RALLY D’ITALIA SARDEGNA
(21 – 24 MAY 2009)
The BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team scored its first victory of the season today on the Rally d’Italia Sardegna. Finland’s Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila led from start to finish, claiming the second victory of their world rally career. Team-mates Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen were once again resigned to second position, but it is the team’s first one-two finish since Rally Japan 2008. Third position was claimed by Petter Solberg and Phil Mills.
In the FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers, Hirvonen has marginally closed the gap to Loeb, but the Frenchman still has an impressive 17 point advantage. After suffering more turbo-related problems today and finishing 22nd, Dani Sordo drops to third in the Championship standings. In the Manufacturers’ Championship, Ford’s maximum points aid its challenge on the title and with Sordo scoring only two points, the deficit to Citroën has been reduced to 29 points.
Today’s route took in five stages and 86.18 competitive kilometres. While the talk of the weekend has been about the disadvantage of running first on the road, Latvala benefited enormously this morning. In the first stage alone he was more than 18 seconds faster than his nearest rival, as all those following were slowed by dust hanging in the air. The remaining stages ran without problem for the top crews, with Loeb overhauling Petter Solberg in the third stage. However, the Frenchman then picked up a two-minute penalty for a breach of the WRC Sporting Regulations, dropping him to fourth overall at the finish.
Evgeny Novikov collected his first WRC points for fifth position and Matthew Wilson finished sixth. Mads Östberg climbed to seventh during the day and Henning Solberg rounded off the top eight.
The seventh round of the FIA World Rally Championship takes the crews to Greece, host of the Acropolis Rally (11-14 June).
Rally d’Italia Sardegna – Final results (subject to scrutineering and routine fuel analysis)
| 1 |
Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila |
Ford Focus RS WRC |
4 hr 00 min 55.7sec |
| 2 |
Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen |
Ford Focus RS WRC |
4 hr 01 min 25.1sec |
| 3 |
Petter Solberg/Phil Mills |
Citroën Xsara WRC |
4 hr 02 min 53.3sec |
| 4 |
Sébastien Loeb/Daniel Elena |
Citroën C4 WRC |
4 hr 04 min 39.4sec |
| 5 |
Evgeny Novikov/Dale Moscatt |
Citroën C4 WRC |
4 hr 06 min 07.5sec |
| 6 |
Matthew Wilson/Scott Martin |
Ford Focus RS WRC |
4 hr 08 min 25.0sec |
| 7 |
Mads Östberg/Veronica Engan |
Subaru Impreza WRC |
4 hr 14 min 16.3sec |
| 8 |
Henning Solberg/Cato Menkerud |
Ford Focus RS WRC |
4 hr 14 min 16.9sec |
FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers (after 6 of 12 rounds)
| Sébastien Loeb (F) |
55 points |
| Mikko Hirvonen (FIN) |
38 points |
| Dani Sordo (E) |
31 points |
| Henning Solberg (N) |
21 points |
| Petter Solberg (N) |
20 points |
| Jari-Matti Latvala (FIN) |
19 points |
| Matthew Wilson (GB) |
15 points |
| Federico Villagra (RA) |
9 points |
| Sébastien Ogier (F) |
5 points |
| Mads Østberg (N) |
5 points |
| Chris Atkinson (AUS) |
4 points |
| Evgeny Novikov (RUS) |
4 points |
| Conrad Rautenbach (ZW) |
3 points |
| Khalid Al Qassimi (UAE) |
3 points |
| Urmo Aava (EE) |
1 point |
| Nasser Al-Attiyah (QAT) |
1 point |
FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers (after 6 of 12 rounds)
| Citroën Total World Rally Team |
90 points |
| BP-Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team |
61 points |
| Stobart VK M-Sport Ford Rally Team |
44 points |
| Citroën Junior Team |
18 points |
| Munchi’s Ford World Rally Team |
12 points |