2007 Rally Japan - Final

Rally Japan Final Leaderboard

1. M Hirvonen/J Lehtinen FIN Ford Focus RS 3hr

23min 57.6sec

2. D Sordo/M Marti E Citroen C4

3hr 24min 35.0sec

3. H Solberg/C Menkerud N Ford Focus RS 3hr

28min 31.3sec

4. M Wilson/M Orr GB Ford Focus RS 3hr

30min 35.5sec

5. L Perez Companc/J-M Volta ARG Ford Focus RS 3hr 30min

38.0sec

6. M Stohl/I Minor A Citroen Xsara

3hr 31min 01.9sec

7. F Villagra/J-L Diaz ARG Ford Focus RS 3hr 35min

12.9sec

8. K Taguchi/M Stacey J Mitsubishi Lancer 3hr

44min 37.7sec

9. G Pozzo/D Stillo ARG Mitsubishi Lancer

3hr 45min 50.6sec

10 A Araujo/M Ramalho P Mitsubishi Lancer 3hr

48min 11.1sec

1. BP-Ford

2. Citroen Total

3. Subaru

4. OMV Kronos Citroen

5. Stobart M-Sport Ford

6. Munchis Ford

1. BP-Ford

BP-Ford World Rally Team drivers Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen today won Rally Japan to claim their second victory of the season and the team's seventh success. The Finns ended a dramatic three-day encounter with a 37.4sec advantage in their Ford Focus RS World Rally Car. The result secured at least third place for Hirvonen in the FIA World Rally Championship drivers' standings with two of the 16 rounds remaining.

Marcus Grönholm/Timo Rautiainen: Retired (accident)

Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen: "When my team-mate (Marcus Grönholm) retired on Friday, the pressure was on me to score points to help the team's championship fight and to help Marcus in the drivers' series. The only way I could do that was to fight with Loeb and try to beat him, which is what happened. It keeps the team in a strong position for the manufacturers'

title and keeps Marcus in front also,"

2. Citroen Total

The third and final leg of the Rally Japan saw Dani Sordo and Marc Martí successfully steer their Citroën C4 WRC to second place at the finish in Obihiro this afternoon. Meanwhile, Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena profited from the SupeRally ruling to re-join the fourteenth round of the championship with their C4 with a view to preparing for early December's Wales Rally GB.

Sebastien Loeb/Daniel Elena: "Along with the Citroën Sport technical staff, we decided to profit from the last day to work on the set-up of our C4 WRC because the conditions were similar to what we can expect in Wales. Daniel and I have already put yesterday's mistake behind us. We are fully aware of the challenge that awaits us if we want to defend our title. The fight is by no means over and we give it our very best shot on the last two rounds of the season."

Dani Sordo/Marc Marti: "We really had to take care over today's stages which were again extremely slippery. The combination of fast roads and frequently changing grip meant that we had to be on our toes throughout. I am glad to have finished second and the weekend has brought me a lot of extra experience on this type of terrain. That could well come in useful in the future. We also did some good set-up for the last round of the year in Wales."

3. Subaru

After the final day of competition of Rally Japan, the two remaining Subaru World Rally Team cars of Petter Solberg / Phil Mills and Xevi Pons / Xevi Amigo finished 17th and 36th respectively. Over the final 97km, both crews put on a good show in front of Subaru's home crowd, and made the best of the opportunity to test in conditions similar to those expected on next month's Wales Rally GB.

Petter Solberg/Phil Mills: "We did our best, but this is certainly not the result we came here for. Today I did all I could, but we're still lacking the grip to go any faster. There's not much more I can say really. We have a lot of work to do before Rally GB."

Chris Atkinson/Stephane Prevot: Retired on leg one.

Xavier Pons/Xavier Amigo: "Okay, this weekend was not easy. It was my first time here in Japan, and it's a difficult rally, but we've had quite a lot of problems too. For today the car felt okay, but we have struggled with the handling balance for much of the weekend, sometimes understeer, sometimes oversteer. Today we've tested a bit for Rally GB, but the feeling isn't quite there yet."

4. OMV Kronos Citroen

The OMV Kronos Citroen World Rally Team has reached sixth overall place at the "Rally Japan". Up to the last kilometre the OMV pair Stohl/Minor tried to catch up with Ford drivers Wilson and Perez Companc. But in the end the 40-seconds-penalty from Saturday made this a close but impossible mission.

Manfred Stohl was nevertheless satisfied, especially since he got a motivation boost for the remaining two rallies in Ireland and Wales.

Manfred Stohl/Ilka Minor: "It was just the 40-seconds-penalty that cost us a better place. But after such a season one is happy about each WRC-point. And this rally additionally was extremely tough given the adverse road conditions. In any case, we're leaving Japan with a very good feeling."

5. Stobart M-Sport Ford

Both Henning Solberg/Cato Menkerud and Matthew Wilson/Michael Orr have scored their best ever results in the FIA World Rally Championship, helping their Stobart VK M-Sport Ford rally team strike back to within two points of Subaru in the Manufacturers' Championship, at this weekend's Rally Japan.

Henning Solberg/Cato Menkerud: "I am really delighted with this rally and it is an incredible result to come here for my first time and finish on the podium; we are both so happy. I had a good feeling with the car right from the start and it was working really well on the gravel stages. It wasn't an easy rally and I had to take some risks on the first day to get fast times on stages that I didn't know. I tried to push hard when I could but also not to make any mistakes and it was a balance. To finish third here is more than I could have hoped for and we have collected a high number of points for both the driver's championship and also for the Stobart team."

Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila: Friday was a fantastic start to the rally for me and it was an incredible feeling to again be leading a WRC event. The car was amazing, I had a really good feeling with it and my confidence was high. On Saturday everything was going well until we went off the road on stage 13 after the problem with the gear change. I was very disappointed and this made things difficult to restart again today. I found it very hard to concentrate today and we had a spin on the first stage; it was difficult to keep my mind on the job. One consolation is that we secured the final manufacturer point for the Stobart team so that will help with the championship."

Matthew Wilson/Michael Orr: "What an unbelievable result, it really is a dream come true for me. If I was told before the rally that I was going to finish in fourth, I would never have believed it. It was a very difficult rally and this is shown by the fact that the two championship leaders both made mistakes during the rally; that's a pretty rare situation. The conditions were extremely difficult, especially on Saturday, and it was fantastic to complete the event unscathed and without making any mistakes.

This has been my best ever finish and I'm happy with my speed during the rally. I learnt a lot being in a battle and it's great to have come out on top when the pressure was on."

6. Munchis Ford

No information available

7. Skoda Czech Rally Team

CRT-Skoda are not participating in Rally Japan. Please click the link above for all the latest Skoda news.

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Next Event

Rally Ireland, the next event of the 2007 WRC calendar, is a new addition to the Championship, and the fifth asphalt rally of the year. The sealed surface is unusually bumpy, quite unlike any other asphalt event, and is very demanding of cars, tyres and drivers alike. Running from 16 - 18 November, and based in Sligo city, the rally commences with a Superspecial Stage at the Parliament buildings in Belfast and takes in stages throughout the north-west of the island.