The 2011 Rally Australia was the 21st

Rally Australia Rally Australia is an automobile rally event which was held in Coffs Harbour as the final leg of the World Rally Championship (WRC) until 2018. First run in 1988, the rally was held in and around Perth, Western Australia until 2006. It was par ...

and the tenth round of the 2011 World Rally Championship season. The rally took place over 8–11 September, and was based in

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 ...

, a coastal city in the

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

state of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. The rally was also the fifth round of the

Production World Rally Championship The FIA Production World Rally Championship, or PWRC, was a companion rally series to the World Rally Championship, contested by Group N rally cars. History The series started in 1987 as ''FIA Cup for Production Rally Drivers'' and obtained th ...

. Rally Australia returned to the WRC calendar after a year's hiatus, and after demonstrations marred the 2009 running of the rally, held north of Coffs Harbour in the

Northern Rivers Northern Rivers is the most north-easterly region of the Australian state of New South Wales, located between north of the state capital, Sydney, and encompasses the catchments and fertile valleys of the Clarence, Richmond, and Tweed rivers. ...

area. Residents' concerns for the event meant that the rally was moved for the foreseeable future to Coffs Harbour.

Ford World Rally Team The Ford World Rally Team, also known as the ''Ford Motor Co. Team'' prior to 2005, is Ford Motor Company's full factory World Rally Championship team. In its current form, it has been a competitor since the 1997 season, when Ford Motor Compa ...

Mikko Hirvonen Mikko Hirvonen (born 31 July 1980) is a Finnish former rally driver, and a current Rally-Raid driver, who drove in the World Rally Championship. He placed third in the drivers' championship and helped Ford to the manufacturers' title in both 200 ...

took his third successive Rally Australia victory, after team-mate

Jari-Matti Latvala Jari-Matti Latvala (born 3 April 1985) is a Finnish rally driver who has competed in the World Rally Championship (WRC). His co-driver for most of his career was Miikka Anttila, who co-drove for Latvala between the 2003 Rallye Deutschland and 2019 ...

slowed tactically on the penultimate stage, in order to aid Hirvonen's chances for the drivers' championship title. The Ford drivers had moved into the top two placings on the opening day of the rally after Citroën's

Sébastien Loeb Sébastien Loeb (; born 26 February 1974) is a French professional rallying, rally, auto racing, racing and rallycross driver. He is the most successful driver in the World Rally Championship (WRC), having won the world championship a record nin ...

and

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' Champion ...

both had to retire from the day's proceedings and return to the rally the following day under the ''SupeRally'' regulations. Loeb recovered to score a tenth-place finish with the ''Power Stage'' victory, to extend his championship by four points over Ogier, who slowed on the last two stages to drop from eighth to eleventh behind Loeb.

Petter Solberg Petter Solberg (born 18 November 1974) is a Norwegian former professional rally and rallycross driver. Solberg debuted in the World Rally Championship in 1998 and was signed by the Ford factory team in 1999. The following year, Solberg started ...

finished third behind the Ford pairing, 44.8 seconds in arrears, but finished over seven minutes clear of the fourth-placed driver

Matthew Wilson Matthew Wilson (born 29 January 1987) is a British rally driver from Cockermouth in Cumbria. He is the son of M-Sport boss and former World Rally Championship driver Malcolm Wilson. Wilson competed in the WRC for the Stobart M-Sport Ford team. ...

, who matched his career-best placing from Rally Japan in 2007.

Khalid Al Qassimi Sheikh Khalid bin Faisal bin Sultan Al Qassimi ( ar, الشيخ خالد بن فيصل بن سلطان القاسمي) is a rally driver from the United Arab Emirates, and a member of the royal house of Al Qasimi who rule the Emirates of Sharjah ...

scored a career-best fifth place, ahead of a quartet of PWRC competitors.

Hayden Paddon Hayden Paddon (born 20 April 1987) is a New Zealand rally driver. He was PWRC world champion in 2011 and won the New Zealand Rally Championship in 2008, 2009, 2013, 2018 and 2021. Career Paddon was introduced into motorsport at an early age, h ...

was the best of the PWRC competitors with sixth place overall, securing his fourth PWRC victory in succession, and the championship title as

Martin Semerád Martin Semerád (born 24 May 1990) is a Czech rally driver. He currently races in the Production World Rally Championship and has done since the 2009 season. He was one of the Pirelli Star Drivers in 2009. He won PWRC at 2011 Rally Sweden The ...

– who elected not to compete at the event – could only tie Paddon on points and lose on countback.

Michał Kościuszko Michał Kościuszko (born 20 April 1985 in Kraków) is a Polish rally driver, who currently competes in the Production World Rally Championship (PWRC). He has previously won rounds of the Junior World Rally Championship (JWRC) and has competed in ...

, Oleksandr Saliuk, Jr. and Benito Guerra also scored overall championship points by finishing in the top ten.

Results

Event standings

Special stages

Power stage

The "Power stage" was a live, televised stage at the end of the rally, held in

Clarence Clarence may refer to: Places Australia * Clarence County, New South Wales, a Cadastral division * Clarence, New South Wales, a place near Lithgow * Clarence River (New South Wales) * Clarence Strait (Northern Territory) * City of Clarence, a l ...

Standings after the race

;Drivers' Championship standings ;Constructors' Championship standings * Bold Text indicates World Champion. * Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References

External links

Results
a
eWRC.com
{{2011 World Rally Championship season

Rally Rally or rallye may refer to: Gatherings * Demonstration (political), a political rally, a political demonstration of support or protest, march, or parade * Pep rally, an event held at a United States school or college sporting event Sport ...

Rally Australia