The 2009 Rally d'Italia Sardegna was the sixth running of the
Rally d'Italia Sardegna and the sixth 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 ...
. The rally consisted of 17
special stages.
This year's Rally d'Italia Sardegna has new reforms of this rally, with new stages at the first day & the last day, mostly these new stages are gravel with some section of tarmac that make it difficult for drivers especially the grip of the tyres.
Finns
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 ...
and
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 2 ...
took a double win for the
Ford factory team.
Latvala's win was his career second, after becoming the youngest-ever driver to win a world rally at the
2008 Swedish Rally. Norwegian privateer
Petter Solberg
Petter Solberg (born 18 November 1974), nicknamed "Mr. Hollywood" is a Norwegian former professional rallying, rally and rallycross driver.
Solberg debuted in the World Rally Championship in 1998 and was signed by the Ford World Rally Team, For ...
took the final podium spot.
Summary
Several front-runners ran into problems on stage eleven.
Citroën
Citroën ()The double-dot diacritic over the 'e' is a diaeresis () indicating the two vowels are sounded separately, and not as a diphthong. is a French automobile brand. The "Automobiles Citroën" manufacturing company was founded on 4 June 19 ...
's defending world champion
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 ho ...
lost over a minute and dropped from third to fourth due to a puncture. His fifth-placed teammate
Dani Sordo
Daniel "Dani" Sordo Castillo (born 2 May 1983) is a Spanish rally driver. He competes in the World Rally Championship for Hyundai Motorsport. He achieved his first WRC victory at the 2013 Rallye Deutschland.
Career
Sordo began in motocross whe ...
lost even more time and positions with a turbo problem. Eighth-placed
Stobart driver
Henning Solberg
Henning Solberg (born 8 January 1973) is a Norway, Norwegian Rallying, rally and rallycross driver. Together with his female co-driver Ilka Minor, he currently competes in the World Rally Championship (WRC) with cars of M-Sport.
Solberg is the o ...
's day ended after he went off the road and broke his
Ford Focus WRC's right-hand front suspension, and
Citroën Junior Team's
Conrad Rautenbach
Conrad Rautenbach (born 12 November 1984) is a rally driver from Zimbabwe who competed in the World Rally Championship for the Citroën Junior Team along with his co-driver Daniel Barritt. He won the African Rally Championship twice, in 200 ...
retired after the stage from tenth place with a damper failure. The rally leader
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 ...
of
Ford also spun during the stage, but escaped without damage.
Latvala led the event from start to finish, taking Ford's first win since the one-two at the
2008 Rally Japan. His teammate
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 2 ...
was less than ten seconds behind after two days and supposed to benefit from running behind Latvala on the road, but dust clouds and the resulting hampered visibility suddenly forced him to settle for second. Ford boss
Malcolm Wilson decided against applying team orders. Loeb, whose record-equaling six win streak came to an end, took the third place back by passing
Petter Solberg
Petter Solberg (born 18 November 1974), nicknamed "Mr. Hollywood" is a Norwegian former professional rallying, rally and rallycross driver.
Solberg debuted in the World Rally Championship in 1998 and was signed by the Ford World Rally Team, For ...
, but was later given a two-minute penalty for a safety rule violation; co-driver
Daniel Elena
Daniel Elena (born 26 October 1972) also known as "Danos" is a Monégasque rally co-driver working most notably with Sébastien Loeb. Between them the pair have won the World Rally Championship (WRC) nine times with Citroën, later competing w ...
unfastened his safety belts before the crew stopped the car for a tire change (after the puncture on SS11). Loeb escaped a disqualification as the stewards considered the infringement less severe because it had happened while they were not driving at a competitive pace.
Citroën Junior Team's 18-year-old
Evgeny Novikov
Evgeny Maksimovich Novikov (; born 19 September 1990) is a Russian former rally driver who competed in the World Rally Championship from 2007 to 2013.
Career
Born in Moscow, Novikov won the Russian Rally Cup in 2006 and finished runner-up ...
finished fifth, taking his career first points-finish. Stobart's
Matthew Wilson took sixth place despite hydraulic problems that slowed him down on day one. After
Khalid al-Qassimi had run into several problems while heading for career-best seventh place, the battle for the position was between two Norwegians who had had troublesome rallies, both losing about ten minutes and re-joining the event under ''SupeRally'' rules. Henning Solberg chased down
Mads Østberg
Mads Østberg (born 11 October 1987) is a Norway, Norwegian Rallying, rally driver. His co-driver is Torstein Eriksen.
Career
Østberg competed in his first rally in 2004. His first World Rally Championship event was the 2006 Swedish Rally, in ...
throughout the last day but only got within 0.6 seconds.
Nasser Al-Attiyah
Nasser Salih Nasser Abdullah Al-Attiyah ( : nāṣir ṣāliḥ nāṣir ʿabd allāh al-ʿaṭiyyah; born 21 December 1970 in Doha) is a Qatari rally driver and sport shooter. He was the 2006 Production World Rally Champion, 2014 and 2015 WR ...
edged out
Patrik Sandell on the last stage to take the honours in the
Production World Rally Championship
The FIA Production car World Rally Championship, or PWRC, was a companion rally series to the World Rally Championship, contested mainly by Group N rally cars.
History
The series started in 1987 as ''FIA Cup for Production Rally Drivers'' and ...
, while the win in the
Junior World Rally Championship
The FIA Junior WRC Championship is an international rallying series restricted to drivers under 29 years old, running within the framework of the World Rally Championship. The series is governed by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobi ...
went to
Martin Prokop
Martin Prokop (, born 4 October 1982) is a Czech Republic, Czech Rallying, rally driver. He won the Junior World Rally Championship in the 2009 World Rally Championship season, 2009 season.
Career
After competing in the Czech Rally Champions ...
.
Results
Special stages
Championship standings after the event
Drivers' championship
Manufacturers' championship
References
External links
Official site
{{Rally di Sardegna
Sardegna
Rally Italia Sardegna
Rally Sardegna