The 2011 Rally Australia was the 21st Rally Australia 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, a coastal city in the New South Wales state of Australia. The rally was also the fifth round of the Production World Rally Championship. 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 area. Residents' concerns for the event meant that the rally was moved for the foreseeable future to Coffs Harbour.
Ford World Rally Team's Mikko Hirvonen took his third successive Rally Australia victory, after team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala 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 and Sébastien Ogier 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 finished third behind the Ford pairing, 44.8 seconds in arrears, but finished over seven minutes clear of the fourth-placed driver Matthew Wilson, who matched his career-best placing from Rally Japan in 2007. Khalid Al Qassimi scored a career-best fifth place, ahead of a quartet of PWRC competitors. Hayden Paddon 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 – who elected not to compete at the event – could only tie Paddon on points and lose on countback. Michał Kościuszko, Oleksandr Saliuk, Jr. and Benito Guerra also scored overall championship points by finishing in the top ten.
Results
Event standings Pos. Driver Co-driver Car Time Difference Points 1. Mikko Hirvonen Jarmo Lehtinen Ford Fiesta RS WRC 3:35:59.0 0.0 25 2. Jari-Matti Latvala Miikka Anttila Ford Fiesta RS WRC 3:36:13.7 14.7 3. Petter Solberg Chris Patterson Citroën DS3 WRC 3:36:43.8 44.8 4. Matthew Wilson Scott Martin Ford Fiesta RS WRC 3:44:44.2 8:45.2 12 5. Khalid Al Qassimi Michael Orr Ford Fiesta RS WRC 3:48:32.3 12:33.3 10 6. Hayden Paddon John Kennard Subaru Impreza WRX STI 3:53:28.3 17:29.3 8 7. Michał Kościuszko Maciej Szczepaniak Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X 3:55:00.3 19:01.3 6 8. Oleksandr Saliuk, Jr. Pavlo Cherepin Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX 3:57:07.5 21:08.5 4 9. Benito Guerra Borja Rozada Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X 3:58:47.9 22:48.9 2 10. Sébastien Loeb Daniel Elena Citroën DS3 WRC 4:06:01.9 30:02.9 PWRC 1. (6.) Hayden Paddon John Kennard Subaru Impreza WRX STI 3:53:28.3 0.0 25 2. (7.) Michał Kościuszko Maciej Szczepaniak Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X 3:55:00.3 1:32.0 18 3. (8.) Oleksandr Saliuk, Jr. Pavlo Cherepin Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX 3:57:07.5 3:39.2 15 4. (9.) Benito Guerra Borja Rozada Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X 3:58:47.9 5:19.6 12 5. (12.) Valeriy Gorban Andrey Nikolayev Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX 4:06:21.1 12:52.8 10 6. (16.) Gianluca Linari Nicola Arena Subaru Impreza WRX STI 4:14:49.2 21:20.9 8 7. (17.) Brendan Reeves Rhianon Smyth Subaru Impreza WRX STI 4:17:19.2 23:50.9 6 8. (18.) Nathan Quinn David Green Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX 4:17:53.6 24:25.3 4 9. (20.) Harry Hunt Robbie Durant Citroën DS3 R3 4:25:40.9 32:12.6 2 10. (21.) Bader Al Jabri Stephen McAuley Subaru Impreza WRX STI 4:29:41.2 36:12.9 1
Special stages DayStageTimeNameLengthWinnerTimeAvg. spd.Rally leader Leg 1(8–9 September) SS1 19:15 Coffs Jetty Precinct 1 3.77 km Sébastien Ogier 2:46.1 81.71 km/h Sébastien Ogier SS2 19:30 Coffs Jetty Precinct 2 3.77 km Sébastien Loeb 2:41.1 84.25 km/h SS3 10:03 Shipmans 1 29.03 km Sébastien Loeb 15:17.0 113.97 km/h Sébastien Loeb SS4 10:58 Brooklana 1 12.78 km Petter Solberg 10:01.9 76.44 km/h Sébastien Ogier SS5 11:29 Ulong 1 12.45 km Jari-Matti Latvala 6:37.9 112.64 km/h SS6 14:42 Shipmans 2 29.03 km Jari-Matti Latvala 16:15.2 107.17 km/h Mikko Hirvonen SS7 15:37 Brooklana 2 12.78 km Mikko Hirvonen 10:23.1 73.84 km/h SS8 16:08 Ulong 2 12.45 km Jari-Matti Latvala 6:55.1 107.97 km/h SS9 18:30 Coffs Jetty Precinct 3 3.77 km Jari-Matti Latvala 2:51.0 79.37 km/h SS10 18:45 Coffs Jetty Precinct 4 3.77 km Mikko Hirvonen 2:49.9 79.88 km/h Leg 2(10 September) SS11 8:33 Welshes 1 21.10 km Jari-Matti Latvala 12:10.2 104.03 km/h Jari-Matti Latvala SS12 9:21 Grace 1 19.77 km Jari-Matti Latvala 11:10.9 106.08 km/h SS13 10:14 Valla 1 14.84 km Jari-Matti Latvala 8:56.2 99.63 km/h SS14 10:54 Urunga 1 13.79 km Jari-Matti Latvala 8:41.8 95.14 km/h SS15 14:02 Welshes 2 21.10 km Sébastien Ogier 11:55.2 106.21 km/h SS16 14:50 Grace 2 19.77 km Sébastien Ogier 10:56.0 108.49 km/h SS17 15:43 Valla 2 14.84 km Sébastien Ogier 8:39.7 102.80 km/h SS18 16:23 Urunga 2 13.79 km Sébastien Loeb 8:28.8 97.57 km/h SS19 18:30 Coffs Jetty Precinct 5 3.77 km Sébastien Loeb 2:34.9 87.62 km/h SS20 18:45 Coffs Jetty Precinct 6 3.77 km Sébastien Ogier 2:33.8 88.24 km/h Leg 3(11 September) SS21 6:56 Bucca 1 14.83 km Mikko Hirvonen 7:18.3 121.81 km/h SS22 8:19 Plum Pudding 1 30.00 km Jari-Matti Latvala 16:26.3 109.50 km/h SS23 9:32 Clarence 1 4.58 km Sébastien Loeb 2:22.8 115.46 km/h SS24 12:03 Bucca 2 14.83 km Mikko Hirvonen 7:10.6 123.99 km/h SS25 13:26 Plum Pudding 2 30.00 km Mikko Hirvonen 16:07.8 111.59 km/h Mikko Hirvonen SS26 15:30 Clarence 2 (Power stage) 4.58 km Sébastien Loeb 2:18.1 119.39 km/h
Power stage The "Power stage" was a live, televised stage at the end of the rally, held in Clarence. PosDriverTimeDiff.Avg. speedPoints 1 Sébastien Loeb 2:18.1 0.0 119.39 km/h 3 2 Jari-Matti Latvala 2:19.3 +1.2 118.36 km/h 2 3 Petter Solberg 2:19.4 +1.3 118.28 km/h 1
Standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings PosDriverPoints 1 Sébastien Loeb 196 2 Mikko Hirvonen 181 3 Sebastien Ogier 168 4 Jari-Matti Latvala 119 5 Petter Solberg 110
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Citroen Total World Rally Team 347 2 Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team 285 3 M-Sport Stobart Ford World Rally Team 117 4 Petter Solberg World Rally Team 98 5 Ice 1 Racing 48
Bold text indicates World Champion. Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
References
External links
Results at eWRC.com