2011 Rally Sweden

2011 Rally Sweden
59th Uddeholm Swedish Rally
Round 1 of the 2011 World Rally Championship
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Host country Sweden
Rally baseKarlstad, Sweden
Dates runFebruary 10 – 13 2011
Stages22 (351.00 km; 218.10 miles)[1]
Stage surfaceSnow- and Ice-covered gravel
Overall distance2,059.89 km (1,279.96 miles)[1]
Statistics
Crews44 at start, 34 at finish
Overall results
Overall winnerFinland Mikko Hirvonen
United Kingdom Ford World Rally Team

The 2011 Rally Sweden was the opening round of 2011 World Rally Championship season. It was the season's first and only event held on snow- and ice-covered gravel roads. The rally took place over 10–13 February, beginning with a Super Special Stage in the event's base town of Karlstad. The rally was also the first round of the Production World Rally Championship.

The rally saw a beginning to a new era in the World Rally Championship, with the previous generation of WRC machinery such as the Citroën C4 and the Ford Focus being phased out in favour of cars with a displacement of 1.6 litres (98 cu in). Citroën will use their DS3 model, and Ford will use the Fiesta RS over the course of the 2011 season.[2] Also introduced for the 2011 season is the Power Stage, in which the final stage of each rally will award bonus points towards the championship standings. The fastest driver on the stage, will receive three points with two for the second-fastest and one for the third-fastest.[2]

Mikko Hirvonen took the 13th WRC win of his career, and his first victory since winning the same event in 2010, having overhauled Mads Østberg midway through the second day.[3] Østberg took his best result in the championship, finishing on the podium for the first time just 6.5 seconds behind Hirvonen.[3] The podium was completed by another Ford driver, as Hirvonen's teammate Jari-Matti Latvala finished third, 34 seconds behind Hirvonen. Sébastien Ogier finished as the best Citroën driver in fourth place, and also picked up maximum bonus points with his victory on the first Power Stage of the season. Fellow Citroën driver Petter Solberg rounded out the top five places, despite losing his licence before the final stage due to a speeding infringement on Friday afternoon. As per the country's law, the Swedish Police Authority had given Solberg 48 hours grace before he could no longer drive after being caught going at 112 km/h (70 mph) in an area where the limit was 80 km/h (50 mph).[4] With the ban coming into effect prior to the final stage, Solberg's co-driver Chris Patterson had to drive the stage.[5]

In the supporting PWRC class, Martin Semerád took his first victory by over five minutes ahead of Yuriy Protasov.[6]

Results

Event standings

Pos. Driver Co-driver Car Time Difference Points
Overall
1. Finland Mikko Hirvonen Finland Jarmo Lehtinen Ford Fiesta RS WRC 3:23:56.6 0.0 25
2. Norway Mads Østberg Sweden Jonas Andersson Ford Fiesta RS WRC 3:24:03.1 6.5 18
3. Finland Jari-Matti Latvala Finland Miikka Anttila Ford Fiesta RS WRC 3:24:30.6 34.0 16
4. France Sébastien Ogier France Julien Ingrassia Citroën DS3 WRC 3:24:44.3 47.7 15
5. Norway Petter Solberg United Kingdom Chris Patterson Citroën DS3 WRC 3:25:27.8 1:31.2 10
6. France Sébastien Loeb Monaco Daniel Elena Citroën DS3 WRC 3:26:26.9 2:30.3 10
7. Sweden Per-Gunnar Andersson Sweden Emil Axelsson Ford Fiesta RS WRC 3:30:18.6 6:22.0 6
8. Finland Kimi Räikkönen Finland Kaj Lindström Citroën DS3 WRC 3:30:58.9 7:02.3 4
9. United Kingdom Matthew Wilson United Kingdom Scott Martin Ford Fiesta RS WRC 3:34:08.1 10:11.5 2
10. United Arab Emirates Khalid Al Qassimi United Kingdom Michael Orr Ford Fiesta RS WRC 3:34:27.7 10:31.1 1
PWRC
1. (16.) Czech Republic Martin Semerád Czech Republic Michal Ernst Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX 3:46:59.8 0.0 25
2. (19.) Ukraine Yuriy Protasov Ukraine Adrian Aftanaziv Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X 3:52:17.1 5:17.3 18
3. (21.) Peru Nicolás Fuchs Argentina Rubén Francisco García Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX 3:53:43.9 6:44.1 15
4. (22.) Ukraine Valeriy Gorban Ukraine Evgen Leonov Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX 3:53:49.3 6:49.5 12
5. (28.) Italy Gianluca Linari Italy Paolo Gregoriani Subaru Impreza WRX STI 4:14:45.3 27:45.5 10
6. (31.) Russia Dmitry Tagirov Russia Anna Zavershinskaya Subaru Impreza WRX STI 4:21:53.4 34:53.6 8
7. (32.) Ukraine Oleksandr Saliuk, Jr. Ukraine Pavlo Cherepin Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX 4:22:52.5 35:52.7 6
8. (33.) United Arab Emirates Majed Al Shamsi United Arab Emirates Khalid Al Kedi Subaru Impreza WRX STI 4:29:52.6 42:52.8 4

Special stages

Day Stage Time Name Length Winner Time Avg. spd. Rally leader
Leg 1
(10–11 Feb) 		SS1 20:04 Karlstad Super Special Stage 1 1.90 km Sweden Per-Gunnar Andersson 1:39.7 68.61 km/h Sweden Per-Gunnar Andersson
SS2 07:58 Vargåsen 1 24.63 km Norway Mads Østberg 14:41.9 100.54 km/h Norway Mads Østberg
SS3 09:39 Likenäs 1 20.78 km Sweden Per-Gunnar Andersson 12:10.1 102.46 km/h
SS4 10:55 Løvhaugen 1 19.26 km Norway Mads Østberg 11:36.5 99.55 km/h
SS5 14:13 Vargåsen 2 24.63 km Sweden Per-Gunnar Andersson
Norway Mads Østberg 		14:05.0 104.93 km/h
SS6 15:54 Likenäs 2 20.78 km France Sébastien Ogier 11:39.5 106.94 km/h
SS7 17:10 Løvhaugen 2 19.26 km Finland Jari-Matti Latvala 10:49.7 106.72 km/h
Leg 2
(12 Feb) 		SS8 08:00 Lesjöfors 1 15.00 km France Sébastien Loeb 9:38.4 93.36 km/h
SS9 09:01 Sågen 1 14.23 km Norway Petter Solberg 7:44.0 110.41 km/h
SS10 10:06 Fredriksberg 1 18.15 km Sweden Per-Gunnar Andersson 10:55.8 99.63 km/h
SS11 11:08 Värmullsåsen 1 15.42 km Norway Petter Solberg 8:40.2 107.40 km/h Finland Mikko Hirvonen
SS12 13:26 Lesjöfors 2 15.00 km France Sébastien Loeb 9:35.3 93.86 km/h
SS13 14:27 Sågen 2 14.23 km France Sébastien Loeb 7:50.1 108.97 km/h
SS14 15:32 Fredriksberg 2 18.15 km France Sébastien Ogier 11:02.2 98.67 km/h
SS15 16:34 Värmullsåsen 2 15.42 km France Sébastien Loeb 8:45.7 105.60 km/h
SS16 20:00 Karlstad Super Special Stage 2 1.90 km Norway Petter Solberg 1:38.9 69.16 km/h
Leg 3
(13 Feb) 		SS17 07:51 Torntorp 1 19.21 km Finland Mikko Hirvonen 9:49.2 117.37 km/h
SS18 08:43 Gustavsfors 1 4.16 km Finland Mikko Hirvonen 2:22.1 105.39 km/h
SS19 09:37 Rämmen 1 22.76 km Finland Mikko Hirvonen 11:55.3 114.55 km/h
SS20 12:09 Torntorp 2 19.21 km Finland Jari-Matti Latvala 10:00.0 115.26 km/h
SS21 13:31 Rämmen 2 22.76 km Finland Jari-Matti Latvala 12:12.9 111.80 km/h
SS22 15:08 Gustavsfors 2 (Power Stage) 4.16 km France Sébastien Ogier 2:22.7 104.95 km/h

Power Stage

The first ever "Power stage", a live televised 4.16 km short stage at the end of the rally, was held near the village of Gustavsfors.

Pos Driver Time Diff. Avg. speed Points
1 France Sébastien Ogier 2:22.7 0.0 104.95 km/h 3
2 France Sébastien Loeb 2:23.0 +0.3 104.73 km/h 2
3 Finland Jari-Matti Latvala 2:23.4 +0.7 104.44 km/h 1

Standings after the rally

Drivers' Championship standings
Pos. Driver Points
1 Finland Mikko Hirvonen 25
2 Norway Mads Ostberg 18
3 Finland Jari-Matti Latvala 16
4 France Sebastien Ogier 15
5 Norway Petter Solberg 10
6 France Sébastien Loeb 10
7 Sweden Per-Gunnar Andersson 6
8 Finland Kimi Räikkönen 4
9 United Kingdom Matthew Wilson 2
10 United Arab Emirates Khalid Al-Qassimi 1
Manufacturers' Championship standings
Pos. Manufacturer Points
1 United Kingdom BP Ford WRT 40
2 France Citroën WRT 22
3 United Kingdom Stobart Ford 18
4 Finland Ice 1 Racing 8
5 United Arab Emirates Team Abu Dhabi 6
6 Netherlands FERM Power Tools WRT 4
7 United States Monster WRT 2

References

  1. ^ a b "Itineraries" (PDF). World Rally Championship. Rally Sweden; International Sportsworld Communicators. 2 February 2011. pp. 2–4. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 September 2012. Retrieved 10 February 2011.
  2. ^ a b "Rally Sweden 2011". World Rally Championship. International Sportsworld Communicators. 4 February 2011. Retrieved 10 February 2011.
  3. ^ a b "Hirvonen lands thrilling victory". World Rally Championship. International Sportsworld Communicators. 13 February 2011. Archived from the original on 18 February 2011. Retrieved 13 February 2011.
  4. ^ Evans, David (13 February 2011). "Solberg's co-driver in surprise debut". Autosport. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 13 February 2011.
  5. ^ "Co-driver Patterson takes the wheel in Sweden". World Rally Championship. International Sportsworld Communicators. 13 February 2011. Retrieved 13 February 2011.
  6. ^ "Maiden PWRC win for Semerad". World Rally Championship. International Sportsworld Communicators. 13 February 2011. Retrieved 13 February 2011.

External links

  • Results at eWRC.com
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