2007 Rally Ireland

2007 Rally Ireland
*1st Rally Ireland*
2007 Rally Ireland; 1st Rally Ireland
Round 15 of the 2007 World Rally Championship
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	Benbulbin Mountain, in County Sligo, Ireland.
Host country	Ireland / Northern Ireland
Rally base	Sligo, County Sligo, Republic of Ireland
Dates run	November 15 – 18 2007
Stages	20 (328.43 km; 204.08 miles)
Stage surface	Tarmac
Overall distance	1,196.25 km (743.32 miles)
Statistics
Crews	84 at start, 66 at finish
Overall results
Overall winner	Sébastien Loeb; Citroën Total World Rally Team

The 2007 Rally Ireland, the first Rally Ireland and fifteenth round of the 2007 World Rally Championship, was a motor rally run from 15 to 18 November. It took place over eight counties on both sides of the border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Event started in Stormont, Belfast and finished in Mullaghmore, County Sligo.

Report edit

The rally began with the first special stage in front of Stormont Castle in Belfast, which Marcus Grönholm won on Thursday evening. The next day, in the fourth special stage, Grönholm hit a wall hard, and he and co-driver Timo Rautiainen were taken to hospital as a precaution. Both remained unhurt, but withdrew from the rally.

Citroën driver Sébastien Loeb took a step towards his fourth Drivers' World Championship title, taking the lead again in the drivers' standings. His advantage over his rival Grönholm, who retired on Friday after a serious accident, had been six points before the last round of the world championship. Mikko Hirvonen finished fourth, securing the second manufacturers' world championship title in a row for the Ford team.

Jari-Matti Latvala was third, taking his first WRC podium. Latvala edged out Hirvonen from third place on Friday. He was able to hold this position to the finish despite briefly going off the road on Saturday, losing a little time.

Results edit

Pos.	Driver	Co-driver	Car	Time	Difference	Points
WRC
1.	Sébastien Loeb	Daniel Elena	Citroën C4 WRC	3:01:39.2	0.0	10
2.	Dani Sordo	Marc Martí	Citroën C4 WRC	3:02:32.6	53.4	8
3.	Jari-Matti Latvala	Miikka Anttila	Ford Focus RS WRC 06	3:03:27.4	1:48.2	6
4.	Mikko Hirvonen	Jarmo Lehtinen	Ford Focus RS WRC 07	3:03:56.9	2:17.7	5
5.	Petter Solberg	Phil Mills	Subaru Impreza WRC 07	3:04:35.0	2:55.8	4
6.	Guy Wilks	Phil Pugh	Subaru Impreza WRC	3:07:37.1	5:57.9	3
7.	Matthew Wilson	Michael Orr	Ford Focus RS WRC 06	3:11:44.1	10:04.9	2
8.	Gareth McHale	Allan Harryman	Ford Focus RS WRC 06	3:12:47.5	11:08.3	1
PCWRC
1. (10.)	Niall McShea	Marshall Clarke	Subaru Impreza	3:18:11.3	0.0	10
2. (11.)	Gabriel Pozzo	Daniel Stillo	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9	3:18:55.4	44.1	8
3. (17.)	Nasser Al-Attiyah	Chris Patterson	Subaru Impreza C 07	3:22:42.4	4:31.1	6
4. (18.)	Simone Campedelli	Danilo Fappani	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9	3:24:47.2	6:35.9	5
5. (20.)	Štěpán Vojtěch	Michal Ernst	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9	3:26:45.4	8:34.1	4
6. (21.)	Fumio Nutahara	Daniel Barritt	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9	3:27:32.8	9:21.5	3
7. (22.)	Colm Murphy	Ger Loughrey	Subaru Impreza	3:27:34.6	9:23.3	2
8. (23.)	Philip Morrow	David Senior	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9	3:28:46.9	10:35.6	1

Retirements edit

Eugene Donnelly - mechanical (SS4);
Marcus Grönholm - went off the road - hit the wall (SS4);
Xavier Pons - mechanical - engine (SS4);
Andreas Aigner - went off the road (SS7);
Kris Meeke - mechanical (SS9);
Andrew Nesbitt - went off the road (SS11);
Gareth Jones - mechanical (SS11);
Ray Breen - went off the road (SS11);
Tim McNulty - mechanical (SS12);
Manfred Stohl - mechanical (SS13);
Mark Higgins - rolled (SS16) ;
Leszek Kuzaj - mechanical (SS16);
Patrik Flodin - mechanical (SS17);
Armindo Araújo - went off the road (SS19);

Special Stages edit

All dates and times are GMT (UTC).

Leg	Stage	Time	Name	Length	Winner	Time	Avg. spd.	Rally leader
1 (15/16 Nov)	SSS1	19:00 (15-Nov)	Stormont	1.82 km	M. Grönholm	1:30.8	72.16 km/h	M. Grönholm
	SS2	08:05 (16-Nov)	Geevagh 1	11.47 km	S. Loeb	6:05.7	112.92 km/h	S. Loeb
	SS3	08:33	Arigna 1	27.89 km	D. Sordo	15:44.0	106.36 km/h	S. Loeb
	SS4	09:24	Lough Gill 1	20.56 km	D. Sordo	10:54.7	113.05 km/h	D. Sordo
	SS5	11:29	Geevagh 2	11.47 km	S. Loeb	6:22.0	108.09 km/h	S. Loeb
	SS6	11:57	Arigna 2	27.89 km	S. Loeb	16:09.6	103.55 km/h
	SS7	12:48	Lough Gill 2	20.56 km	D. Sordo	10:55.5	112.92 km/h
	SS8	15:01	Glenboy	22.25 km	S. Loeb	11:56.0	111.87 km/h
	SS9	15:54	Bencroy	15.43 km	D. Sordo	8:21.3	110.81 km/h
	SS10	16:19	Drumshanbo	8.65 km	S. Loeb	5:00.3	103.70 km/h
2 (17 Nov)	SS11	8:13	Sloughan Glen 1	20.95 km	S. Loeb	11:37.7	108.10 km/h
	SS12	09:08	Ballinamallard 1	17.95 km	S. Loeb	9:35.9	112.21 km/h
	SS13	09:51	Tempo 1	13.46 km	S. Loeb	7:31.6	107.30 km/h
	SS14	14:04	Sloughan Glen 2	20.95 km	C. Atkinson	11:25.7	109.99 km/h
	SS15	14:59	Ballinamallard 2	17.95 km	S. Loeb	9:30.7	113.23 km/h
	SS16	15:42	Tempo 2	13.46 km	J-M. Latvala	7:28.9	107.94 km/h
3 (18 Nov)	SS17	09:03	Murley	24.70 km	M. Hirvonen	13:19.9	111.16 km/h
	SS18	09:51	Fardross	14.77 km	M. Hirvonen	8:49.8	100.36 km/h
	SS19	11:39	Donegal Bay	14.06 km	J-M. Latvala	7:00.9	120.26 km/h
	SS20	13:08	Mullaghmore	2.38 km	P. Solberg	1:16.9	111.42 km/h

Championship standings after the event edit

Drivers' championship edit

Pos	Driver	MON	SWE	NOR	MEX	POR	ARG	ITA	GRC	FIN	GER	NZL	ESP	FRA	JPN	IRL	GBR	Pts
1	Sébastien Loeb	1	2	14	1	1	1	Ret	2	3	1	2	1	1	Ret	1		110
2	Marcus Grönholm	3	1	2	2	4	2	1	1	1	4	1	3	2	Ret	Ret		104
3	Mikko Hirvonen	5	3	1	3	5	3	2	4	2	3	3	4	13	1	4		89
4	Dani Sordo	2	12	25	4	3	6	3	24	Ret	Ret	6	2	3	2	2		61
5	Petter Solberg	6	Ret	4	Ret	2	Ret	5	3	Ret	6	7	6	5	Ret	5		42
6	Henning Solberg	14	4	3	9	9	5	4	5	5	14	9	10	9	3	16		34
7	Jari-Matti Latvala	Ret	Ret	5	7	8	4	9	12	Ret	8	5	7	4	26	3		30
8	Chris Atkinson	4	8	19	5	Ret	7	10	6	4	15	4	8	6	Ret	42		29
9	François Duval								Ret		2		5	Ret				12
9	Manfred Stohl	10	7	12	6	10	8	7	8	Ret	Ret	12	Ret	14	6	Ret		12
11	Jan Kopecký	8	10	8		22		Ret	7	Ret	5		Ret	7				10
11	Toni Gardemeister	7	6	Ret		DSQ		6			7							10
13	Daniel Carlsson		5	7		6		Ret										9
14	Matthew Wilson	12	Ret	26	8	12	30	12	10	10	9	10	11	Ret	4	7		8
15	Gigi Galli		13	6		7												5
16	Luís Pérez Companc		15		19	DNS	28	Ret	11	11		23	Ret		5			4
16	Xavier Pons	25	Ret	16						6	18	Ret	9	8	36	Ret		4
18	Guy Wilks			Ret		Ret			9	9	10					6		3
18	Urmo Aava			28		15		13	14	7	12	8	18	Ret	18			3
20	Federico Villagra					DNS	9	11	32	14		11	13		7			2
21	Juho Hänninen		DSQ	17			11	8	Ret	Ret		19	23		24			1
	Mads Østberg		9	37		Ret		Ret		8								1
	Katsuhiko Taguchi														8			1
	Gareth MacHale	11			Ret	13		Ret								8		1
Pos	Driver	MON	SWE	NOR	MEX	POR	ARG	ITA	GRC	FIN	GER	NZL	ESP	FRA	JPN	IRL	GBR	Pts

Key
Colour	Result
Gold	Winner
Silver	2nd place
Bronze	3rd place
Green	Points finish
Blue	Non-points finish
Blue	Non-classified finish (NC)
Purple	Did not finish (Ret)
Black	Excluded (EX)
Black	Disqualified (DSQ)
White	Did not start (DNS)
White	Cancelled (C)
Blank	Withdrew entry from the event (WD)

Manufacturers' championship edit

Rank	Manufacturer	Event																Total points
Rank	Manufacturer	MON	SWE	NOR	MEX	POR	ARG	ITA	GRC	FIN	GER	NZL	ESP	FRA	JPN	IRL	GBR	Total points
1	BP Ford World Rally Team	10	16	18	14	9	14	18	15	18	11	16	11	9	10	5	-	194
2	Citroën Total World Rally Team	18	9	1	15	16	13	6	8	6	10	11	18	16	8	18	-	173
3	Stobart VK M-Sport Ford	1	5	10	3	2	9	7	4	4	5	5	2	7	7	9	-	80
4	Subaru World Rally Team	8	2	5	4	8	2	5	9	5	5	7	4	7	2	6	-	79
5	OMV Kronos	2	7	5	3	4	1	3	2	0	8	0	4	0	4	0	-	43
6	Munchi's Ford World Rally Team		0		0		0	0	1	5		0	0		8		-	14

References edit

^ Wilkins, Robert (2007-11-13). "Preview: 2007 Rally Ireland". Crash.net. Archived from the original on 2008-11-23.

External links edit

[1] Wilkins, Robert (2007-11-13). "Preview: 2007 Rally Ireland". Crash.net. Archived from the original on 2008-11-23.

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