Rally Finland 2007

 Rally Finland 2007

Racing data
9th of 16 races in the 2007 World Rally Championship
Surname:	Rally Finland
Date:	2nd to 5th August 2007
Begin:	Jyväskylä
Exams:	23 tests over 360.34 km
Distance:	1,375.15 km
Covering:	gravel
Podium
First:	Marcus Grönholm Ford Abu Dhabi WRT
Second:	Mikko Hirvonen Ford Abu Dhabi WRT
Third:	Sébastien Loeb Citroën Total World Rally Team

The 57th Rally Finland was the ninth of 16 FIA World Championship races in 2007. The rally consisted of 23 special stages and was held between August 2nd and 4th.

The 2007 award ceremony in Finland

Race report

Ford works driver Marcus Grönholm had won his home rally for the seventh time, more often than any other driver in the history of the World Rally Championship (WRC). Out of a total of 23 special stages, Grönholm had won 17. With team-mate Mikko Hirvonen , Grönholm had a persistent pursuer for long stretches. On Friday Hirvonen Grönholm was even able to briefly take the lead away, then Grönholm countered, but for a long time the two were separated by only tenths of a second. It was only on Saturday that Grönholm was able to pull away and expand his lead from 4.4 to 20 seconds, at the finish it was 24.2 seconds. Hirvonen was all the more pleased with second place, as he left world champion Loeb behind and was able to keep up with Grönholm in the rally for a long time.

Rival Sébastien Loeb (Citroën) was third, more than a minute behind. Grönholm was able to increase the lead in the drivers' world championship. With 75 points, he had 13 points more than Loeb. A good cushion, because there are still four asphalt rallies in which Loeb is the favorite. In the Manufacturers' World Championship, Ford was able to achieve the maximum number of points with a double victory and was 40 points ahead of Citroën with 132 points.

Classifications

Bottom line

Item	driver	Co-driver	automobile	time	Residue	Points
WRC
1	Marcus Grönholm	Timo Rautiainen	Ford Focus RS WRC	2: 57: 26.1		10
2	Mikko Hirvonen	Jarmo Lehtinen	Ford Focus RS WRC	2: 57: 50.3	00: 24.2	8th
3	Sébastien Loeb	Daniel Elena	Citroën C4 WRC	2: 58: 36.0	01: 09.9	6th
4th	Chris Atkinson	Stéphane Prévot	Subaru Impreza WRC	3: 00: 28.9	03: 02.8	5
5	Henning Solberg	Cato Menkerud	Ford Focus RS WRC	3: 01: 55.5	04: 29.4	4th
6th	Xavier Pons	Xavier Amigo	Subaru Impreza WRC	3: 04: 26.6	07: 00.5	3
7th	Urmo Aava	Kuldar Sikk	Mitsubishi Lancer WRC	3: 05: 05.7	07: 39.6	2
8th	Mads Østberg	Ole Kristian Unnerud	Subaru Impreza WRC	3: 06: 58.0	09: 31.9	1
JWRC
1 (18)	Patrik Sandell	Emil Axelsson	Renault Clio R3	3: 25: 14.5	27: 48.4	10
2 (19)	Kalle Pinomäki	Tuomo Nikkola	Renault Clio R3	3: 26: 33.6	29: 07.5	8th
3 (22)	Michał Kościuszko	Maciej Szczepaniak	Renault Clio S1600	3: 29: 28.2	32: 02.1	6th
4 (23)	Conrad Rautenbach	David Sr.	Citroën C2 S1600	3: 29: 46.3	32: 20.2	5
5 (25)	Tapio Suominen	Jarno Ottman	Suzuki Swift S1600	3: 31: 00.9	33: 34.8	4th
6 (30)	Vilius Rožukas	Audrius Šošas	Suzuki Swift S1600	3: 34: 29.0	37: 02.9	3
7 (32)	Alessandro Bettega	Simone Scattolin	Ford Fiesta S1600	3: 37: 43.0	40: 16.9	2
8 (33)	Yoann Bonato	Benjamin Boulloud	Citroën C2 R2	3: 38: 20.3	40: 54.2	1

Special stages

Day	WP number	Start CET	WP name	length	driver	automobile	time	Ø km / h	leader
Day 1 Aug 2	WP1	20:00	Killeri 1	2.50 km	Chris Atkinson	Subaru Impreza WRC	1: 20.6	111.66 km / h	Chris Atkinson
Day 2 Aug 3	WP2	07:54	Vellipohja 1	17.20 km	Jari-Matti Latvala	Ford Focus RS WRC	8: 18.7	124.16 km / h	Jari-Matti Latvala
	WP3	08:50	Mökkiperä 1	13.72 km	Marcus Grönholm	Ford Focus RS WRC	6: 47.5	121.21 km / h	Marcus Grönholm
	WP4	09:29	Palsankylä 1	13.31 km	Mikko Hirvonen	Ford Focus RS WRC	6: 47.4	117.61 km / h	Mikko Hirvonen
	WP5	12:06	Vellipohja 2	17.20 km	Marcus Grönholm	Ford Focus RS WRC	8: 10.1	126.34 km / h	Marcus Grönholm
	WP6	13:02	Mökkiperä 2	13.72 km	Mikko Hirvonen Marcus Grönholm	Ford Focus RS WRC	6: 42.7	122.65 km / h
	WP7	13:41	Palsankylä 2	13.31 km	Marcus Grönholm	Ford Focus RS WRC	6: 36.1	120.97 km / h
	WP8	16:21	Urria	9.96 km	Marcus Grönholm	Ford Focus RS WRC	4: 36.6	129.63 km / h
	WP9	16:51	Lautaperä	8.69 km	Marcus Grönholm	Ford Focus RS WRC	3: 56.7	132.17 km / h
	WP10	17:29	Jukojärvi	22.25 km	Marcus Grönholm	Ford Focus RS WRC	10: 35.6	126.02 km / h
	WP11	20:00	Killeri 2	2.50 km	Marcus Grönholm	Ford Focus RS WRC	1: 20.7	111.52 km / h
Day 3 Aug 4	WP12	07:17	Kaipolanvuori	13.46 km	Sébastien Loeb	Citroën C4 WRC	6: 53.4	117.21 km / h
	WP13	08:30	Juupajoki	22.13 km	Marcus Grönholm	Ford Focus RS WRC	11: 19.3	117.28 km / h
	WP14	09:14	Ouninpohja 1	33.00 km	Marcus Grönholm	Ford Focus RS WRC	15: 35.3	127.02 km / h
	WP15	12:15	Leustu	21.27 km	Marcus Grönholm	Ford Focus RS WRC	10: 12.6	124.99 km / h
	WP16	13:24	Ouninpohja 2	33.00 km	Marcus Grönholm	Ford Focus RS WRC	15: 19.8	129.16 km / h
	WP17	15:10	Ehikki 1	14.88 km	Marcus Grönholm	Ford Focus RS WRC	6: 52.2	129.96 km / h
	WP18	16:23	Himos	18.55 km	Marcus Grönholm	Ford Focus RS WRC	10: 09.8	109.51 km / h
	WP19	17:19	Ehikki 2	14.88 km	Mikko Hirvonen	Ford Focus RS WRC	6: 47.4	131.49 km / h
	WP20	17:54	Surkee	14.89 km	Mikko Hirvonen	Ford Focus RS WRC	8: 13.6	108.6 km / h
Day 4 Aug 5	WP21	10:15	Valkola	10.38 km	Marcus Grönholm	Ford Focus RS WRC	5: 35.9	111.25 km / h
	WP22	11:07	Lankamaa	22.82 km	Marcus Grönholm	Ford Focus RS WRC	11: 07.2	123.13 km / h
	WP23	12:22	Ruuhimäki	7.53 km	Marcus Grönholm	Ford Focus RS WRC	3: 57.8	113.99 km / h

Source:

Individual evidence

1. ↑ motorsport-total.com: Grönholm takes seventh victory in Finland , accessed on December 28, 2015
2. ↑ ewrc-results.com: 57th Neste Oil Rally Finland 2007 , accessed on December 28, 2015

Web links

Commons : World Rally Championship 2007  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Official website