HIRVONEN TAKES RALLY AUSTRALIA AS LOEB AND CITROEN PENALIZED

2009-09-07 14:03:29 Author: admin Source:

Ford driver Mikko Hirvonen have been named as the winner of Rally Australia following a post-event hearing that imposed a 1-minute penalty on the Citroen drivers that filled three of the top four places; Sebastien Loeb, Dani Sordo and Sebastien Ogier.

The stewards of this 10th round of the World Rally Championship (WRC) received a post-event scrutineering report from the  WRC technical delegates which stated that the front anti-roll bar link on the car of Loeb's C4 did not comply with the homologation form of the car.

Citroen agreed that the part was different from the homologation photograph, and confirmed that the cars of Sordo and Ogier were also fitted with identical parts.

The stewards imposed a 1-minute penalty on all three cars, promoting Hirvonen from second to first, and that of team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala from fifth to fourth.

It means that Hirvonen will start the penultimate round of the series in Spain next month with a five point lead in the WRC Drivers' standings over Loeb, while second-placed Ford has reduced the gap to Citroen in the Manufacturers' standings to 13 points.

Last week's 10th round of the 12-event WRC series was based on the east coast in northern New South Wales for the first time after 19 years in Western Australia. Drivers tackled 33 special stages covering 322.06km, mostly in dry and hot conditions but with a few showers on the first day (Friday).

As championship leader, Hirvonen was first in the start order on the opening leg, unwillingly sweeping the loose gravel from the surface to leave a cleaner and faster line for those behind. Despite the disadvantage, he minimized the time loss to lie fifth. He climbed the order during the second day, which ended with the top three drivers covered by just one tenth of a second.

He could not prevent Loeb edging away to a 12.5sec victory, but his battle with D. Sordo was the thriller on the final day. They traded places five times in 10 stages, before Hirvonen entered the final 22.41km speed test with a 2.1sec advantage, which he protected to secure second overall.

Latvala enjoyed the benefit of favourable road conditions to lead for virtually all the opening leg, before he had to sweep the gravel on the second day. He bravely held off his challengers for much of the day before finally ceding the lead. He then slipped to fourth after damaging his car's right rear tyre when he slid into a bank and the impact pushed the tyre from the rim. In an identical incident on Sunday, Latvala dropped a further 50sec and the Finn had to settle for fifth.

Citroen's victory wasn't to be as hard as Loeb and company battled the Fords throughout the enticing Rally of Australia. Instead of the monumental victory for Loeb and a podium place for Sordo, the Ctiroen squad were slapped with a 1-minute penalty for an incorrect homologation on the front suspension mount of their C4 cars. Loeb was displaced by Hirvonen on the top step of the podium, but Sordo managed to hold on to the third place that he had worked so hard for.    

Loeb commented, "I am obviously disappointed, but you've got to accept it when the regulations are applied. Instead of being just one point behind Mikko(Hirvonen), I now have a five-point deficit to make up."

"That clearly complicates matters regarding our bid to win a sixth title, but this won't have any effect on our determination to win in Spain," he added.

Matthew Wilson (above left) and Henning Solberg (above right) overcame final day dramas to complete another double-points finish in sixth and seventh for the Stobart Ford Team. Both drivers took their best ever finishes in the WRC to maintain Stobart's lead over the Citroen Junior Rally Team in the Manufacturers' Championship.

Solberg had started the rally in style on the streets of Murwillumbah on Thursday, grabbing a second and third place in the opening super special stages. He started the first full day of the rally in second place overall, but slid down the field on the early stages of Friday (first day) as he struggled with the set-up of his car.

The opening leg was disappointing for Wilson whose hopes of pushing the rally leaders was scuppered by an early spin and power steering problems. The Brit struggled to find his rhythm on the stages, lacking confidence on the slippery, loose gravel roads. The Stobart crews ended the day in sixth and seventh place but still in touch with the leaders.

On day two, it was Solberg who was the first of the leading drivers to suffer in the damp conditions, sliding off the road on a fast, left-hand corner on SS17. Solberg was able to get back on the road with only superficial damage to the car, but had to continue through the remaining two stages without a windscreen as it got smashed in the crash.

Wilson was growing in confidence on the fast-flowing Australian roads. Having made some changes to his pacenotes in the loop, he reaped the benefits of a set-up change, steadily closing the gap on Solberg as he gunned for a top-six finish.

Wilson and Solberg started day three less than a second apart with the prospect of an epic battle for team bragging rights ahead during the longest day of the rally. But when Solberg spun 1.5kms into the first stage, the initiative was handed to Wilson who immediately pulled out a 20 second lead over his Norwegian team-mate.

The pair were closely matched, with Solberg clawing back around 15 seconds on SS30 as Wilson came off the road briefly in the slippery conditions damaging his rear left tyre. But the fight for the sixth position was effectively ended as a brake problem for Solberg caused him to arrive two minutes late for SS31. A spin on SS33 saw the Norwegian drop down to eighth behind Federico Villagra. But a staggering performance on the last and longest stage of the rally saw him eclipse Villagra by 23 seconds and move back up to seventh on the very last stage.

The upcoming penultimate rally event is scheduled for the Rally de Espana in Salou from 2 - 4 October.

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