2011 Rally Australia

2011 Rally Australia
*21st Rally Australia*
2011 Rally Australia; 21st Rally Australia
Round 10 of the 2011 World Rally Championship season
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	Eventual winner Mikko Hirvonen during a stage
Host country	Australia
Rally base	Coffs Harbour, New South Wales
Dates run	8 September – 11 2011
Stages	26 (368.96 km; 229.26 miles)
Stage surface	Gravel
Overall distance	1,246.78 km (774.71 miles)
Statistics
Crews	29 at start, 24 at finish
Overall results
Overall winner	Mikko Hirvonen; Ford World Rally Team

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.^[1] 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.^[2]

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.^[3] 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.^[4] 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.^[5] 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	20
3.	Petter Solberg	Chris Patterson	Citroën DS3 WRC	3:36:43.8	44.8	16
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	4
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

Day	Stage	Time	Name	Length	Winner	Time	Avg. 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	Sébastien Ogier
	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	Sébastien Ogier
	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	Mikko Hirvonen

Power stage

The "Power stage" was a live, televised 4.58 km (2.85 mi) stage at the end of the rally, held in Clarence.

Pos	Driver	Time	Diff.	Avg. speed	Points
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

Pos	Driver	Points
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

^ ^a ^b ^c "Itinerary" (PDF). Rally Australia. World Rally Championship; International Sportsworld Communicators. 2 September 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 October 2011. Retrieved 8 September 2011.
^ Evans, David (29 September 2010). "Rally Australia moves to new location". Autosport. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 8 September 2011.
^ "Hirvonen moves into top spot". World Rally Championship. International Sportsworld Communicators. 11 September 2011. Archived from the original on 20 March 2012. Retrieved 11 September 2011.
^ "Ogier not giving up on top 10 in Australia". World Rally Championship. International Sportsworld Communicators. 10 September 2011. Archived from the original on 25 September 2012. Retrieved 11 September 2011.
^ "Paddon wins rally, claims title". World Rally Championship. International Sportsworld Communicators. 11 September 2011. Archived from the original on 1 November 2011. Retrieved 11 September 2011.

External links

Results at eWRC.com

[Itin-1] "Itinerary" (PDF). Rally Australia. World Rally Championship; International Sportsworld Communicators. 2 September 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 October 2011. Retrieved 8 September 2011.

[2] Evans, David (29 September 2010). "Rally Australia moves to new location". Autosport. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 8 September 2011.

[3] "Hirvonen moves into top spot". World Rally Championship. International Sportsworld Communicators. 11 September 2011. Archived from the original on 20 March 2012. Retrieved 11 September 2011.

[4] "Ogier not giving up on top 10 in Australia". World Rally Championship. International Sportsworld Communicators. 10 September 2011. Archived from the original on 25 September 2012. Retrieved 11 September 2011.

[5] "Paddon wins rally, claims title". World Rally Championship. International Sportsworld Communicators. 11 September 2011. Archived from the original on 1 November 2011. Retrieved 11 September 2011.

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