Rally Norway 2009

 Rally Norway 2009

Racing data
2nd of 12 races of the 2009 World Rally Championship
Surname:	Rally Norway
Date:	12-15 February 2009
Begin:	Hamar
Exams:	23 tests over 361.12 km
Distance:	1407.68 km
Covering:	snow and ice
Podium
First:	Sébastien Loeb Citroën World Rally Team
Second:	Mikko Hirvonen Ford World Rally Team
Third:	Jari-Matti Latvala Ford World Rally Team

The Rally Norway was the second round of the 2009 World Rally Championship and the first round of the World Production Car Championship (PWRC). It was held between February 12th and 15th. The rally was driven on ice and snow between Oslo and Hamar .

Race report

Sébastien Loeb (Citroën) and Mikko Hirvonen (Ford) fought a duel in seconds and on snowy roads in arctic temperatures all weekend. Loeb had to be the first on the special stages on all three days. Hirvonen had taken the lead on Friday, but on the same day, for tactical reasons, fell behind Loeb. This plan didn't work out. Hirvonen was able to put the reigning world champion under pressure over the next two days, but couldn't get past him. The decision about the victory was only made in the last test in favor of Loeb. Jari-Matti Latvala (Ford) could not keep up with Loeb and Hirvonen's pace and, somewhat disappointed, had to be content with third place. Local Henning Solberg (Ford) finished the Rally Norway in fourth place . He started the rally cautiously on Friday, was able to work his way up to fourth place on Saturday and hold it to the finish.

Patrik Sandell with co-driver Emil Axelsson (Skoda) won the PWRC classification with a start-to-finish victory. The final day of the rally was particularly difficult for Sandell. He started with a lead of more than two minutes in the 18th special stage, in which he lost over half a minute. In addition, the engine no longer turned at the highest speeds on long straights. There was a 44.1 second lead over Eyvind Brynildsen until the finish .

Classifications

Bottom line

Item	driver	Co-driver	automobile	time	Residue	Points
WRC
1	Sébastien Loeb	Daniel Elena	Citroën C4 WRC	3: 28: 15.9		10
2	Mikko Hirvonen	Jarmo Lehtinen	Ford Focus RS WRC	3: 28: 25.7	0: 09.8	8th
3	Jari-Matti Latvala	Miikka Anttila	Ford Focus RS WRC	3: 29: 37.7	1: 21.8	6th
4th	Henning Solberg	Cato Menkerud	Ford Focus RS WRC	3: 31: 49.4	3: 33.5	5
5	Dani Sordo	Marc Marti	Citroën C4 WRC	3: 32: 07.9	3: 52.0	4th
6th	Petter Solberg	Phil Mills	Citroën Xsara WRC	3: 34: 41.3	6: 25.4	3
7th	Matthew Wilson	Scott Martin	Ford Focus RS WRC	3: 34: 51.5	6: 35.6	2
8th	Urmo Aava	Kuldar Sikk	Ford Focus RS WRC	3: 35: 05.0	6: 49.1	1
PWRC
1 (13)	Patrik Sandell	Emil Axelsson	Škoda Fabia Super 2000	3: 49: 43.6		10
2 (14)	Eyvind Brynildsen	Denis Giraudet	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX	3: 50: 27.7	0: 44.1	8th
3 (16)	Martin Prokop	Jan Tománek	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX	3: 52: 40.3	2: 56.7	6th
4 (17)	Armindo Araujo	Miguel Ramalho	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX	3: 53: 40.6	3: 57.0	5
5 (18)	Andis Neiksans	Peteris Dkreisals	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX	4: 00: 23.5	10: 39.9	4th
6 (20)	Jaromir Tarabus	Daniel Trunkat	Fiat Abarth Grande Punto S2000	4: 02: 33.1	12: 49.5	3
7 (26)	Patrik Flodin	Göran Bergsten	Subaru Impreza WRX STI	4: 10: 01.1	20: 17.5	2
8 (30)	Frederic Sauvan	Thibault Gorczyca	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX	4: 24: 48.0	35: 04.4	1

Special stages

Day	WP number	WP name	length	WP winner	time	Ø km / h	leader
Day 1 (Feb 12)	WP1	Oslo	1.92 km	Petter Solberg	1: 32.8	74.5 km / h	Petter Solberg
Day 2 (Feb 13)	WP2	Opaque 1	14.62 km	Mikko Hirvonen	8: 06.0	108.3 km / h	Mikko Hirvonen
	WP3	Kirkenær 1	8.0 km	Sébastien Loeb	6: 36.8	72.6 km / h	Sébastien Loeb
	WP4	Finnskogen 1	20.87 km	Mikko Hirvonen	11: 55.4	105.0 km / h	Mikko Hirvonen
	WP5	Kongsvinger 1	13.45 km	Mikko Hirvonen	8: 56.9	90.2 km / h
	WP6	Opaque 2	14.62 km	Per-Gunnar Andersson	8: 11.2	107.1 km / h
	WP7	Finnskogen 2	20.87 km	Per-Gunnar Andersson	11: 58.9	104.5 km / h
	WP8	Kongsvinger 2	13.45 km	Mikko Hirvonen	9: 10.3	88.0 km / h
	WP9	Kirkenær 2	8.0 km	Sébastien Loeb	6: 55.0	69.46 km / h	Sébastien Loeb
Day 3 (Feb. 14)	WP10	Mountain 1	24.36 km	Sébastien Loeb	12: 43.3	114.9 km / h
	WP11	Lillehammer 1	6.78 km	Sébastien Loeb	5: 04.8	80.1 km / h
	WP12	Ringsaker 1	27.29 km	Sébastien Loeb	14: 30.8	112.8 km / h
	WP13	Hamar 1	1.15 km	Sébastien Loeb	1: 11.8	57.7 km / h
	WP14	Mountain 2	24.36 km	Henning Solberg	13: 13.4	110.5 km / h
	WP15	Lillehammer 2	6.78 km	Jari-Matti Latvala	5: 15.3	77.4 km / h
	WP16	Ringsaker 2	27.29 km	Jari-Matti Latvala	15: 06.7	108.4 km / h
	WP17	Hamar 2	1.15 km	Sébastien Loeb	1: 14.1	55.9 km / h
Day 4 (Feb. 15)	WP18	Våler 1	30.03 km	Mikko Hirvonen	16: 07.5	111.7 km / h
	WP19	Elverum 1	13.31 km	Sébastien Loeb	6: 18.9	126.5 km / h
	WP20	Budor 1	19.74 km	Mikko Hirvonen	10: 12.3	116.1 km / h
	WP21	Våler 2	30.03 km	Mikko Hirvonen	16: 23.4	109.9 km / h
	WP22	Elverum 2	13.31 km	Mikko Hirvonen	6: 24.6	124.6 km / h
	WP23	Budor 2	19.74 km	Sébastien Loeb	10: 24.7	113.8 km / h

Individual evidence

1. ↑ motorsport-total.com: Loeb is the new "Snow King" , accessed on December 26, 2014
2. ↑ motorsport-total.com: Sandell wins at the start , accessed on December 26, 2014

Web links

Commons : World Rally Championship 2009  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Official website