2011 World Rally Championship Season
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The 2011 World Rally Championship was the 39th season of the FIA World Rally Championship in automobile racing. The season consisted of 13 rallies, beginning with
Rally Sweden The Rally Sweden ( sv, Svenska rallyt), formerly the International Swedish Rally, and later the Uddeholm Swedish Rally, is an automobile rally competition held in February in Värmland, Sweden and relocated to Umeå in 2022. First held in 1950, ...
on 10 February and ended with Wales Rally GB on 13 November. Sébastien Loeb claimed his eighth consecutive World Championship title at the Wales Rally of Great Britain when title rival Mikko Hirvonen retired on the first day with an engine that was too damaged to restart.


Changes

* The new technical regulations for the World Rally Car became effective from 2011. The cars were based on the previous
Super 2000 Super 2000 is an FIA powertrain specification used in the World Rally Championship, the British Touring Car Championship, the World Touring Car Championship, and other touring car championships. The engines were originally 2 L naturally aspirate ...
cars, fitted with a supplementary kit, which included turbo and rear-wing additions. The kit must be able to be fitted or removed within a defined time limit, to be determined. They will be powered by a 1600cc turbo engine instead of the previous 2000cc turbo unit. * The sporting regulations were amended to allow any tyre manufacturer to supply tyres. Regulations were implemented to control costs. The amended regulations were presented to the WMSC for a fax vote before 20 July 2010. *
Michelin Michelin (; ; full name: ) is a French multinational tyre manufacturing company based in Clermont-Ferrand in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes ''région'' of France. It is the second largest tyre manufacturer in the world behind Bridgestone and la ...
and British tyre firm
DMACK DMACK, the parent company of DMACK Holdings Ltd., is a Rovereto, Italy, based tyre manufacturer which started as a company based in Carlisle, United Kingdom. History DMACK was founded in 2008 by Dick Cormack to deliver smaller tyre sizes t ...
became the two tyre suppliers for the season, following
Pirelli Pirelli & C. S.p.A. is a multinational tyre manufacturer based in Milan, Italy. The company, which has been listed on the Milan Stock Exchange since 1922, is the 6th-largest tyre manufacturer and is focused on the consumer production of tyre ...
's contract coming to an end and their announcement as the official tyre supplier for
Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...
. * Additional championship points will be awarded to the top three crews on a televised stage on the final day of each rally, known as the "Power Stage". 3 points will be awarded to the stage winner, with 2 and 1 for second and third respectively.


Calendar

The 2011 championship was contested over thirteen rounds in
Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
, the
Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...
,
North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
,
South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...
and
Oceania Oceania (, , ) is a region, geographical region that includes Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Spanning the Eastern Hemisphere, Eastern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres, Oceania is estimated to have a land area of ...
. Following a fax vote by the members of the World Motor Sport Council (WMSC), the following calendar had been agreed for the 2011 FIA World Rally Championship.


Calendar changes

*
Rally di Sardegna The Rally Italia Sardegna (until 2010 Rally d'Italia Sardegna) is a rally competition in Sardinia, Italy, which has been a round of the World Rally Championship (WRC) schedule and also the Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC). Characteristics ...
and Rally Argentina returned to the WRC after one year in the Intercontinental Rally Challenge, replacing
Rally Bulgaria Rally Bulgaria (Рали България) is the most prestigious and also the oldest rally event in Republic of Bulgaria. It was confirmed for the 2010 World Rally Championship season as the seventh of all thirteen planned events. Year 2010 w ...
and Rally Japan. * Acropolis Rally replaced Rally of Turkey after a sabbatical year. * Rally Australia replaced Rally New Zealand and relocated for the second time in five years. After moving from
Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...
in
Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...
to Kingscliff on the east coast after the 2006 event, the event ran out of
Coffs Harbour Coffs Harbour is a city on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia, north of Sydney, and south of Brisbane. It is one of the largest urban centres on the North Coast, with a population of 78,759 as per 2021 census. The Gumbaynggirr ...
, to the south. The city has regularly hosted a round of the
Australian Rally Championship The Australia Rally Championship (ARC) is Australia's leading road motor rally competition. A multi-event national championship has been held each year since 1968. Competition - to 2010 The Australia Rally Championship takes in some of the c ...
for over a decade.


Teams and drivers


Driver changes

* After being promoted to the Citroën works team for the
2010 Rally Finland The 2010 Neste Oil Rally Finland was the 60th Rally Finland and the eighth round of the 2010 World Rally Championship season. The rally took place over July 29–31, and is based in Jyväskylä, the capital of the Central Finland region. The rally ...
in place of Dani Sordo,
Sébastien Ogier Sébastien Ogier (born 17 December 1983) is a French rally driver, competing for the Toyota Gazoo Racing Team in the World Rally Championship (WRC), who is teamed with the co-driver Julien Ingrassia. He has won the World Rally Drivers' Champions ...
signed a contract to drive for the team for the entire 2011 season, despite an offer from Ford. *
2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...
Intercontinental Rally Challenge champion
Kris Meeke Kris Meeke (born 2 July 1979) is a Northern Irish professional rally driver, best known for competing in the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC). He was the 2009 Intercontinental Rally Challenge champion. His co-driver is Seb Marshall, also B ...
will move to the World Rally Championship, joining debutants
Mini The Mini is a small, two-door, four-seat car, developed as ADO15, and produced by the British Motor Corporation (BMC) and its successors, from 1959 through 2000. Minus a brief hiatus, original Minis were built for four decades and sold during ...
in their Prodrive-run John Cooper Works WRC. He will be joined by Dani Sordo after the Spaniard lost his place at Citroën. * Peter van Merksteijn Jr. will compete for
Van Merksteijn Motorsport Van Merksteijn Motorsport is a Dutch motorsport company active in both circuit racing and rallying. Established in 2008, under the ownership of Peter van Merksteijn Sr. and with Gerard Grouve as team principal, this motorsport company won both ...
with a Citroën DS3 WRC in 10 selected events, while his father
Peter van Merksteijn Sr. Peter van Merksteijn Sr. (born 10 June 1956) is a Dutch racing driver and rally driver who drove for the Van Merksteijn Motorsport team in the 2011 World Rally Championship season with Citroën DS3 WRC. Racing record 24 Hours of Le Mans results ...
will drive in 3. * Daniel Oliveira who previously competed in the Intercontinental Rally Challenge will compete with a MINI John Cooper Works WRC in selected events for the
Brazil World Rally Team The Brazil World Rally Team (or BWRT) is a Brazilian World Rally Championship team, based in Salvador, Bahia#Salvador, Salvador, Brazil and Groß-Enzersdorf, Austria, that made their début in the 2011 World Rally Championship season, 2011 seas ...
. * Dennis Kuipers, who raced in
2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...
with a
Ford Fiesta S2000 The Ford Fiesta S2000 is a Super 2000 rally car built by M-Sport. It is based upon the Ford Fiesta road car. It made its racing debut at the 78th Rallye Monte Carlo in 2010, with factory team M-Sport and drivers Mikko Hirvonen and Julien Maur ...
run by M-Sport, will compete for the FERM Power Tools World Rally Team.


Team changes

*
Mini The Mini is a small, two-door, four-seat car, developed as ADO15, and produced by the British Motor Corporation (BMC) and its successors, from 1959 through 2000. Minus a brief hiatus, original Minis were built for four decades and sold during ...
returned to the World Rally Championship as a factory team for the first time since 1967. The manufacturer used the Mini John Cooper Works, to be run by Dave Richards' Prodrive team after Prodrive failed in their bid to join the and
Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...
grids. The John Cooper Works WRC will be run in a limited campaign of selected events for the 2011 season, with a view to taking part in the full World Championship from 2012.


SWRC entries


PWRC entries


WRC Academy entries

The WRC Academy used identical Ford Fiesta R2s.


Results and standings


Results and statistics


Standings


Drivers' championship

Points are awarded to the top 10 classified finishers. * Sébastien Loeb secured the drivers' championship title in Wales. Notes: * 1 2 3 refers to the classification of the drivers on the 'Power Stage', where bonus points are awarded 3–2–1 for the fastest three drivers on the stage.


Co-drivers' championship


Manufacturers' championship

*
Citroën Citroën () is a French automobile brand. The "Automobiles Citroën" manufacturing company was founded in March 1919 by André Citroën. Citroën is owned by Stellantis since 2021 and previously was part of the PSA Group after Peugeot acquired ...
secured the manufacturers' championship in Catalunya. * † – ICE 1 Racing was excluded from the manufacturers' championship after they failed to take part in Rally Australia. As the team is considered to be a WRC entry (as opposed to a development entry, like the
Mini WRC Team The Prodrive WRC Team, formerly known as the Mini WRC Team was the name given to the World Rally Championship (WRC) team run by Prodrive. Prodrive developed the car, the Mini John Cooper Works WRC, in cooperation with MINI. Mini in rallying M ...
), it was obligated to take part in at least two rounds of the championship outside Europe. Driver Kimi Räikkönen had previously taken part in Rally Jordan, but had not competed in any further events outside Europe, and Rally Australia was the final flyaway round of the championship.


SWRC Drivers' championship

* † Frigyes Turán Excluded from Championship


PWRC Drivers' championship

* † Excluded from Championship


WRC Academy Drivers' championship

* Note: 1 refers to the number of stages won, where a bonus point is awarded per stage win. * † Deducted 25 points


References


External links


Official website of the World Rally Championship

FIA World Rally Championship 2011
at ewrc-results.com {{DEFAULTSORT:2011 World Rally Championship Season World Rally Championship World Rally Championship seasons