 1.50 km FIN Mikko Hirvonen 1:08.1 79.3 km/h Championship standings after the event Drivers' championship Pos Driver IRLIreland NORNorway CYPCyprus PORPortugal ARGArgentina ITAItaly GRCGreece POLPoland FINFinland AUSAustralia ESPSpain GBRUnited Kingdom  Pts  1 France Sébastien Loeb 110 2 Spain Dani Sordo 28 3 Finland Mikko Hirvonen 36 4 Norway Henning Solberg 4 5 5 Australia Chris Atkinson 54 6 France Sébastien Ogier 63 7 GBR Matthew Wilson 7 2 8 UAE Khalid al-Qassimi 8 1 Pos Driver IRLIreland NORNorway CYPCyprus PORPortugal ARGArgentina ITAItaly GRCGreece POLPoland FINFinland AUSAustralia ESPSpain GBRUnited Kingdom Pts Manufacturers' championship Rank Driver Event Totalpoints IRLIreland NORNorway CYPCyprus PORPortugal ARGArgentina ITAItaly GRCGreece POLPoland FINFinland AUSAustralia ESPSpain GBRUnited Kingdom 1 France Citroën Total World Rally Team 18 18 2 USA BP Ford World Rally Team 8 8 United Kingdom Stobart M-Sport Ford Rally Team 8 8 4 France Citroën Junior Team 5 5 References External links at official page WRC.com Ireland 2009 Rally Category:January 2009 sports events in Europe Category:February 2009 sports events in Europe Category:January 2009 in Ireland Category:February 2009 in Ireland