Rally Great Britain 2007

 Rally Great Britain 2007

Racing data
16th of 16 races in the 2007 World Rally Championship
Surname:	Rally Great Britain
Date:	November 30–2. December 2007
Begin:	Cardiff
Exams:	17 tests over 359.54 km
Distance:	well km
Covering:	gravel
Podium
First:	Mikko Hirvonen Ford Abu Dhabi WRT
Second:	Marcus Grönholm Ford Abu Dhabi WRT
Third:	Sébastien Loeb Citroën Total World Rally Team

The 63rd Rally Great Britain (also known as Wales Rally GB ) was the last of 16 FIA World Championship races in 2007. The rally consisted of 17 special stages on gravel roads and was held between 30 November and 2 December.

Hirvonen / Lehtinen (Ford Focus RS WRC) at the 2007 Rally Great Britain

Race report

Sébastien Loeb became world champion for the fourth time in a row. He had set Tommi Mäkinen's record . Third place at the season finale in Wales was enough for the Citroën driver . Loeb started the last world championship run of the season with a six point lead over his rival Marcus Grönholm (Ford). Grönholm was able to make up two points with a second place, in the end Loeb was four points ahead in the drivers' standings.

The rallye was won by Grönholms team-mate Mikko Hirvonen . He took the lead with four special stage best times on Friday. Hirvonen was 15.2 seconds ahead of second-placed Grönholm and thus secured the fourth WRC victory of his career.

In fourth place behind the top trio came Subaru driver Petter Solberg . He was able to conclude a season with moderate success in a somewhat forgiving manner. Fourth place and the seventh place of his teammate Chris Atkinson secured Subaru third place in the Manufacturers' World Championship ahead of the Stobart team. The second and third days were dominated by the young M-Sport driver Jari-Matti Latvala , who had already been confirmed as a works driver for Ford for the next year. However, since he lost almost ten minutes on the first day due to a broken windshield wiper, he was no longer than tenth place.

Classifications

Bottom line

Item	driver	Co-driver	automobile	time	Residue	Points
WRC
1	Mikko Hirvonen	Jarmo Lehtinen	Ford Focus RS WRC	3: 22: 50.9		10
2	Marcus Grönholm	Timo Rautiainen	Ford Focus RS WRC	3: 23: 06.1	00: 15.2	8th
3	Sébastien Loeb	Daniel Elena	Citroën C4 WRC	3: 24: 23.9	01: 33.0	6th
4th	Petter Solberg	Phil Mills	Subaru Impreza WRC	3: 25: 48.2	02: 57.3	5
5	Dani Sordo	Marc Marti	Citroën C4 WRC	3: 26: 05.2	03: 14.3	4th
6th	Matthew Wilson	Michael Orr	Ford Focus WRC 06	3: 30: 23.8	07: 32.9	3
7th	Chris Atkinson	Stéphane Prévot	Subaru Impreza WRC	3: 31: 20.4	08: 29.5	2
8th	Manfred Stohl	Ilka Minor	Citroën Xsara WRC	3: 31: 45.5	08: 54.6	1
PWRC
1 (13)	Guy Wilks	Phil Pugh	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX	3: 44: 23.7	21: 32.8	10
2 (14)	Juho Hänninen	Mikko Markkula	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX	3: 44: 57.9	22: 07.0	8th
3 (16)	Mark Higgins	Scott Martin	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX	3: 46: 10.2	23: 19.3	6th
4 (17)	Alessandro Bettega	Simone Scattolin	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX	3: 49: 47.3	26: 56.4	5
5 (19)	David Higgins	Thomas Ieuan	Subaru Impreza WRX STi	3: 51: 32.8	28: 41.9	4th
6 (21)	Mirco Baldacci	Giovanni Agnese	Subaru Impreza WRX STi	3: 53: 12.8	30: 21.9	3
7 (23)	Armindo Araujo	Migue Ramalhol	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX	4: 00: 58.9	38: 08.0	2
8 (25)	Štěpán Vojtěch	Michal Ernst	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX	4: 02: 31.4	39: 40.5	1

Special stages

Day	WP number	Start CET	WP name	length	driver	automobile	time	Ø km / h	leader
Day 1 Nov. 30	WP1	09:53	Port Talbot 1	17.41 km	Mikko Hirvonen	Ford Focus RS WRC	9: 15.2	112.9 km / h	Mikko Hirvonen
	WP2	10:41	Resolved 1	25.08 km	Mikko Hirvonen	Ford Focus RS WRC	12: 50.6	117.2 km / h
	WP3	11:39	Rheola 1	27.91 km	Mikko Hirvonen	Ford Focus RS WRC	15: 55.7	105.1 km / h
	WP4	14:10	Port Talbot 2	17.41 km	Mikko Hirvonen	Ford Focus RS WRC	9: 17.2	112 km / h
	WP5	14:58	Resolved 2	25.08 km	Sébastien Loeb Marcus Grönholm	Citroën C4 WRC Ford Focus RS WRC	13: 20.9	112.7 km / h
	WP6	16:23	Rheola 2	27.91 km	Jari-Matti Latvala	Ford Focus RS WRC	16: 39.3	100.5 km / h
Day 2 Dec 1st	WP7	09:38	Crychan 1	19.56 km	Jari-Matti Latvala	Ford Focus RS WRC	10: 31.2	111.6 km / h
	WP8	10:21	Epynt 1	13.76 km	Jari-Matti Latvala	Ford Focus RS WRC	7: 33.2	109.3 km / h
	WP9	10:54	Halfway 1	18.37 km	Jari-Matti Latvala	Ford Focus RS WRC	10: 28.3	105.3 km / h
	WP10	14:47	Crychan 2	19.56 km	Jari-Matti Latvala	Ford Focus RS WRC	10: 39.8	110.1 km / h
	WP11	3:30 p.m.	Epynt 2	13.76 km	Jari-Matti Latvala	Ford Focus RS WRC	7: 40.1	107.7 km / h
	WP12	16:29	Halfway 2	18.37 km	Jari-Matti Latvala	Ford Focus RS WRC	10: 39.6	103.4 km / h
	WP13	19:00	Cardiff	1.10 km	Marcus Grönholm	Ford Focus RS WRC	1: 03.8	62.1 km / h
Day 3 Dec 2nd	WP14	07:46	Brechfa 1	28.89 km	Jari-Matti Latvala Mikko Hirvonen	Ford Focus RS WRC Ford Focus RS WRC	16: 14.2	106.8 km / h
	WP15	08:33	Trawscoed 1	28.24 km	Jari-Matti Latvala	Ford Focus RS WRC	16: 39.7	101.7 km / h
	WP16	12:09	Brechfa 2	28.89 km	Jari-Matti Latvala	Ford Focus RS WRC	16: 11.6	107.0 km / h
	WP17	12:56	Trawscoed 2	28.24 km	Jari-Matti Latvala	Ford Focus RS WRC	16: 51.0	100.6 km / h

Source:

Individual evidence

1. ↑ motorsport-total.com: Loeb is world champion! , accessed January 2, 2016
2. ↑ ewrc-results.com: 63rd Wales Rally GB 2007 , accessed on January 2, 2016

Web links

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

• Official website