37th season of the FIA World Rally Championship
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 Drivers' championship at Rally GB by one point from Mikko Hirvonen , taking his sixth consecutive crown.[ 1] Citroën secured their fifth Manufacturers' title, Martin Prokop won the JWRC Drivers' championship and Armindo Araujo won the PWRC Drivers' championship.
The number of mechanics available per car has been dropped from 12 to 8.[ 2]
The 2009 championship was contested over twelve rounds in Europe, South America and Oceania.
The 2009 season included twelve rallies, which was three fewer than the 2008 season , because the FIA imposed a "Round Rotation" System in order to attract candidate rallies to have a chance to be a WRC event. Monte Carlo, Sweden, Mexico, Jordan, Turkey, Germany, New Zealand, France and Japan were dropped from the calendar for 2009, but will return at the 2010 WRC Season . Ireland, Norway, Cyprus, Portugal, Poland and Australia returned to the 2009 season.[ 3]
The eight events also part of the Production World Rally Championship were Norway, Cyprus, Portugal, Argentina, Italy, Greece, Australia and Rally GB. The eight rallies also on the Junior World Rally Championship schedule were Ireland, Cyprus, Portugal, Argentina, Italy, Poland, Finland and Spain.
In 2009 two categories are eligible to compete for the Manufacturer's championship:
Manufacturer (M)
must take part in all the rallies of the Championship with two cars of the same make must enter only cars corresponding to the latest homologated version of a World Rally Car in conformity with the 2009 Appendix J must inform the FIA of the name of the first driver entered for the season at the time of registration for the Championship. No change of the first driver is authorised, except in a case of force majeure. The driver of the second car may be changed for each of the rallies in the Championship Manufacturer Team (MT)
must take part in a minimum of 8 Championship rallies with one or two cars; those rallies must be nominated on registering for the Championship cannot enter World Rally Cars homologated during the year 2009 and cannot use parts homologated after 2 January 2009 can only score points in the events it nominated on registering. The registered Manufacturers are Citroën Total World Rally Team and BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team ; the registered Manufacturer Teams are Stobart VK M-Sport Ford , Munchi's Ford and Citroën Junior Team .
Suzuki and Subaru pulled out of the WRC at the end of the 2008 championship , both citing the economic downturn then affecting the automotive industry for their withdrawal.
Manufacturers Team Manufacturer Car Tyre No Drivers Co-drivers Rounds Citroën Total World Rally Team Citroën C4 WRC P 1 Sébastien Loeb Daniel Elena All 2 Daniel Sordo Marc Marti All BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team Ford Focus RS WRC 08 Focus RS WRC 09 P 3 Mikko Hirvonen Jarmo Lehtinen All 4 Jari-Matti Latvala Miikka Anttila All Manufacturer Teams Stobart VK M-Sport Ford Rally Team Ford Focus RS WRC 08 P 5 Urmo Aava Kuldar Sikk 1–2 Matthew Wilson Scott Martin 3–12 6 Henning Solberg Cato Menkerud All Citroën Junior Team Citroën C4 WRC P 7 Chris Atkinson Stéphane Prévot 1 Evgeny Novikov Dale Moscatt 2–4, 6–9 8 Conrad Rautenbach Daniel Barritt 1–8, 10–11 11 Petter Solberg Phil Mills 12 12 Sébastien Ogier Julien Ingrassia 5, 9–12 Munchi's Ford World Rally Team Ford Focus RS WRC 08 P 9 Federico Villagra Jorge Perez Companc 3, 5–6, 9–11 José Díaz 4, 7 Petter Solberg World Rally Team Citroën Xsara WRC P 11 Petter Solberg Phil Mills 2–9 C4 WRC 11 Citroën Junior Team P 7 Evgeny Novikov Stéphane Prévot 11 8 Conrad Rautenbach Daniel Barritt 9, 12 12 Sébastien Ogier Julien Ingrassia 1–4, 6–8 16 Aaron Burkart Michael Kölbach 12 Adapta World Rally Team Subaru Impreza WRC 2008 P 14 Mads Østberg Ole Kristian Unnerud 2, 4, 6–7 Veronica Engan 8 Jonas Andersson 9, 12 20 Anders Grøndal Maria Andersson 2 Prodrive P 15 Marcus Grönholm Timo Rautiainen 4 Ketomaa World Rally Team Impreza WRC 2007 P 16 Jari Ketomaa Mika Stenberg 9 BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team Ford Focus RS WRC 08 P 15 Khalid Al Qassimi Michael Orr 1, 3–4, 6–7, 9–12 Stobart VK M-Sport Ford Rally Team P 15 Krzysztof Holowczyc Lukasz Kurzeja 8 16 Matthew Wilson Scott Martin 1–2 17 Steve Perez 12 Andreas Mikkelsen Škoda Fabia WRC P 16 Andreas Mikkelsen Ola Fløene 8 P-G Andersson Rallying P 19 Per-Gunnar Andersson Anders Fredriksson 2 Van Merksteijn Motorsport Ford Focus RS WRC 06/07 P 17 Peter Van Merksteijn, Jr. Eddy Chevaillier 2, 4 18 Peter Van Merksteijn, Sr. Erwin Mombaerts 2 Hans van Goor 4 Ipatec Racing Focus RS WRC 06 P 66 Dennis Kuipers Kees Hagman 4, 12 68 René Kuipers Erwin Berkhof 4 Erwin Mombaerts 12 Bozian Racing Peugeot 307 WRC P 66 Dany Snobeck Gilles Mondesir 11 Munchi's Ford World Rally Team Ford Focus RS WRC 08 P 10 Matti Rantanen Mikko Lukka 9 Paul Bird Ian Windress 11 72 Mattias Therman Janne Perälä 9
[ 4]
No Driver Co-driver Car Rounds 31 Aaron Burkart Michael Kölbach Suzuki Swift S1600 1, 3, 5–6, 9, 11 32 Michał Kościuszko Maciek Szczepaniak Suzuki Swift S1600 3–6, 8–9 33 Simone Bertolotti Luca Celestini Suzuki Swift S1600 1, 4, 6, 8–9, 11 34 Luca Griotti Corrado Bonato Renault Clio R3 1, 4, 6, 8–9, 11 35 Yoann Bonato Benjamin Boulloud Suzuki Swift S1600 1, 4, 6, 8–9, 11 36 Hans Weijs, Jr. Bjorn Degandt Citroën C2 S1600 1, 4, 6, 8–9, 11 37 Kevin Abbring Erwin Mombaerts Renault Clio R3 1, 4, 6, 8–9, 11 38 Martin Prokop Jan Tománek Citroën C2 S1600 1, 3, 6, 8–9, 11 39 Alessandro Bettega Simone Scattolin Renault Clio S1600 5 Renault Clio R3 4, 6, 8 Mark Wallenwein Stefan Kopczyk 9, 11 Additional guest entries† 60 Ross Forde Arron Forde Suzuki Swift Sport 1 59 Radosław Typa Maciek Wislawski Citroën C2 R2 8 60 Marcin Dobrowolski Michal Dobrowolski Citroën C2 R2 8 59 Kalle Pinomaki Matti Kaskinen Renault Clio R3 9 59 Jordi Martí Gabriel Sánchez Renault Clio R3 11
[ 5]
No Driver Co-driver Car Rounds 31 Martin Prokop Jan Tománek Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX 2, 4–5, 7, 10, 12 32 Bernardo Sousa Jorge Carvalho Fiat Abarth Grande Punto S2000 2–4, 6–7, 10, 12 33 Toshihiro Arai Glenn Macneal Subaru Impreza WRX STI 2–3, 5, 7, 10, 12 34 Gianluca Linari Andrea Cecchi Subaru Impreza WRX STI 2–4, 7, 10 Paolo Gregoriani 6 35 Martin Semerád Bohuslav Ceplecha Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX 2–3 64 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X 4, 6–7, 12 36 Egoi Eder Valdés López Daniel Lucas Subaru Impreza WRX STI 3–7, 12 37 Frederic Sauvan Thibault Gorczyca Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX 2–3, 5–6 Sebastien Capanna 7, 12 38 Gabor Mayer Róbert Tagai Subaru Impreza WRX STI 3–7, 12 39 Riccardo Errani Stefano Casadio Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX – Simone Campedelli Danilo Fappani 3, 6 Thomas Privé Patrice Zurro 4 Stefano Marrini Roberto Mometti 5 Armindo Araujo Miguel Ramalho 10 Eyvind Brynildsen Denis Giraudet Škoda Fabia S2000 12 40 Andis Neikšāns Pēteris Dzirkals Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX 2–4, 6–7 Dave Weston, Jr. Iuean Thomas Subaru Impreza WRX STI 12 43 Luciano Bernardi Fabian Cretu Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X 5 Mark Tapper Jeff Judd Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX 10 65 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X 4, 6–7, 12 44 Jaromir Tarabus Daniel Trunkat Fiat Abarth Grande Punto S2000 2 Filip Schovánek 4 Nasser Al-Attiyah Giovanni Bernacchini Subaru Impreza WRX STI 3 Spyros Pavlides Chris Patterson 5, 12 Denis Giraudet 7 45 Patrik Flodin Göran Bergsten Subaru Impreza WRX STI 2, 4, 6–7, 12 Warwick Searle Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX 10 46 Patrik Sandell Emil Axelsson Škoda Fabia S2000 2–4, 6–7, 12 47 Armindo Araujo Miguel Ramalho Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX 2–4, 6–7, 12 48 Gaurav Gill David Senior Subaru Impreza WRX STI 2–4 Hermann Gassner, Jr. Katharina Wustenhagen Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX 6, 12 Stefano Marrini Roberto Mometti 7 Liu Chao Dong Anthony McLoughlin 10 49 Eyvind Brynildsen Denis Giraudet Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX 2, 4–6, 10 Giorgio Bacco Nicola Arena 12 50 Nasser Al-Attiyah Giovanni Bernacchini Subaru Impreza WRX STI 4–7, 12 Richard Mason Sara Mason 10 Additional guest entries† 59 Andreas Mikkelsen Ola Fløene Subaru Impreza WRX STI 2 60 Bernt Kollevold Veronica Engan Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX 2 159 Nicos Thomas Stéphane Prévot Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX 3 160 Charalambos Timotheu Savvas Laos Subaru Impreza WRX STI 3 159 Bruno Magalhães Carlos Magalhães Peugeot 207 S2000 4 160 Ricardo Moura Paulo Fiuza Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX 4 159 Gabriel Pozzo Daniel Stillo Subaru Impreza WRX STI 5 160 Marcos Ligato Rubén Garcia Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X 5 59 Lambros Athanassoulas Nikolaos Zakheos Škoda Fabia S2000 7 59 Cody Crocker Ben Atkinson Subaru Impreza WRX STI 10 60 Neal Bates Coral Taylor Toyota Corolla S2000 10
†^ Results and standings [ edit ] Results and statistics [ edit ] Colour Rally Surface Gold Gravel Silver Tarmac Blue Snow/Ice Bronze Mixed Surface
Notes:
^1 [ 6] ^2 [ 7] ^3 [ 8] [ edit ] Key Colour Result Gold Winner Silver 2nd place Bronze 3rd place Green Points finish Blue Non-points finish Non-classified finish (NC) Purple Did not finish (Ret) Black Excluded (EX) Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Cancelled (C) Blank Withdrew entry from
[ edit ] Key Colour Result Gold Winner Silver 2nd place Bronze 3rd place Green Points finish Blue Non-points finish Non-classified finish (NC) Purple Did not finish (Ret) Black Excluded (EX) Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Cancelled (C) Blank Withdrew entry from
Citroën secured the manufacturers' championship in Catalunya.[ edit ] Key Colour Result Gold Winner Silver 2nd place Bronze 3rd place Green Points finish Blue Non-points finish Non-classified finish (NC) Purple Did not finish (Ret) Black Excluded (EX) Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Cancelled (C) Blank Withdrew entry from
[ edit ] Key Colour Result Gold Winner Silver 2nd place Bronze 3rd place Green Points finish Blue Non-points finish Non-classified finish (NC) Purple Did not finish (Ret) Black Excluded (EX) Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Cancelled (C) Blank Withdrew entry from
French
Deutsch
Sligo
Hamar
Limassol
Vilamoura
Villa Carlos Paz
Olbia
Loutraki
Mikołajki
Jyväskylä
Kingscliff
Salou
Cardiff
Aaron Burkart 
Yoann Bonato 
Hans Weijs, Jr. 
Bjorn Degandt 
Martin Prokop 
