The 2007 World Rally Championship was the 35th season in the FIA World Rally Championship. The season began on 19 January, with the Monte Carlo Rally and ended on 2 December, with the Wales Rally GB. Citroën's Sébastien Loeb won his fourth consecutive drivers' world championship ahead of Ford's Marcus Grönholm and Mikko Hirvonen. Ford took the manufacturers' title.
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Regulation changes
Remote service was introduced. Between two sets of stages, instead of returning to the main service location, cars are serviced in a remote location. The service duration is 15 minutes, only four mechanics are allowed and the only parts which can be changed (save for tires) are the ones carried in the car itself.
Since 2006 manufacturer is understood to mean a manufacturer, a team designated by a manufacturer, or a privateer team taking part with a single make of car. In 2007 two categories were created to compete for the Manufacturer's championship, replacing the previous M1 and M2 categories:
Manufacturer (M) undertakes to take part in all the rallies of the Championship must enter only cars corresponding to the latest homologated version of a World Rally Car in conformity with the 2007 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 In order to score points in the Championship, a Manufacturer must take part with two cars of the same make in all the rallies of the calendar
Manufacturer Team (MT) undertakes to take part in 10 or more Championship rallies which it has nominated cannot enter World Rally Cars homologated during the year 2007 and cannot use parts homologated after 2 January 2007 In order to score points in the Championship, a Manufacturer Team must take part with two cars of the same make in 10 or more rallies it nominated on registering for the Championship. The Manufacturer Team can only score points in the events it nominated on registering
Calendar The 2007 championship was contested over sixteen rounds in Europe, Asia, the Americas and Oceania. Rd.Start dateFinish dateRallyRally headquartersSurfaceStagesDistanceSupport class118 January21 January 75th Rallye Automobile Monte-CarloValence, Drôme, FranceMixed15328.54 kmNone29 February11 February 56th Uddeholm Swedish RallyKarlstad, Värmland CountySnow20342.09 kmPWRC316 February18 February 22nd Rally NorwayHamar, InnlandetSnow18355.99 kmJWRC49 March11 March 4th Corona Rally MexicoLeón, GuanajuatoGravel20366.06 kmPWRC530 March1 April 41st Vodafone Rally de PortugalFaro, Faro DistrictGravel18357.10 kmJWRC64 May6 May 27th Rally ArgentinaCarlos Paz, CórdobaGravel23371.00 kmPWRC718 May20 May 4th Rally d'Italia SardiniaOlbia, SardiniaGravel18342.86 kmJWRC81 June3 June 54th BP Ultimate Acropolis Rally of GreeceMarkopoulo Mesogaias, AtticaGravel23356.36 kmPWRC93 August5 August 57th Neste Rally FinlandJyväskylä, Central FinlandGravel23360.34 kmJWRC1017 August19 August 26th ADAC Rallye DeutschlandTrier, Rhineland-PalatinateTarmac19356.27 kmJWRC1131 August2 September 38th Rally New ZealandHamilton, WaikatoGravel18353.56 kmPWRC125 October7 October 43rd RallyRACC Catalunya - Costa DauradaSalou, CataloniaTarmac18352.87 kmJWRC1312 October14 October 51st Tour de Corse - Rallye de FranceAjaccio, CorsicaTarmac16359.32 kmJWRC1426 October28 October 7th Rally JapanObihiro, HokkaidoGravel27350.19 kmPWRC1516 November18 November 3rd Rally IrelandSligo, County SligoTarmac20328.72 kmPWRC1630 November2 December 63rd Wales Rally GBCardiff, WalesGravel17359.54 kmPWRCSources:
Teams and drivers Manufacturers Manufacturer Car Team Tyre No Drivers Co-driver Rounds Citroën C4 WRC Citroën Total World Rally Team 1 Sébastien Loeb Daniel Elena All 2 Daniel Sordo Marc Marti All Ford Focus RS WRC 06 Focus RS WRC 07 BP Ford World Rally Team 3 Marcus Grönholm Timo Rautiainen All 4 Mikko Hirvonen Jarmo Lehtinen All Subaru Impreza WRC 2006 Impreza WRC 2007 Subaru World Rally Team 7 Petter Solberg Phil Mills All 8 Chris Atkinson Glenn MacNeall 1–5 Stéphane Prévot 6–16 Manufacturers' teams Citroën Xsara WRC OMV Kronos Citroën World Rally Team 5 Manfred Stohl Ilka Minor All 6 Daniel Carlsson Denis Giraudet 2–3, 5, 7 François Duval Patrick Pivato 10, 12–13 Ford Focus RS WRC 06 Stobart VK M-Sport Ford Rally Team 9 Jari-Matti Latvala Miikka Anttila All 10 Henning Solberg Cato Menkerud All Munchi's Ford World Rally Team 11 Luis Pérez Companc Jose Maria Volta 2, 4–9, 11–12, 14, 16 12 Juan Pablo Raies Jorge Pérez Companc 2, 4–6 Federico Villagra 7–9, 11–12, 14, 16 World Rally Car entries ineligible to score manufacturer points Manufacturer Car Team Tyre Drivers Co-drivers Rounds Citroën Xsara WRC Aimont Racing Team Gianluigi Galli Giovanni Bernacchini 2-3, 5 Astra Racing Toni Gardemeister Jakke Honkanen 10 Conrad Rautenbach Conrad Rautenbach David Senior 16 Ford Focus RS WRC 06 BP Ford World Rally Team Khalid Al Qassimi Nicky Beech 9–10, 12, 15 Stobart VK M-Sport Ford Rally Team Matthew Wilson Michael Orr All Alessandro Bettega Simone Scattolin 13 Focus RS WRC 04 Andreas Mikkelsen Ola Fløene 3, 5 Gareth Jones James O'Brien 9 David Moynihan 12, 15–16 Ray Breen Andrew Purcell 15 Thomas Schie Thomas Schie Göran Bergsten 2–3, 10, 12 Ramsport Guy Wilks Phil Pugh 3, 5, 8–10 Andreas Mikkelsen Ola Fløene 9–10, 12–13, 15 Focus RS WRC 06 16 Van Merksteijn Motorsport Peter van Merksteijn Sr. Erwin Berkhof 10, 12 Hilco Van Beek 16 MacHale Racing Gareth MacHale Paul Nagle 3–5 Focus RS WRC 03 1 Allan Harryman15 Eamonn Boland Francis Regan 1 Austin MacHale Brian Murphy 4, 15 Focus RS WRC 04 Aaron MacHale Killian Duffy 15 Noel McCarrick Noel McCarrick Damien Connolly 15 Paddy White Paddy White Graeme Stewart 15 Focus RS WRC 02 Christian August Selmer Christian August Selmer Nils-Henrik Holmen 3 George Tracey George Tracey Jane O'Connor 15 Focus RS WRC 01 Mats Jonsson Mats Jonsson Johnny Johansson 2 Focus RS WRC 00 Einar Staff Jr. Einar Staff Jr. Kim Staff 3 Hyundai Hyundai Accent WRC3 Stephen Simpson Stephen Simpson Patrick Walsh 16 Mitsubishi Lancer WRC 05 MMSP LTD Toni Gardemeister Jakke Honkanen 1–3, 5, 7 Xavier Pons Xavier Amigò 1–3 Juho Hänninen Mikko Markkula 3, 7, 9 Armindo Araújo Miguel Ramalho 5 Urmo Aava Kuldar Sikk 8–9, 11 Blue Rose Team Kristian Sohlberg Risto Pietilainen 9 Kaj Kuistila Kari Jokinen 9 Peugeot 307 WRC Bozian Racing Philippe Roux Eric Jordan 1 Anders Kjaer Trond Odegard 3 Team Rallye Cuoq Jean-Marie Cuoq David Marty 1 Baporo Motorsport Jordi Zurita Óscar Sánchez 12 Armando Pereira Armando Pereira Karine Gehin 13 José Micheli José Micheli Virginie Dejoye 13 206 WRC Frédéric Romeyer Frédéric Romeyer Marie-Ange Lachand 1 Tord Linnerud Tord Linnerud Ragnar Engen 3 Ricardo Triviño Ricardo Triviño Borja Aguado 9 Alain Vauthier Alain Vauthier François Ravault 13 Georges Guebey Georges Guebey Nadège Passaquin 13 Škoda Fabia WRC Czech Rally Team Kopecký Jan Kopecký Filip Schovánek 1–3, 5, 7–10, 12–13, 16 First Motorsport Škoda François Duval Patrick Pivato 8 François Leandri Gilbert Luigi 13 Harry Kleinjan Harry Kleinjan Bart Hissink 10, 16 Wevers Sport Erik Wevers Jalmar van Weeren 10 Eugene Donnelly Eugene Donnelly Harri Kaapro 15 Octavia WRC Jukka Ketomäki Jukka Ketomäki Kai Risberg 9 Melis Charalambous Melis Charalambous Mark Crisp 16 Subaru Impreza WRC 2007 Subaru World Rally Team Xavier Pons Xavier Amigò 9–16 Impreza WRC 2006 Wevers Sport René Kuipers Erwin Mombaerts 10, 16 Mark van Eldik Mark van Eldik Michel Groenewoud 10, 12, 16 Eamonn Boland Eamonn Boland Francis Regan 12, 15 Kris Meeke Kris Meeke Paul Nagle 15 Impreza WRC 2005 Adapta Mads Østberg Ole Kristian Unnelud 2–3, 5, 7, 9, 16 Armodios Vovos Armodios Vovos Loris Meletopoulos 8 Guy Wilks Guy Wilks Phil Pugh 15 Andrew Nesbitt Andrew Nesbitt James O'Brien 15 Tim McNulty Tim McNulty Eugene O'Donnell 15 Kevin Barrett Kevin Barrett Barry Goodman 15 Sean Devine Sean Devine Paul McLoughlin 15 Impreza WRC 2004 Rally Team Olsbergs Patrik Flodin Maria Andersson 2 Anders Grøndal Anders Grøndal Trond-Inge Ostbye 3 Impreza WRC 2003 Rune Dalsjø Rune Dalsjø Jens Olav Lovhoiden 3 Emma McKinstry Emma McKinstry Kenny Hull 15 Impreza WRC 2002 Darren Gass Darren Gass Neil Shawks 15 Suzuki SX4 WRC Suzuki World Rally Team Nicolas Bernardi Jean-Marc Fortin 13 Sebastian Lindholm Tomi Tuominen 16
Team and driver changes Citroën Total World Rally Team returned to the WRC in 2007 with their new C4. Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Sordo joined the team from Kronos who had been the de facto works Citroën team. Kronos would remain in the WRC as a Manufacturer team with Manfred Stohl returning to Kronos after driving for the Bozian run Peugeot team. Daniel Carlsson was signed to compete in six rallies in 2007, but after Rally Italy, Carlsson was banned from participating in the remainder of the season. François Duval was later signed to compete in the remaining four tarmac rallies.
MMSP, formerly Ralliart, announced via the WRC website that Mitsubishi would be returning to the WRC in 2007, with Toni Gardemeister and Khalid Al Qassimi as their drivers. However, Mitsubishi of Japan refused to approve of the entry, preventing MMSP from entering as a manufacturer. Khalid Al Qassimi and his main sponsor Abu Dhabi withdrew from the team and would later join Ford with Al Qassimi driving a third car for the remainder of the season.
Argentinian ice cream parlor chain, Munchi's, would set up Ford's third manufacturer team in the WRC. Their drivers were Luis Pérez Companc, who had driven for Stobart Ford the previous year, and Juan Pablo Raies although the latter would be replaced by Federico Villagra.
Subaru dropped tarmac specialist Stéphane Sarrazin from their line-up with Chris Atkinson now having a full time seat with Subaru. Midway through the season, Subaru signed Xavier Pons to drive a third car for the remainder of the 2007 season. Prodrive had considered running a secondary manufacturer team for 2007, similar to Citroën and Ford, but this failed to materialize.
OMV Peugeot Norway World Rally Team and Red Bull Škoda Team left the WRC after the 2006 season.
P-WRC Entries