WRC:A close result on a short stage

[Plex]

The second running of the short 1.15 kilometre Hamar stage saw Sebastien Loeb take the stage win with a time of 1:11.8 seconds in his Citroen C4, tied with Petter Solberg in the Subaru Impreza and Xavier Pons in the Mitsubishi Lancer. The stage times had little bearing on the overall rally result with less than two seconds covering most of the field.

Marcus Gronholm was classified as fourth fastest on the stage with a time exactly the same as BP Ford team-mate and Rally leader Mikko Hirvonen. Daniel Carlsson was sixth fastest in his OMV Kronos Citroen ahead of Jari-Matti Latvala in the Stobart Focus.

Juho Hanninen was classified in ninth position ahead of Henning Solberg while Gigi Galli rounded out the top ten in his Citroen Xsara.

It was fairly routine running for most but Jan Kopecky lost time stalling at the start while 17-year old Andreas Mikkelsen stalled his Stobart Ford Focus at the final hairpin.

The drivers now head to service before the final stage of Rally Norway � the demanding 44.28 kilometre Elverum stage which gets underway at 12.14 CET.

For Mikko Hirvonen and co-driver Jarmo Lethinen, they enjoy an 18.4 seconds advantage over team-mate Marcus Gronholm and is now only a few kilometres away from his second World Rally victory.

RallyLive

[Rory Phoulorie]

Result - Rally Norway.

Mikko Hirvonen leads from the opening stage to win Rally Norway on its first appearance on the World Rally Championship calendar, with BP Ford team-mate Marcus Gronholm ensuring the team takes maximum points by finishing second. Henning Solberg takes third on the final day from brother Petter, with Jari-Matti Latvala fifth and Gigi Galli completing the top six.

Per-Gunnar Andersson win the opening round of the Junior Rally Championship from Patrick Sandell and Urmo Aava.

Overall times after SS18 / leg 3 (top 20):

1. Mikko Hirvonen BP Ford Focus RS WRC 06 3hr 28mins 17.0secs M
2. Marcus Gronholm BP Ford Focus RS WRC 06 +00mins 09.5secs M
3. Henning Solberg Stobart Ford Focus WRC 06 +03mins 44.5secs M
4. Petter Solberg Subaru WRT Impreza WRC 2006 +04mins 01.1secs M
5. Jari-Matti Latvala Stobart Ford Focus WRC 06 +05mins 30.7secs M
6. Gigi Galli Aimont Citroen Xsara WRC +07mins 05.3secs A8
7. Daniel Carlsson OMV Kronos Citroen Xsara WRC +09mins 23.7secs M
8. Jan Kopecky Czech RT-Skoda Kopecky Fabia WRC +11mins 50.1secs A8
9. Rune Dalsjo Subaru Impreza S9 +13mins 31.9secs A8
10. Andreas Mikkelsen Stobart Ford Focus RS WRC04 +14mins 28.7secs A8
11. Patrik Flodin Subaru Impreza +14mins 46.6secs N4
12. Manfred Stohl OMV Kronos Citroen Xsara WRC +17mins 04.6secs M
13. Eyvind Brynildsen Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX +17mins 18.1secs N4
14. Sebastien Loeb Citroen Total WRT C4 WRC +18mins 13.4secs M
15. Tord Linnerud Ford Focus +18mins 27.0secs A8
16. Xavier Pons MMSP Ltd Mitsubishi Lancer WR05 +18mins 53.1secs A8
17. Juho Hanninen MMSP Ltd Mitsubishi Lancer WR05 +19mins 19.7secs A8
18. P-G Andersson Suzuki Swift S1600 +21mins 20.9secs J
19. Chris Atkinson Subaru WRT Impreza WRC 2006 +24mins 01.8secs M
20. Andreas Aigner Red Bull Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 +25mins 24.4secs N4

Others:

25. Daniel Sordo Citroen Total WRT C4 WRC +34mins 24.1secs M
26. Matthew Wilson Stobart Ford Focus WRC 06 +35mins 02.3secs A8


Overall JRC after SS18 / leg 3 (top twelve):

1. P-G Andersson Suzuki Swift S1600 3hr 49mins 37.9secs J
2. Patrik Sandell Renault Clio R3 +07mins 33.8secs J
3. Urmo Aava Suzuki Swift S1600 +15mins 12.4secs J
4. Jaan Molder Suzuki Swift S1600 +19mins 03.1secs J
5. Aaron Burkart Citroen C2 +23mins 44.7secs J
6. Trond Svenkerud Ford Fiesta ST +28mins 26.0secs J
7. Andrea Cortinovis Renault Clio +29mins 25.1secs J
8. Shaun Gallager Citroen C2 R2 +36mins 19.8secs J
9. Alessandro Bettega Ford Fiesta Super 1600 +36mins 38.2secs J
10. Vilius Rozukas Suzuki Swift S1600 +53mins 33.5secs J
11. Kalle Pinomaki Renault Clio R3 +1hr 18mins 08.3secs J
12. Aigar Pars Suzuki Swift S1600 +1hr 20mins 44.3secs J

Notable retirements*:

SS9. Daniel Sordo Citroen Total WRT C4 WRC Off road M #
SS9. Guy Wilks Ford Focus WRC 05 Off road A8
SS10. Matthew Wilson Stobart Ford Focus WRC 06 Suspension A8 #

End leg 2. Toni Gardemeister MMSP Ltd Mitsubishi Lancer WR05 Engine A8

M - denotes Manufacturer entry.
J - denotes Junior RC entry.

all times unofficial

http://www.crash.net/news_View~t~Result---Rally-Norway-~cid~4~id~143400.htm


Latest World Rally Championship standings.

Marcus Gronholm moves to the head of the 2007 FIA World Rally drivers' championship following Rally Norway, the third round in the championship.

Gronholm finished second behind team-mate Mikko Hirvonen to move ahead of defending champion Sebastien Loeb, while Hirvonen also goes ahead of Loeb into second place by virtue of his win. Gronholm is four points clear of Hirvonen with Loeb, who failed to score, two points further back. Henning Solberg jumps up to fourth place after finishing on the podium, while Rally Norway sees Jari-Matti Latvala and Gigi Galli both score their first points of the season.

In the Manufacturers' championship, a maximum for BP Ford sees them jump to the top of the table and open up a 16 point lead over Citroen Total WRT, who score just a single point. The Stobart M-Sport WRT now lie third, ahead of Subaru and OMV Kronos.


World Rally Drivers' Championship (after 3 of 16 rounds):

1. Marcus Gronholm BP Ford Focus RS WRC 06 24 points M
2. Mikko Hirvonen BP Ford Focus RS WRC 06 20 points M
3. Sebastien Loeb Citroen Total WRT C4 WRC 18 points M
4. Henning Solberg Stobart Ford Focus WRC 06 11 points M
5. Petter Solberg Subaru WRT Impreza WRC 2006 8 points M
=. Daniel Sordo Citroen Total WRT C4 WRC 8 points M
7. Chris Atkinson Subaru WRT Impreza WRC 2006 6 points M
=. Daniel Carlsson OMV Kronos Citroen Xsara WRC 6 points M
9. Toni Gardemeister MMSP Ltd Mitsubishi Lancer WRC05 5 points
10. Jari-Matti Latvala Stobart Ford Focus WRC 06 4 points M
11. Gigi Galli Aimont Citroen Xsara WRC 3 points
12. Manfred Stohl OMV Kronos Citroen Xsara WRC 2 points M
=. Jan Kopecky Czech RT-Skoda Fabia WRC 2 point


World Rally Manufacturers' Championship (after 3 of 16 rounds):

1. BP Ford WRT 44 points
2. Citroen Total WRT 28 points
3. Stobart M-Sport Ford RT 16 points
4. Subaru WRT 15 points
5. OMV Kronos Citroen WRT 14 points
6. Munchi's Ford WRT 0 points


Production Car World Rally Championship (for drivers) (after 1 of 8 rounds):

1. Oscar Svedlund Subaru Impreza WRX 10 points
2. Anton Alen Subaru Impreza 8 points
3. Kristian Sohlberg Subaru Impreza WRX 6 points
4. Araujo Armindo Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 5 points
5. Fumio Nutahara Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 4 points
6. Toshi Arai Subaru Impreza 3 points
7. Nasser Al-Attiyah Subaru Impreza 2 point
8. Fabio Frisiero Mitsubishi Lancer 1 point


Junior Rally Championship (for drivers) (after 1 of 7 rounds):

1. P-G Andersson Suzuki Swift S1600 10 points
2. Patrik Sandell Renault Clio R3 8 points
3. Urmo Aava Suzuki Swift S1600 6 points
4. Jaan Molder Suzuki Swift S1600 5 points
5. Aaron Burkart Citroen C2 4 points
6. Trond Svenkerud Ford Fiesta ST 3 points
7. Andrea Cortinovis Renault Clio 2 points
8. Shaun Gallager Citroen C2 R2 1 points

Note: Rally Norway did not count towards the Production Car Rally Championship.

http://www.crash.net/news_view~cid~4~id~143402~pid~0.htm