The 2007 Rally Ireland, the first Rally Ireland and fifteenth round of the 2007 World Rally Championship, was a motor rally held from 15 to 18 November. It took place over eight counties on both sides of the border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The event started in Stormont, Belfast, and finished in Mullaghmore, County Sligo.
Report The rally began with the first special stage in front of Stormont Castle in Belfast, which Marcus Grönholm won Thursday evening. The next day, in the fourth special stage, Grönholm hit a wall hard, and he and co-driver Timo Rautiainen were taken to hospital as a precaution. Both remained unhurt but withdrew from the rally.
Citroën driver Sébastien Loeb took a step towards his fourth Drivers' World Championship title, retaking the lead in the drivers' standings. His advantage over his rival Grönholm, who retired on Friday after a serious accident, had been six points before the last round of the world championship. Mikko Hirvonen finished fourth, securing the second manufacturers' world championship title in a row for the Ford team.
Jari-Matti Latvala was third, taking his first WRC podium. On Friday, Latvala edged out Hirvonen for third place. He held this position to the finish despite briefly going off the road on Saturday, losing a little time.
Results Pos. Driver Co-driver Car Time Difference Points WRC 1. Sébastien Loeb Daniel Elena Citroën C4 WRC 3:01:39.2 0.0 10 2. Dani Sordo Marc Martí Citroën C4 WRC 3:02:32.6 53.4 8 3. Jari-Matti Latvala Miikka Anttila Ford Focus RS WRC 06 3:03:27.4 1:48.2 6 4. Mikko Hirvonen Jarmo Lehtinen Ford Focus RS WRC 07 3:03:56.9 2:17.7 5 5. Petter Solberg Phil Mills Subaru Impreza WRC 07 3:04:35.0 2:55.8 4 6. Guy Wilks Phil Pugh Subaru Impreza WRC 3:07:37.1 5:57.9 3 7. Matthew Wilson Michael Orr Ford Focus RS WRC 06 3:11:44.1 10:04.9 2 8. Gareth McHale Allan Harryman Ford Focus RS WRC 06 3:12:47.5 11:08.3 1 PCWRC 1. (10.) Niall McShea Marshall Clarke Subaru Impreza 3:18:11.3 0.0 10 2. (11.) Gabriel Pozzo Daniel Stillo Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 3:18:55.4 44.1 8 3. (17.) Nasser Al-Attiyah Chris Patterson Subaru Impreza C 07 3:22:42.4 4:31.1 6 4. (18.) Simone Campedelli Danilo Fappani Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 3:24:47.2 6:35.9 5 5. (20.) Štěpán Vojtěch Michal Ernst Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 3:26:45.4 8:34.1 4 6. (21.) Fumio Nutahara Daniel Barritt Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 3:27:32.8 9:21.5 3 7. (22.) Colm Murphy Ger Loughrey Subaru Impreza 3:27:34.6 9:23.3 2 8. (23.) Philip Morrow David Senior Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 3:28:46.9 10:35.6 1
Retirements
Eugene Donnelly - mechanical (SS4); Marcus Grönholm - went off the road - hit the wall (SS4); Xavier Pons - mechanical - engine (SS4); Andreas Aigner - went off the road (SS7); Kris Meeke - mechanical (SS9); Andrew Nesbitt - went off the road (SS11); Gareth Jones - mechanical (SS11); Ray Breen - went off the road (SS11); Tim McNulty - mechanical (SS12); Manfred Stohl - mechanical (SS13); Mark Higgins - rolled (SS16); Leszek Kuzaj - mechanical (SS16); Patrik Flodin - mechanical (SS17); Armindo Araújo - went off the road (SS19);
Special Stages All dates and times are GMT (UTC). LegStageTimeNameLengthWinnerTimeAvg. spd.Rally leader1(15/16 Nov) SSS1 19:00 (15-Nov) Stormont 1.82 km M. Grönholm 1:30.8 72.16 km/h M. Grönholm SS2 08:05 (16-Nov) Geevagh 1 11.47 km S. Loeb 6:05.7 112.92 km/h S. Loeb SS3 08:33 Arigna 1 27.89 km D. Sordo 15:44.0 106.36 km/h SS4 09:24 Lough Gill 1 20.56 km D. Sordo 10:54.7 113.05 km/h D. Sordo SS5 11:29 Geevagh 2 11.47 km S. Loeb 6:22.0 108.09 km/h S. Loeb SS6 11:57 Arigna 2 27.89 km S. Loeb 16:09.6 103.55 km/h SS7 12:48 Lough Gill 2 20.56 km D. Sordo 10:55.5 112.92 km/h SS8 15:01 Glenboy 22.25 km S. Loeb 11:56.0 111.87 km/h SS9 15:54 Bencroy 15.43 km D. Sordo 8:21.3 110.81 km/h SS10 16:19 Drumshanbo 8.65 km S. Loeb 5:00.3 103.70 km/h2(17 Nov) SS11 8:13 Sloughan Glen 1 20.95 km S. Loeb 11:37.7 108.10 km/h SS12 09:08 Ballinamallard 1 17.95 km S. Loeb 9:35.9 112.21 km/h SS13 09:51 Tempo 1 13.46 km S. Loeb 7:31.6 107.30 km/h SS14 14:04 Sloughan Glen 2 20.95 km C. Atkinson 11:25.7 109.99 km/h SS15 14:59 Ballinamallard 2 17.95 km S. Loeb 9:30.7 113.23 km/h SS16 15:42 Tempo 2 13.46 km J-M. Latvala 7:28.9 107.94 km/h3(18 Nov) SS17 09:03 Murley 24.70 km M. Hirvonen 13:19.9 111.16 km/h SS18 09:51 Fardross 14.77 km M. Hirvonen 8:49.8 100.36 km/h SS19 11:39 Donegal Bay 14.06 km J-M. Latvala 7:00.9 120.26 km/h SS20 13:08 Mullaghmore 2.38 km P. Solberg 1:16.9 111.42 km/h
Championship standings after the event
Drivers' championship Pos Driver MON SWE NOR MEX POR ARG ITA GRC FIN GER NZL ESP FRA JPN IRL GBR Pts 1 Sébastien Loeb 1 2 14 1 1 1Ret 2 3 1 2 1 1Ret 1 110 2 Marcus Grönholm 3 1 2 2 4 2 1 1 1 4 1 3 2RetRet 104 3 Mikko Hirvonen 5 3 1 3 5 3 2 4 2 3 3 4 13 1 4 89 4 Dani Sordo 2 12 25 4 3 6 3 24RetRet 6 2 3 2 2 61 5 Petter Solberg 6Ret 4Ret 2Ret 5 3Ret 6 7 6 5Ret 5 42 6 Henning Solberg 14 4 3 9 9 5 4 5 5 14 9 10 9 3 16 34 7 Jari-Matti LatvalaRetRet 5 7 8 4 9 12Ret 8 5 7 4 26 3 30 8 Chris Atkinson 4 8 19 5Ret 7 10 6 4 15 4 8 6Ret 42 29 9 François DuvalRet 2 5Ret 12 Manfred Stohl 10 7 12 6 10 8 7 8RetRet 12Ret 14 6Ret 12 11 Jan Kopecký 8 10 8 22Ret 7Ret 5Ret 7 10 Toni Gardemeister 7 6Ret DSQ 6 7 10 13 Daniel Carlsson 5 7 6Ret 9 14 Matthew Wilson 12Ret 26 8 12 30 12 10 10 9 10 11Ret 4 7 8 15 Gigi Galli 13 6 7 5 16 Luís Pérez Companc 15 19DNS 28Ret 11 11 23Ret 5 4 Xavier Pons 25Ret 16 6 18Ret 9 8 36Ret4 18 Guy WilksRetRet 9 9 10 6 3 Urmo Aava 28 15 13 14 7 12 8 18Ret 183 20 Federico VillagraDNS 9 11 32 14 11 13 7 2 21 Juho Hänninen DSQ 17 11 8RetRet 19 23 24 1 Mads Østberg 9 37RetRet 8 1 Katsuhiko Taguchi 8 1 Gareth MacHale 11Ret 13Ret 8 1 Pos Driver MON SWE NOR MEX POR ARG ITA GRC FIN GER NZL ESP FRA JPN IRL GBR Pts
Manufacturers' championship Rank Manufacturer Event Totalpoints MON SWE NOR MEX POR ARG ITA GRC FIN GER NZL ESP FRA JPN IRL GBR 1 BP Ford World Rally Team 10 16 18 14 9 14 18 15 18 11 16 11 9 10 5 - 194 2 Citroën Total World Rally Team 18 9 1 15 16 13 6 8 6 10 11 18 16 8 18 - 173 3 Stobart VK M-Sport Ford 1 5 10 3 2 9 7 4 4 5 5 2 7 7 9 - 80 4 Subaru World Rally Team 8 2 5 4 8 2 5 9 5 5 7 4 7 2 6 - 79 5 OMV Kronos 2 7 5 3 4 1 3 2 0 8 0 4 0 4 0 - 43 6 Munchi's Ford World Rally Team 0 0 0 0 1 5 0 0 8 - 14
References
External links
Results on the official site: WRC.com Stage Time List on rallyireland.org Results on eWRC.com Results at Jonkka's World Rally Archive