Rally Monte Carlo 2007

 Rally Monte Carlo 2007

Racing data
1st of 16 races in the 2007 World Rally Championship
Surname:	Rally Monte Carlo
Date:	18.-21. January 2007
Begin:	Monaco
Exams:	15 tests over 328.54 km
Distance:	1185.22 km
Covering:	Asphalt, ice and snow
Podium
First:	Sébastien Loeb Citroën World Rally Team
Second:	Dani Sordo Citroën World Rally Team
Third:	Marcus Grönholm Ford World Rally Team

Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena in the Citroën C4 WRC at the 2007 Monte Carlo Rally

The 75th Monte Carlo Rally was the first of 16 FIA - World Cup races 2007 . The rally consisted of 15 special stages and was driven between January 18th and 21st.

Race report

It was clear early on that Sébastien Loeb could actually only beat himself at the 2007 Monte Carlo Rally . He had won the prestigious world championship run almost safely with the new C4 model . With Dani Sordo's second place , the success for Citroën was complemented. For Sordo it was the best result so far that he was able to enter the World Rally Championship. Marcus Grönholm came in third with the Ford Focus RS WRC . The winner's podium was already clear before the last, short special stage (2.8 kilometers) in the port of Monte Carlo . Team-mate Sordo didn't attack Loeb anymore and Grönholm was already back over a minute.

The fight for fourth place between Subaru driver Chris Atkinson and Mikko Hirvonen in the second Ford of the works team was really exciting . They went into the last special stage with a difference of only 0.8 seconds, Atkinson won the duel and finished fourth with a wafer-thin margin of 0.2 seconds. Petter Solberg (Subaru) rounded off the first six positions behind Hirvonen.

Classifications

Bottom line

Item	driver	Co-driver	automobile	time	Residue	Points
01	Sébastien Loeb	Daniel Elena	Citroën C4 WRC	3: 10: 27.4		10
02	Dani Sordo	Marc Marti	Citroën C4 WRC	3: 11: 05.6	00: 38.2	08th
03	Marcus Grönholm	Timo Rautiainen	Ford Focus RS WRC	3: 11: 50.2	01: 22.8	06th
04th	Chris Atkinson	Glenn MacNeall	Subaru Impreza S12 WRC	3: 12: 55.5	02: 28.1	05
05	Mikko Hirvonen	Jarmo Lehtinen	Ford Focus RS WRC	3: 12: 55.7	02: 28.3	04th
06th	Petter Solberg	Phil Mills	Subaru Impreza S12 WRC	3: 13: 39.4	03: 12.0	03
07th	Toni Gardemeister	Jakke Honkanen	Mitsubishi Lancer WRC	3: 14: 07.3	03: 39.9	02
08th	Jan Kopecký	Filip Schovánek	Škoda Fabia WRC	3:15: 06.8	04: 39.4	01
09	Jean-Marie Cuoq	David Marty	Peugeot 307 WRC	3: 16: 27.1	05: 59.7	00
10	Manfred Stohl	Ilka Minor	Citroën Xsara WRC	3: 17: 04.7	06: 37.3	00

Special stages

Day	WP number	Start CET	WP name	length	driver	automobile	time	Ø km / h	leader
Day 1 Jan. 18	WP1	19:16	St Jean En Royans	28.52 km	Sébastien Loeb	Citroën C4 WRC	13: 58.7	122.42 km / h	Sébastien Loeb
	WP2	20:06	La Cime Du Mas	17.87 km	Sébastien Loeb	Citroën C4 WRC	9: 31.2	112.63 km / h
Day 2 Jan. 19	WP3	08:19	St Pierreville 1	46.20 km	Dani Sordo	Citroën C4 WRC	29: 43.4	93.26 km / h
	WP4	10:13	Burzet 1	16.47 km	Sébastien Loeb	Citroën C4 WRC	9: 39.3	102.35 km / h
	WP5	10:59	St Martial 1	12.81 km	Dani Sordo	Citroën C4 WRC	8: 00.7	95.94 km / h
	WP6	15:17	St Pierreville 2	46.20 km	Sébastien Loeb	Citroën C4 WRC	28: 29.7	97.28 km / h
	WP7	17:11	Burzet 2	16.47 km	Dani Sordo	Citroën C4 WRC	9: 43.2	101.67 km / h
	WP8	17:57	St Martial 2	12.81 km	Sébastien Loeb	Citroën C4 WRC	8: 16.4	92.9 km / h
Day 3 Jan 20th	WP9	07:31	Labatie D'Andaure 1	19.67 km	Sébastien Loeb	Citroën C4 WRC	10: 47.2	109.41 km / h
	WP10	08:13	St Bonnet 1	25.93 km	Chris Atkinson	Subaru Impreza WRC	12: 42.7	122.39 km / h
	WP11	09:38	Lamastre 1	18.76 km	Mikko Hirvonen	Ford Focus RS WRC	11: 46.9	95.54 km / h
	WP12	13:03	Labatie D'Andaure 2	19.67 km	Mikko Hirvonen	Ford Focus RS WRC	10: 45.1	109.77 km / h
	WP13	13:45	St Bonnet 2	25.93 km	Chris Atkinson	Subaru Impreza WRC	12: 32.4	124.07 km / h
	WP14	15:10	Lamastre 2	18.76 km	Mikko Hirvonen	Ford Focus RS WRC	11: 30.5	97.81 km / h
Day 4 Jan. 21	WP15	09:00	Circuit Monte Carlo	2.79 km	Chris Atkinson	Subaru Impreza WRC	1: 49.9	91.39 km / h

Source:

Individual evidence

1. ↑ motorsport-total.com: Monte Carlo: Loeb victory now official , accessed on December 22, 2015.
2. ↑ ewrc-results.com: 75th Rallye Automobile de Monte-Carlo 2007 , accessed on December 20, 2015.

Web links

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

• Official website