Rally France 2011

 Rally France 2011

Racing data
11th of 13 races of the 2011 World Rally Championship
Surname:	Rallye de France - Alsace
Date:	September 30th - October 2nd, 2011
Begin:	Strasbourg
Exams:	23 tests over 337.43 km
Distance:	1,296.08 km
Covering:	asphalt
Podium
First:	Sébastien Ogier Citroën World Rally Team
Second:	Daniel Sordo Mini WRC Team
Third:	Mikko Hirvonen Ford World Rally Team

Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia in the Citroën DS3 WRC

The Rallye France 2011 , officially Rallye de France - Alsace , was the eleventh round of the 2011 World Rally Championship and also a round of the 2011 Super 2000 World Rally Championship and the 2011 WRC Academy . The Rallye de France - Alsace took place for the second time in 2011 and was held from September 30th to October 2nd around Strasbourg in Alsace .

background

The Ford factory vehicles of Mikko Hirvonen , Jari-Matti Latvala and Khalid Al Qassimi wore a special matt black paint with white lettering at the Rally France.

The organizers of the rally had set up controversial metal posts on the inside of many corners to prevent time-saving cornering. This forced the drivers to change their notes from the previous year. Such a metal post was Sébastien Ogier's undoing during the reconnaissance trip when he damaged the radiator of his training vehicle. Later in the competition, some metal bars were damaged or disappeared and thus made the notes partly useless.

In the WRC field, 66 teams were registered for the Rally France. Touring car world champion Yvan Muller was among the participants .

Following the field of the WRC, the participants of the Rallye de France Alsace - Grand National , which is part of the French rally championship, started on the same special stages. However, in contrast to the WRC, each special stage was only run once. Since it was officially an independent event, the WRC regulations did not apply. Therefore, World Rally Cars of the generation up to 2010 were still allowed, of which six eventually started.

Before the start of the rally, the reigning world champion and Citroën works driver Sébastien Loeb had the best starting position in the fight for the world championship with 196 points. While Mikko Hirvonen, the best-placed Ford driver, was 15 points behind, Loeb's team-mate Sébastien Ogier was 29 points behind the top of the table.

A pilot project was started at the 2011 Rally France: for the first time, special stages could be followed live in the free live stream on the WRC website. The transmission duration spread over the first two days of the event totaled 14 hours.

Reports

Day 1 (Friday, September 30th)

Sébastien Loeb took the lead at the start of the rally. An unusual incident occurred before the start of the third special stage. While warming up the tires, Kimi Raikkonen hit the Henning Solberg who was driving in front of him . Raikkonen damaged a wheel suspension on his vehicle, came off the road and ended up in the ditch. Raikkonen was then unable to continue the rally. The previously leading Loeb also had to give up on the third special stage (SS3) after his Citroën broke down on the track with engine failure. Incorrect assembly of the engine caused the oil pump to fail. Loeb waived a possible start on the following day under SupeRally regulations in order to be able to use a new engine at the 2011 Rally Catalonia . The Ford works drivers also lost their chances of victory on this stage: Mikko Hirvonen was just under one and Jari-Matti Latvala almost one and a half minutes behind due to driving errors. The new leader after SS3 was Loeb's team-mate Sébastien Ogier. Citroën privateer Petter Solberg and mini works driver Daniel Sordo were only a few seconds behind . In the afternoon, Ogier's pursuers picked up the pace and there was a close three-way battle at the front. Sordo achieved the first best time for the new Mini-WRC team on SS6 - at the same time as Petter Solberg. On the long SS7, Petter Solberg set the sole best time. He took 7.6 seconds out of Ogier, who was struggling with vibrations on the brakes, and thus took the lead in the overall standings. Meanwhile Mads Østberg fell behind due to a puncture. With the best time on SS8, the last special stage of the day, the lead changed to Daniel Sordo. For the first time, the new Mini led a WRC rally. At the end of the day, the three front runners were within just 2.8 seconds.

2nd day (Saturday, October 1st)

On the morning of the second day, the three-way battle for the lead initially continued. Petter Solberg, who had regained the overall lead with a fastest time on SS10, suffered a tire damage on SS11. He lost around 40 seconds as a result, so that he could no longer intervene in the battle for victory. Sébastien Ogier was back in the lead before he narrowly lost it to Daniel Sordo on SS12. Sordo took a lead of 0.2 seconds over Ogier into the lunch break. In the afternoon, Ogier took back the lead on SS13. The second mini works driver Kris Meeke , who had previously fought a duel with Latvala for fourth place, came off the road in a fast right-hand turn and crashed into a tree stump. The rally was over for him. Ogier achieved three more best times on the rest of the special stage and increased his lead over Sordo to 9.5 seconds by the end of the day.

3rd day (Sunday, October 2nd)

At the beginning of the third day, the previously seventh-placed mini-privateer Armindo Araújo was eliminated after contact with the wall on SS18. Unlike Sébastien Ogier, Daniel Sordo opted for the soft tire compound. In cool, foggy conditions, he made up some ground at the beginning and had reduced his gap to 4.9 seconds after the first two special stages. Then his tires deteriorated in the higher temperatures and he couldn't get any closer to Ogier. The fastest times were now set by Jari-Matti Latvala, who was gradually catching up with Petter Solberg. But on SS22 Latvala obeyed a stable order and deliberately received two penalty minutes. As a result, he fell behind his team-mate Mikko Hirvonen, who was better positioned in the championship. Latvala, Sordo and Ogier secured the bonus points on the final Power Stage . Ogier achieved overall victory with a lead of 6.3 seconds over Sordo, who thus achieved the best result for the Mini-WRC team to date. Petter Solberg crossed the finish line as third fastest. However, he was subsequently disqualified because his vehicle was four kilograms below the minimum weight of 1200 kg prescribed by the regulations. As a result, all of the drivers initially placed behind him moved one position forward; new third was now Hirvonen. Ford privateer Dennis Kuipers also drove a strong rally, with fifth place, his best result to date and the best placing by a Dutchman in the history of the WRC. While Ken Block was getting his first points in the 2011 season, Pierre Campana scored his first ever WRC points with the FFSA Mini. Ott Tänak achieved a superior SWRC victory, Alastair Fisher won the WRC Academy . 34 participants were rated.

In the championship, the top three drivers had moved together after this rally. As World Cup leader Sébastien Loeb missed out because of the failure, his pursuers Mikko Hirvonen and Sébastien Ogier were able to catch up. Hirvonen was now level on points with Loeb, Ogier was only three points away from the lead.

Classifications

Bottom line

rank	driver	Co-driver	automobile	time	Residue	Points + power stage
WRC
01	Sébastien Ogier	Julien Ingrassia	Citroën DS3 WRC	3: 06: 20.4		25 + 1
02	Daniel Sordo	Carlos Del Barrio	Mini John Cooper Works WRC	3: 06: 26.7	00: 06.3	18 + 2
DSQ	Petter Solberg	Chris Patterson	Citroën DS3 WRC	3: 07: 44.2	01: 23.8	-
03	Mikko Hirvonen	Jarmo Lehtinen	Ford Fiesta RS WRC	3: 09: 47.0	03: 26.6	15th
04th	Jari-Matti Latvala	Miikka Anttila	Ford Fiesta RS WRC	3: 09: 50.7	03: 30.3	12 + 3
05	Dennis Kuipers	Frédéric Miclotte	Ford Fiesta RS WRC	3: 13: 02.4	06: 42.0	10
06th	Henning Solberg	Ilka Minor	Ford Fiesta RS WRC	3: 13: 28.7	07: 08.3	08th
07th	Mads Østberg	Jonas Andersson	Ford Fiesta RS WRC	3: 14: 18.7	07: 58.3	06th
08th	Ken Block	Alessandro Gelsomino	Ford Fiesta RS WRC	3: 14: 45.9	08: 25.5	04th
09	Pierre Campana	Sabrina De Castelli	Mini John Cooper Works WRC	3: 14: 59.1	08: 38.7	02
10	Matthew Wilson	Scott Martin	Ford Fiesta RS WRC	3: 16: 21.2	10: 00.8	01
SWRC
01 (11)	Ott Tanak	Kuldar Sikk	Ford Fiesta S2000	3: 17: 52.1		25th
02 (13)	Eyvind Brynildsen	Timo Alanne	Škoda Fabia S2000	3: 20: 25.8	02: 33.7	18th
03 (14)	Martin Prokop	Jan Tománek	Ford Fiesta S2000	3: 20: 32.8	02: 40.7	15th
04 (15)	Bernando Sousa	Paulo Babo	Ford Fiesta S2000	3: 22: 27.0	04: 34.9	12
05 (26)	Juho Hänninen	Mikko Markkula	Škoda Fabia S2000	3: 49: 21.6	31: 29.5	10
06 (27)	Julien Maurin	Olivier Ural	Ford Fiesta S2000	3: 49: 26.1	31: 34.0	08th
WRC Academy
01	Alastair Fisher	Daniel Barritt	Ford Fiesta R2	3: 06: 01.5		25 + 3
02	José Antonio Suarez	Cándido Carrera	Ford Fiesta R2	3: 06: 42.0	00: 40.5	18 + 1
03	Yeray Lemes	Rogelio Peñate	Ford Fiesta R2	3: 10: 29.2	04: 27.7	15 + 6
04th	Sepp Wiegand	Claudia Harloff	Ford Fiesta R2	3: 12: 23.2	06: 21.7	-
05	Molly Taylor	Sebastian Marshall	Ford Fiesta R2	3: 24: 06.0	18: 04.5	10
06th	Netherlands Timo van der Marel	Erwin Berkhof	Ford Fiesta R2	3: 36: 39.3	30: 37.8	08th
07th	Miko-Ove Niinemäe	Timo Kasesalu	Ford Fiesta R2	3: 38: 49.0	32: 47.5	06th
08th	Fredrik Åhlin	Bjorn Nilsson	Ford Fiesta R2	3: 42: 34.7	36: 33.2	04th

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Bonus points for placement on the Power Stage .
2. ↑ For the evaluation of the WRC Academy only the first two days of the rally were taken into account. The drivers therefore did not place in the overall standings.
3. ↑ ^{a b c} Bonus points for special stage best times within the WRC Academy class .
4. ↑ Not eligible for points.

Special stages

Day	WP number	begin	WP name	length	WP winner	time	Ø km / h	leader
Day 1 (September 30th)	WP1	07:48	Klevener 1st	09.68 km	Sébastien Loeb	5: 41.7	101.98 km / h	Sébastien Loeb
	WP2	08:14	Ungersberg 1	15.45 km	Sébastien Ogier	09: 03.5	102.34 km / h
	WP3	09:19	Pays d'Ormont 1	36.00 km	Sébastien Ogier	19: 26.7	111.08 km / h	Sébastien Ogier
	WP4	10:12	Salm 1	13.06 km	Jari-Matti Latvala	07: 03.1	111.12 km / h
	WP5	13:23	Klevener 2	09.68 km	Sébastien Ogier	05: 42.7	101.69 km / h
	WP6	13:49	Ungersberg 2	15.45 km	Daniel Sordo Petter Solberg	09: 04.9	102.07 km / h
	WP7	14:54	Pays d'Ormont 2	36.00 km	Petter Solberg	19: 33.4	110.45 km / h	Petter Solberg
	WP8	15:47	Salm 2	13.06 km	Daniel Sordo	07: 03.8	110.94 km / h	Daniel Sordo
Day 2 (October 1st)	WP9	08:23	Hohlandsbourg 1	09.87 km	Sébastien Ogier	05: 19.6	111.18 km / h
	WP10	08:41	First plan 1	16.50 km	Petter Solberg	08: 18.0	119.28 km / h	Petter Solberg
	WP11	09:10	Vallée de Munster 1	22.26 km	Sébastien Ogier	11: 15.0	118.72 km / h	Sébastien Ogier
	WP12	10:33	Grand Ballon 1	24.02 km	Daniel Sordo	13: 28.1	107.01 km / h	Daniel Sordo
	WP13	13:02	Hohlandsbourg 2	09.87 km	Petter Solberg Sébastien Ogier	05: 24.4	109.53 km / h	Sébastien Ogier
	WP14	13:20	First plan 2	16.50 km	Sébastien Ogier	08: 16.3	119.69 km / h
	WP15	13:49	Vallée de Munster 2	22.26 km	Sébastien Ogier	11: 17.6	118.26 km / h
	WP16	15:12	Grand Ballon 2	24.02 km	Jari-Matti Latvala	13: 31.5	106.56 km / h
	WP17	16:56	Mulhouse	03.09 km	Sébastien Ogier	02: 21.9	078.39 km / h
Day 3 (October 2nd)	WP18	07:18	Gravière de Bischwiller 1	05.52 km	Jari-Matti Latvala	02: 51.0	116.21 km / h
	WP19	08:27	Vignoble de Cleebourg 1	10.61 km	Daniel Sordo	05: 54.6	107.72 km / h
	WP20	09:48	Haguenau 1	4.20 km	Jari-Matti Latvala	03: 11.6	078.91 km / h
	WP21	10:18	Gravière de Bischwiller 2	05.52 km	Jari-Matti Latvala	02: 47.2	118.85 km / h
	WP22	11:27	Vignoble de Cleebourg 2	10.61 km	Jari-Matti Latvala Sébastien Ogier	05: 50.3	109.04 km / h
	WP23	13:08	Haguenau 2	04.20 km	Jari-Matti Latvala	03: 09.4	079.83 km / h

Web links

Commons : Rally France 2011  - collection of images

• Official WRC website

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Ogier damages vehicle in the run-up to the Rally France (Motorsport-Total.com on September 28, 2011)
2. ↑ France SS in the stream on wrc.com (Speedweek.de on September 28, 2011)
3. ↑ Räikkönen and Henning Solberg with bizarre collision (Motorsport-Total.com on September 30, 2011)
4. ↑ Quesnel admits assembly errors (Motorsport-Total.com on October 2, 2011)
5. ↑ Final: End of work for Loeb in France (Motorsport-Total.com on September 30, 2011)
6. ↑ SS1-3: Loeb eliminated in France! (Motorsport-Total.com on September 30, 2011)
7. ↑ SS5-8: MINI driver Sordo in the lead after the first stage (Motorsport-Total.com on September 30, 2011)
8. ↑ SS9-12: Sordo keeps a tight lead (Motorsport-Total.com on October 1, 2011)
9. ↑ SS13-17: Ogier before the last stage in the front (Motorsport-Total.com on October 1, 2011)
10. ↑ Local hero Ogier wins in France (Motorsport-Total.com on October 2nd, 2011)
11. ↑ France aftermath: Solberg loses third place! (Motorsport-Total.com on October 2, 2011)
12. ↑ Kuipers: Best WRC result for Holland (Motorsport-Total.com on October 3, 2011)