2009 Acropolis Rally

2009 Acropolis Rally
*56th Acropolis Rally of Greece*
2009 Acropolis Rally; 56th Acropolis Rally of Greece
Round 7 of the 2009 World Rally Championship
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Host country	Greece
Rally base	Loutraki
Dates run	June 12 – 14, 2009
Stages	17
Stage surface	Gravel with some Tarmac
Statistics
Crews	44 at start
Overall results
Overall winner	Mikko Hirvonen; BP Ford Abu Dhabi WRT

The 2009 Acropolis Rally of Greece was the 56th running of the Acropolis Rally and the seventh round of the 2009 World Rally Championship season. The rally consisted of 17 special stages. Ford's Mikko Hirvonen took his first win of the season and Citroën Junior Team's Sébastien Ogier his first-ever podium position. Hirvonen's teammate Jari-Matti Latvala climbed back to third place after going off the road and dropping from first to 11th place on the first day.^[1]

Citroën's championship leader Sébastien Loeb crashed out from third place, and Dani Sordo broke his suspension while running second, right behind Hirvonen. Stobart M-Sport Ford's fifth-placed driver Henning Solberg crashed into the same rock as Sordo and also retired. Petter Solberg found himself Hirvonen's main challenger for the win, but also had to retire with a broken suspension.

With mechanical problems for Mads Østberg and Evgeny Novikov, who took his first-ever stage win in the event,^[2] Federico Villagra finished fourth, Conrad Rautenbach fifth and Khalid al-Qassimi sixth, which marked his career-best result. Østberg climbed back into the points on the last stage. Home country's Lambros Athanassoulas edged out Nasser Al-Attiyah to win the Production World Rally Championship category, and also collected a WRC point for eighth place overall.

Results

Pos.	Driver	Co-driver	Car	Time	Difference	Points
WRC
1	Mikko Hirvonen	Jarmo Lehtinen	Ford Focus RS WRC 09	4:09:42.5	0.0	10
2	Sébastien Ogier	Julien Ingrassia	Citroën C4 WRC	4:10:55.4	1:12.9	8
3	Jari-Matti Latvala	Miikka Anttila	Ford Focus RS WRC 09	4:11:27.5	1:45.0	6
4	Federico Villagra	José Díaz	Ford Focus RS WRC 08	4:13:30.8	3:48.3	5
5	Conrad Rautenbach	Daniel Barritt	Citroën C4 WRC	4:13:42.3	3:59.8	4
6	Khalid al-Qassimi	Michael Orr	Ford Focus RS WRC 08	4:16:46.8	7:04.3	3
7	Mads Østberg	Jonas Andersson	Subaru Impreza WRC 2008	4:22:07.4	12:24.9	2
8	Lambros Athanassoulas	Nikolaos Zakheos	Škoda Fabia S2000	4:22:30.1	12:47.6	1
PWRC
1	Lambros Athanassoulas	Nikolaos Zakheos	Škoda Fabia S2000	4:22:30.1	0.0	10
2	Nasser Al-Attiyah	Giovanni Bernacchini	Subaru Impreza WRX STi N14	4:22:52.4	22.3	8
3	Armindo Araújo	Miguel Ramalho	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX	4:24:47.0	2:16.9	6
4	Toshi Arai	Glenn MacNeall	Subaru Impreza WRX STi	4:25:45.0	3:14.9	5
5	Martin Prokop	Jan Tománek	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX	4:28:28.9	5:58.8	4
6	Bernardo Sousa	Jorge Carvalho	Fiat Grande Punto S2000	4:31:49.6	9:19.5	3
7	Andis Neiksans	Peteris Dzirkals	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX	4:32:02.6	9:32.5	2
8	Patrik Flodin	Göran Bergsten	Subaru Impreza WRX STi	4:37:28.8	14:58.7	1

Special stages

Day	Stage	Time (EEST)	Name	Length	Winner	Time	Rally leader
1 (12 June)	SS1	8:48	Harvati	25 km	Jari-Matti Latvala	18:18.9	Jari-Matti Latvala
	SS2	10:21	Thiva 1	23.76 km	Dani Sordo	17:00.6
	SS3	11:44	Evangelistria	21.03 km	Stage cancelled	-:-.-
	SS4	14:02	Bauxites	23.17 km	Evgeny Novikov	14:39.8
	SS5	14:56	Drossohori	23.68 km	Sébastien Ogier	19:41.9
	SS6	17:13	Thiva 2	23.76 km	Mikko Hirvonen	16:59.5	Mikko Hirvonen
2 (13 June)	SS7	9:32	Klenia Mycenae 1	17.25 km	Jari-Matti Latvala	11:36.0
	SS8	10:35	Ghymno 1	26.28 km	Evgeny Novikov	19:03.6
	SS9	11:50	Kefelari 1	24.15 km	Mikko Hirvonen Petter Solberg	19:32.8
	SS10	14:50	Klenia Mycenae 2	17.25 km	Jari-Matti Latvala	11:21.8
	SS11	15:53	Ghymno 2	26.28 km	Evgeny Novikov	18:51.2
	SS12	17:08	Kefelari 2	24.15 km	Evgeny Novikov	19:10.1
3 (14 June)	SS13	9:33	Loutraki 1	8.98 km	Mads Østberg	7:38.2
	SS14	10:07	Aghii Theodori 1	33 km	Henning Solberg	22:43.2
	SS15	10:55	New Pissia	11.3 km	Matthew Wilson	8:16.2
	SS16	12:51	Loutraki 2	8.98 km	Stage cancelled	-:-.-
	SS17	13:25	Aghii Theodori 2	33 km	Jari-Matti Latvala	22:14.2

Championship standings after the event

Drivers' championship

Pos	Driver	IRL	NOR	CYP	POR	ARG	ITA	GRC	POL	FIN	AUS	ESP	GBR	Pts
1	Sébastien Loeb	1	1	1	1	1	4	Ret						55
2	Mikko Hirvonen	3	2	2	2	Ret	2	1						48
3	Dani Sordo	2	5	4	3	2	23	12						31
4	Jari-Matti Latvala	14	3	12	Ret	6	1	3						25
5	Henning Solberg	4	4	18	5	3	8	15						21
6	Petter Solberg		6	3	4	Ret	3	Ret						20
7	Matthew Wilson	7	7	5	Ret	5	6	14						15
8	Federico Villagra			7	7	4	Ret	4						14
9	Sébastien Ogier	6	10	Ret	17	7	Ret	2						13
10	Mads Østberg		9		6		7	7						7
10	Conrad Rautenbach	18	Ret	6	Ret	Ret	9	5						7
12	Khalid al-Qassimi	8		8	8		16	6						6
13	Evgeny Novikov		12	Ret	Ret		5	16						4
13	Chris Atkinson	5												4
15	Nasser Al-Attiyah			11	16	8	10	9						1
	Urmo Aava	10	8											1
	Lambros Athanassoulas							8						1
Pos	Driver	IRL	NOR	CYP	POR	ARG	ITA	GRC	POL	FIN	AUS	ESP	GBR	Pts

Key
Colour	Result
Gold	Winner
Silver	2nd place
Bronze	3rd place
Green	Points finish
Blue	Non-points finish
Blue	Non-classified finish (NC)
Purple	Did not finish (Ret)
Black	Excluded (EX)
Black	Disqualified (DSQ)
White	Did not start (DNS)
White	Cancelled (C)
Blank	Withdrew entry from the event (WD)

Manufacturers' championship

Pos	Team	Event												Total points
Pos	Team	IRL	NOR	CYP	POR	ARG	ITA	GRC	POL	FIN	AUS	ESP	GBR	Total points
1	Citroën Total World Rally Team	18	14	16	16	18	8	4						94
2	BP Ford World Rally Team	8	14	10	8	3	18	18						79
3	Stobart M-Sport Ford Rally Team	8	8	6	5	10	7	5						49
4	Citroën Junior Team	5	2	4	0	2	6	6						25
5	Munchi's Ford World Rally Team	0	0	3	4	5	0	6						18

References

^ Beer, Matt (14 June 2009). "Hirvonen clinches Acropolis victory". Autosport. Retrieved 14 June 2009.
^ "Maiden stage win for Novikov!". Rally-Live.com. 14 June 2009. Retrieved 14 June 2009.

External links

Official site

[1] Beer, Matt (14 June 2009). "Hirvonen clinches Acropolis victory". Autosport. Retrieved 14 June 2009.

[2] "Maiden stage win for Novikov!". Rally-Live.com. 14 June 2009. Retrieved 14 June 2009.

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