Rally Japan 2007

 Rally Japan 2007

Racing data
14th of 16 rounds of the 2007 World Rally Championship
Surname:	Rally Japan
Date:	26.-28. October 2007
Begin:	Obihiro
Exams:	27 tests over 350.19 km
Distance:	1,575.79 km
Covering:	gravel
Podium
First:	Mikko Hirvonen Ford Abu Dhabi WRT
Second:	Dani Sordo Citroën Total World Rally Team
Third:	Henning Solberg Stobart VK Ford Rally Team

The 4th Rally Japan was the fourteenth of 16 FIA World Championship races in 2007. The rally consisted of 27 special stages on gravel roads and was held between October 26th and 28th.

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

Race report

Ford works driver Mikko Hirvonen took over the lead on Friday afternoon when he overtook Jari-Matti Latvala (Ford). Hirvonen then led the rally to the end. After team-mate Marcus Grönholm had already retired on Friday morning, the task was to keep Sébastien Loeb behind him and thereby take points away from him in the drivers' world championship. Hirvonen did that with success, he put the three-time world champion under pressure and fought an exciting battle for the top with him. The situation changed on Saturday afternoon. Loeb also retired after a false announcement from his co-driver Daniel Elena . Third placed Latvala, who had led the rally at the beginning, also had to retire after an accident. Both started again later under the rally 2 regulations . So Hirvonen had a new pursuer in Dani Sordo (Citroën). But Hirvonen's lead was so big that he could control the rally. In the end, Hirvonen was 37.4 seconds ahead of Sordo. Loeb won four special stages on Sunday, after which he had to give up for good because of engine problems.

Classifications

Bottom line

Item	driver	Co-driver	automobile	time	Residue	Points
WRC
1	Mikko Hirvonen	Jarmo Lehtinen	Ford Focus RS WRC	3: 23: 57.6		10
2	Daniel Sordo	Marc Marti	Citroën C4 WRC	3: 24: 35.0	00: 37.4	8th
3	Henning Solberg	Cato Menkerud	Ford Focus RS WRC	3: 28: 31.3	04: 33.7	6th
4th	Matthew Wilson	Michael Orr	Ford Focus RS WRC	3: 30: 35.5	06: 37.9	5
5	Luís Pérez Companc	José Díaz	Ford Focus RS WRC	3: 30: 38.0	06: 40.4	4th
6th	Manfred Stohl	Ilka Minor	Citroën Xsara WRC	3: 31: 01.9	07: 04.3	3
7th	Federico Villagra	Jorge Perez Companc	Ford Focus RS WRC	03: 35: 12.9	11: 15.3	2
8th	Katsuhiko Taguchi	Mark Stacey	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX	3: 44: 37.7	20: 40.1	1
PCWRC
1 0(9)	Gabriel Pozzo	Daniel Stillo	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX	3: 45: 50.6	21: 53.0	10
2 (11)	Leszek Kuzaj	Craig Parry	Subaru Impreza WRX STI	3: 48: 30.7	24: 33.1	8th
3 (12)	Takuma Kamada	Naoki cheese	Subaru Impreza WRX STI	3: 48: 39.0	24: 41.4	6th
4 (17)	Yevgeni Vertunov	Georgi Troshkin	Subaru Impreza WRX STI	3: 50: 41.7	26: 44.1	5
5 (19)	Mark Higgins	Scott Martin	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX	3: 51: 23.3	27: 25.7	4th
6 (21)	Patrik Flodin	Maria Andersson	Subaru Impreza WRX STI	3: 58: 39.6	34: 42.0	3
7 (23)	Juho Hänninen	Mikko Markkula	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX	4: 03: 12.4	39: 14.8	2
8 (24)	Yoshio Ikemachi	Sadatoshi Ando	Subaru Impreza WRX STI	4: 03: 48.7	39: 51.1	1

Special stages

Day	WP number	Start UTC + 9	WP name	length	driver	automobile	time	Ø km / h	leader
Day 1 Oct 26	WP1	07:33	Pawse Kamuy reverse 1	9.03 km	Jari-Matti Latvala	Ford Focus RS WRC	4: 48.9	112.5 km / h	Jari-Matti Latvala
	WP2	08:13	Cup Kamuy 1	13.95 km	Marcus Grönholm	Ford Focus RS WRC	8: 29.7	98.5 km / h
	WP3	08:36	Kimun Kamuy 1	26.03 km	Sébastien Loeb	Citroën C4 WRC	13: 56.0	112.1 km / h	Marcus Grönholm
	WP4	09:29	Rikubetsu 1	2.73 km	Dani Sordo	Citroën C4 WRC	2: 05.4	78.4 km / h	Jari-Matti Latvala
	WP5	13:35	Pawse Kamuy reverse 2	9.03 km	Jari-Matti Latvala	Ford Focus RS WRC	4: 39.1	116.5 km / h
	WP6	14:15	Cup Kamuy	13.95 km	Mikko Hirvonen	Ford Focus RS WRC	8: 09.0	102.7 km / h	Mikko Hirvonen
	WP7	14:38	Kimun Kamuy 2	26.03 km	Mikko Hirvonen	Ford Focus RS WRC	13: 26.7	116.2 km / h
	WP8	15:31	Rikubetsu 2	2.73 km	Dani Sordo	Citroën C4 WRC	2: 04.2	79.1 km / h
	WP9	17:44	Obihiro 1	1.35 km	Armindo Araujo	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX	1: 18.5	61.9 km / h
	WP10	17:54	Obihiro 2	1.35 km	Xavier Pons	Subaru Impreza WRC	1: 16.8	63.3 km / h
Day 2 Oct. 27	WP11	07:13	Rikubetsu 3	2.73 km	Sébastien Loeb	Citroën C4 WRC	2: 06.8	77.5 km / h
	WP12	07:44	Puray 1	34.96 km	Mikko Hirvonen	Ford Focus RS WRC	19: 28.3	107.7 km / h
	WP13	08:23	Niueo 1	20.75 km	Dani Sordo	Citroën C4 WRC	12: 31.3	99.4 km / h
	WP14	09:01	Sipirkakim 1	22.43 km	Petter Solberg	Subaru Impreza WRC	12: 13.1	110.1 km / h
	WP15	13:44	Rikubetsu 4	2.73 km	Petter Solberg	Subaru Impreza WRC	2: 05.6	78.2 km / h
	WP16	14:15	Puray 2	34.96 km	Petter Solberg	Subaru Impreza WRC	19: 01.0	110.3 km / h
	WP17	14:54	Niueo 2	20.75 km	Dani Sordo	Citroën C4 WRC	12: 17.5	101.3 km / h
	WP18	15:47	Sipirkakim Short	4.67 km	Petter Solberg	Subaru Impreza WRC	2: 42.4	103.5 km / h
	WP19	17:57	Obihiro 3	1.35 km	Federico Villagra	Ford Focus RS WRC	1: 21.4	59.7 km / h
	WP20	18:07	Obihiro 4	1.35 km	Federico Villagra	Ford Focus RS WRC	1: 22.0	59.3 km / h
Day 3 Oct 28	WP21	07:06	Rera Kamuy 1	8.76 km	Sébastien Loeb	Citroën C4 WRC	5: 10.1	101.7 km / h
	WP22	07:29	Panke Nikorpet 1	17.04 km	Dani Sordo	Citroën C4 WRC	9: 35.0	106.7 km / h
	WP23	08:09	Penke 1	22.19 km	Sébastien Loeb	Citroën C4 WRC	13: 23.8	99.4 km / h
	WP24	11:35	Rera Kamuy 2	8.76 km	Sébastien Loeb	Citroën C4 WRC	5: 02.5	104.3 km / h
	WP25	11:58	Panke Nikorpet 2	17.04 km	Sébastien Loeb	Citroën C4 WRC	9: 17.9	110.0 km / h
	WP26	12:38	Penke 2	22.19 km	Dani Sordo	Citroën C4 WRC	13: 05.4	101.7 km / h
	WP27	14:33	Obihiro 5	1.35 km	Federico Villagra	Ford Focus RS WRC	1: 23.6	58.1 km / h

Source:

Individual evidence

1. ↑ motorsport-total.com: Hirvonen wins Rally Japan , accessed on January 1, 2016
2. ↑ ewrc-results.com: Rally Japan 2007 , accessed on January 1, 2016

Web links

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

• Official website