2007 Rally GB | |
Native Name: | 63rd Wales Rally of Great Britain |
Round: | 16 |
Championship: | 2007 World Rally Championship |
Previous Round: | 2007 Rally Ireland |
Rallybase: | Cardiff, Wales |
Startdate: | November 30 |
Enddate: | December 2, 2007 |
Stages: | 17 |
Stagekm: | 359.54 |
Surface: | Gravel |
Driver1: | Mikko Hirvonen |
Team1: | BP Ford World Rally Team |
Teamsstart: | 108 |
Teamsfinish: | 83 |
The 2007 Wales Rally GB (formally known as 63rd Wales Rally of Great Britain) was the 16th round of the 2007 World Rally Championship. The race was held over three days between 30 November and 2 December 2007.
Sébastien Loeb became world champion for the fourth time in a row. He had thus equaled Tommi Mäkinen's record. Third place at the season finale in Wales was enough for the Citroën driver. Loeb started the last world championship race of the season six points ahead of his rival Marcus Grönholm. Grönholm was able to make up two points with second place, and in the end Loeb had a four-point lead in the drivers' standings.
Rally won Grönholm teammate Mikko Hirvonen. He took the lead with four special stage best times on Friday. Hirvonen was 15.2 seconds clear of second-placed Gronholm to secure his fourth WRC win of his career.
Subaru driver Petter Solberg came fourth behind the leading trio. He was able to conclude such a season with moderate success in a reasonably forgiving manner. Fourth place and his teammate Chris Atkinson's seventh place secured Subaru third place in the Manufacturers' Championship ahead of the Stobart team. Days two and three were dominated by young M-Sport driver Jari-Matti Latvala, who had already been confirmed as a driver for Ford for next year. However, since he had lost almost ten minutes on the first day due to a broken windshield wiper, he was only able to finish tenth.
Pos. | Driver | Co-driver | Car | Time | Difference | Points | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
WRC | |||||||
1. | Mikko Hirvonen | Jarmo Lehtinen | Ford Focus RS WRC 07 | 3:22:50.9 | 0.0 | 10 | |
2. | Marcus Grönholm | Timo Rautiainen | Ford Focus RS WRC 07 | 3:23:06.1 | 15.2 | 8 | |
3. | Sébastien Loeb | Daniel Elena | Citroën C4 WRC | 3:24:23.9 | 1:33.0 | 6 | |
4. | Petter Solberg | Phil Mills | Subaru Impreza WRC2007 | 3:25:48.2 | 2:57.3 | 5 | |
5. | Dani Sordo | Marc Marti | Citroën C4 WRC | 3:26:05.2 | 3:14.3 | 4 | |
6. | Matthew Wilson | Michael Orr | Ford Focus WRC 06 | 3:30:23.8 | 7:32.9 | 3 | |
7. | Chris Atkinson | Stéphane Prévot | Subaru Impreza WRC2007 | 3:31:20.4 | 8:29.5 | 2 | |
8. | Manfred Stohl | Ilka Minor | Citroën Xsara WRC | 3:31:45.5 | 8:54.6 | 1 | |
PCWRC | |||||||
1. (13.) | Guy Wilks | Phil Pugh | Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 | 3:44:23.7 | 0.0 | 10 | |
2. (14.) | Juho Hänninen | Mikko Markkula | Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 | 3:44:57.9 | 34.2 | 8 | |
3. (16.) | Mark Higgins | Scott Martin | Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 | 3:46:10.2 | 1:46.5 | 6 | |
4. (17.) | Alessandro Bettega | Simone Scattolin | Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 | 3:49:47.3 | 5:23.6 | 5 | |
5. (19.) | David Higgins | Ieuan Thomas | Subaru Impreza WRX STi | 3:51:32.8 | 7:09.1 | 4 | |
6. (21.) | Mirco Baldacci | Giovanni Agnese | Subaru Impreza WRX STi | 3:53:12.8 | 8:49.1 | 3 | |
7. (23.) | Armindo Araújo | Miguel Ramalho | Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 | 4:00:58.9 | 16:35.2 | 2 | |
8. (23.) | Štěpán Vojtěch | Michal Ernst | Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 | 4:02:31.4 | 18:07.7 | 1 |
All dates and times are GMT (UTC).
Leg | Stage | Time | Name | Length | Winner | Time | Avg. spd. | Rally leader | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 (30 Nov) | SS1 | 09:53 | Port Talbot 1 | 17.41 km | M. Hirvonen | 9:15.2 | 112.9 km/h | align=left rowspan="17" | M. Hirvonen |
SS2 | 10:41 | Resolfen 1 | 25.08 km | M. Hirvonen | 12:50.6 | 117.2 km/h | |||
SS3 | 11:39 | Rheola 1 | 27.91 km | M. Hirvonen | 15:55.7 | 105.1 km/h | |||
SS4 | 14:10 | Port Talbot 2 | 17.41 km | M. Hirvonen | 9:17.2 | 112 km/h | |||
SS5 | 14:58 | Resolfen 2 | 25.08 km | S. Loeb M. Grönholm | 13:20.9 | 112.7 km/h | |||
SS6 | 16:23 | Rheola 2 | 27.91 km | J. Latvala | 16:39.3 | 100.5 km/h | |||
2 (1 Dec) | SS7 | 09:38 | Crychan 1 | 19.56 km | J. Latvala | 10:31.2 | 111.6 km/h | ||
SS8 | 10:21 | Epynt 1 | 13.76 km | J. Latvala | 7:33.2 | 109.3 km/h | |||
SS9 | 10:54 | Halfway 1 | 18.37 km | J. Latvala | 10:28.3 | 105.3 km/h | |||
SS10 | 14:47 | Crychan 2 | 19.56 km | J. Latvala | 10:39.8 | 110.1 km/h | |||
SS11 | 15:30 | Epynt 2 | 13.76 km | J. Latvala | 7:40.1 | 107.7 km/h | |||
SS12 | 16:29 | Halfway 2 | 18.37 km | J. Latvala | 10:39.6 | 103.4 km/h | |||
SS13 | 19:00 | Cardiff | 1.10 km | M. Grönholm | 1:03.8 | 62.1 km/h | |||
3 (2 Dec) | SS14 | 07:46 | Brechfa 1 | 28.89 km | J. Latvala M. Hirvonen | 16:14.2 | 106.8 km/h | ||
SS15 | 08:33 | Trawscoed 1 | 28.24 km | J. Latvala | 16:39.7 | 101.7 km/h | |||
SS16 | 12:09 | Brechfa 2 | 28.89 km | J. Latvala | 16:11.6 | 107.0 km/h | |||
SS17 | 12:56 | Trawscoed 2 | 28.24 km | J. Latvala | 16:51.0 | 100.6 km/h |
|
Rank | Manufacturer | Event | Total points | ||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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 | 18 | 212 | |
2 | Citroën Total World Rally Team | 18 | 9 | 1 | 15 | 16 | 13 | 6 | 8 | 6 | 10 | 11 | 18 | 16 | 8 | 18 | 10 | 183 | |
3 | Subaru World Rally Team | 8 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 8 | 2 | 5 | 9 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 4 | 7 | 2 | 6 | 8 | 87 | |
4 | Stobart VK M-Sport Ford | 1 | 5 | 10 | 3 | 2 | 9 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 7 | 7 | 9 | 1 | 81 | |
5 | 2 | 7 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 45 | ||
6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 14 |