The 2009 Rally GB was the 12th and last round of the
2009 World Rally Championship season
The 2009 World Rally Championship was the 37th season of the FIA World Rally Championship. The season consisted of twelve rallies and began on 30 January, with Rally Ireland and ended with Rally GB on 25 October. Sébastien Loeb won the World Dr ...
and the 65th running of the
Rally of Great Britain
Wales Rally GB was the most recent iteration of the United Kingdom's premier international motor rally, which ran under various names since the first event held in 1932. It was consistently a round of the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) calen ...
. The rally consisted of 16
special stages.
Sébastien Loeb
Sébastien Loeb (; born 26 February 1974) is a French professional rally, racing and rallycross driver. He is the most successful driver in the World Rally Championship (WRC), having won the world championship a record nine times in a row. He h ...
claimed victory to record a sixth successive
world rally
The World Rally Championship (abbreviated as WRC) is the highest level of global competition in the motorsport discipline of rallying, owned and governed by the FIA. There are separate championships for drivers, co-drivers, manufacturers and te ...
title.
Report
Sébastien Loeb secured his sixth world title with a win at the season finale in Wales. His rival Mikko Hirvonen had to settle for second place and thus buried his dream of his first world title. Loeb came to Wales a point behind World Cup leaders Hirvonen. So the starting position was clear. The one who finishes ahead of the other in points is world champion.
Loeb and Hirvonen fought a second duel at the top on the first day. Loeb took the lead in the first stage. Hirvonen kept getting close, but couldn't dislodge him from the lead. The preliminary decision was made on Saturday morning. On stages eight and nine, Hirvonen struggled to find the right pace and lost time. The gap grew to 25 seconds. So Loeb went into the final Sunday with a lead of 30.2 seconds. However, Hirvonen did not give up and reduced the gap to Loeb to 18.2 seconds in the first two special stages.
On the penultimate special stage, the bonnet of Hirvonen's Ford came off. On a full-throttle section, it flipped up and blocked the Finn's view. Hirvonen had to stop and remove the hood. That took him about a minute. Although Loeb had turbo problems on the last special stage, Hirvonen was no longer able to catch up with the Frenchman. Hirvonen was able to defend second place overall against Daniel Sordo, who finished third just behind him.
Results
Special stages
References
External links
Official website
{{Rally GB
GB
Rally GB
Wales Rally GB was the most recent iteration of the United Kingdom's premier international motor rally, which ran under various names since the first event held in 1932. It was consistently a round of the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) calen ...
Rally GB