The 2007 Rally Ireland, the first Rally Ireland and fifteenth round of the 2007 World Rally Championship, was a motor rally run from 15 to 18 November. It took place over eight counties on both sides of the border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Event started in Stormont, Belfast and finished in Mullaghmore, County Sligo.

2007 Rally Ireland
1st Rally Ireland
Round 15 of the 2007 World Rally Championship
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Benbulbin Mountain, in County Sligo, Ireland.
Host countryIreland / Northern Ireland
Rally baseSligo, County Sligo, Republic of Ireland
Dates runNovember 15 – 18 2007
Stages20 (328.43 km; 204.08 miles)
Stage surfaceTarmac
Overall distance1,196.25 km (743.32 miles)[1]
Statistics
Crews84 at start, 66 at finish
Overall results
Overall winnerFrance Sébastien Loeb
France Citroën Total World Rally Team
Marcus Grönholm retired.

Report

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The rally began with the first special stage in front of Stormont Castle in Belfast, which Marcus Grönholm won on Thursday evening. The next day, in the fourth special stage, Grönholm hit a wall hard, and he and co-driver Timo Rautiainen were taken to hospital as a precaution. Both remained unhurt, but withdrew from the rally.

Citroën driver Sébastien Loeb took a step towards his fourth Drivers' World Championship title, taking the lead again in the drivers' standings. His advantage over his rival Grönholm, who retired on Friday after a serious accident, had been six points before the last round of the world championship. Mikko Hirvonen finished fourth, securing the second manufacturers' world championship title in a row for the Ford team.

Jari-Matti Latvala was third, taking his first WRC podium. Latvala edged out Hirvonen from third place on Friday. He was able to hold this position to the finish despite briefly going off the road on Saturday, losing a little time.

Results

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Pos. Driver Co-driver Car Time Difference Points
WRC
1.   Sébastien Loeb   Daniel Elena Citroën C4 WRC 3:01:39.2 0.0 10
2.   Dani Sordo   Marc Martí Citroën C4 WRC 3:02:32.6 53.4 8
3.   Jari-Matti Latvala   Miikka Anttila Ford Focus RS WRC 06 3:03:27.4 1:48.2 6
4.   Mikko Hirvonen   Jarmo Lehtinen Ford Focus RS WRC 07 3:03:56.9 2:17.7 5
5.   Petter Solberg   Phil Mills Subaru Impreza WRC 07 3:04:35.0 2:55.8 4
6.   Guy Wilks   Phil Pugh Subaru Impreza WRC 3:07:37.1 5:57.9 3
7.   Matthew Wilson   Michael Orr Ford Focus RS WRC 06 3:11:44.1 10:04.9 2
8.   Gareth McHale   Allan Harryman Ford Focus RS WRC 06 3:12:47.5 11:08.3 1
PCWRC
1. (10.)   Niall McShea   Marshall Clarke Subaru Impreza 3:18:11.3 0.0 10
2. (11.)   Gabriel Pozzo   Daniel Stillo Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 3:18:55.4 44.1 8
3. (17.)   Nasser Al-Attiyah   Chris Patterson Subaru Impreza C 07 3:22:42.4 4:31.1 6
4. (18.)   Simone Campedelli   Danilo Fappani Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 3:24:47.2 6:35.9 5
5. (20.)   Štěpán Vojtěch   Michal Ernst Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 3:26:45.4 8:34.1 4
6. (21.)   Fumio Nutahara   Daniel Barritt Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 3:27:32.8 9:21.5 3
7. (22.)   Colm Murphy   Ger Loughrey Subaru Impreza 3:27:34.6 9:23.3 2
8. (23.)   Philip Morrow   David Senior Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 3:28:46.9 10:35.6 1

Retirements

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Special Stages

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All dates and times are GMT (UTC).

Leg Stage Time Name Length Winner Time Avg. spd. Rally leader
1
(15/16 Nov)
SSS1 19:00 (15-Nov)   Stormont 1.82 km   M. Grönholm 1:30.8 72.16 km/h   M. Grönholm
SS2 08:05 (16-Nov)   Geevagh 1 11.47 km   S. Loeb 6:05.7 112.92 km/h   S. Loeb
SS3 08:33   Arigna 1 27.89 km   D. Sordo 15:44.0 106.36 km/h
SS4 09:24   Lough Gill 1 20.56 km   D. Sordo 10:54.7 113.05 km/h   D. Sordo
SS5 11:29   Geevagh 2 11.47 km   S. Loeb 6:22.0 108.09 km/h   S. Loeb
SS6 11:57   Arigna 2 27.89 km   S. Loeb 16:09.6 103.55 km/h
SS7 12:48   Lough Gill 2 20.56 km   D. Sordo 10:55.5 112.92 km/h
SS8 15:01   Glenboy 22.25 km   S. Loeb 11:56.0 111.87 km/h
SS9 15:54   Bencroy 15.43 km   D. Sordo 8:21.3 110.81 km/h
SS10 16:19   Drumshanbo 8.65 km   S. Loeb 5:00.3 103.70 km/h
2
(17 Nov)
SS11 8:13   Sloughan Glen 1 20.95 km   S. Loeb 11:37.7 108.10 km/h
SS12 09:08   Ballinamallard 1 17.95 km   S. Loeb 9:35.9 112.21 km/h
SS13 09:51   Tempo 1 13.46 km   S. Loeb 7:31.6 107.30 km/h
SS14 14:04   Sloughan Glen 2 20.95 km   C. Atkinson 11:25.7 109.99 km/h
SS15 14:59   Ballinamallard 2 17.95 km   S. Loeb 9:30.7 113.23 km/h
SS16 15:42   Tempo 2 13.46 km   J-M. Latvala 7:28.9 107.94 km/h
3
(18 Nov)
SS17 09:03   Murley 24.70 km   M. Hirvonen 13:19.9 111.16 km/h
SS18 09:51   Fardross 14.77 km   M. Hirvonen 8:49.8 100.36 km/h
SS19 11:39   Donegal Bay 14.06 km   J-M. Latvala 7:00.9 120.26 km/h
SS20 13:08   Mullaghmore 2.38 km   P. Solberg 1:16.9 111.42 km/h

Championship standings after the event

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Drivers' championship

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Pos Driver MON
 
SWE
 
NOR
 
MEX
 
POR
 
ARG
 
ITA
 
GRC
 
FIN
 
GER
 
NZL
 
ESP
 
FRA
 
JPN
 
IRL
 
GBR
 
 Pts 
1   Sébastien Loeb 1 2 14 1 1 1 Ret 2 3 1 2 1 1 Ret 1 110
2   Marcus Grönholm 3 1 2 2 4 2 1 1 1 4 1 3 2 Ret Ret 104
3   Mikko Hirvonen 5 3 1 3 5 3 2 4 2 3 3 4 13 1 4 89
4   Dani Sordo 2 12 25 4 3 6 3 24 Ret Ret 6 2 3 2 2 61
5   Petter Solberg 6 Ret 4 Ret 2 Ret 5 3 Ret 6 7 6 5 Ret 5 42
6   Henning Solberg 14 4 3 9 9 5 4 5 5 14 9 10 9 3 16 34
7   Jari-Matti Latvala Ret Ret 5 7 8 4 9 12 Ret 8 5 7 4 26 3 30
8   Chris Atkinson 4 8 19 5 Ret 7 10 6 4 15 4 8 6 Ret 42 29
9   François Duval Ret 2 5 Ret 12
  Manfred Stohl 10 7 12 6 10 8 7 8 Ret Ret 12 Ret 14 6 Ret 12
11   Jan Kopecký 8 10 8 22 Ret 7 Ret 5 Ret 7 10
  Toni Gardemeister 7 6 Ret DSQ 6 7 10
13   Daniel Carlsson 5 7 6 Ret 9
14   Matthew Wilson 12 Ret 26 8 12 30 12 10 10 9 10 11 Ret 4 7 8
15   Gigi Galli 13 6 7 5
16   Luís Pérez Companc 15 19 DNS 28 Ret 11 11 23 Ret 5 4
  Xavier Pons 25 Ret 16 6 18 Ret 9 8 36 Ret 4
18   Guy Wilks Ret Ret 9 9 10 6 3
  Urmo Aava 28 15 13 14 7 12 8 18 Ret 18 3
20   Federico Villagra DNS 9 11 32 14 11 13 7 2
21   Juho Hänninen DSQ 17 11 8 Ret Ret 19 23 24 1
  Mads Østberg 9 37 Ret Ret 8 1
  Katsuhiko Taguchi 8 1
  Gareth MacHale 11 Ret 13 Ret 8 1
Pos Driver MON
 
SWE
 
NOR
 
MEX
 
POR
 
ARG
 
ITA
 
GRC
 
FIN
 
GER
 
NZL
 
ESP
 
FRA
 
JPN
 
IRL
 
GBR
 
 Pts 
Key
Colour Result
Gold Winner
Silver 2nd place
Bronze 3rd place
Green Points finish
Blue Non-points finish
Non-classified finish (NC)
Purple Did not finish (Ret)
Black Excluded (EX)
Disqualified (DSQ)
White Did not start (DNS)
Cancelled (C)
Blank Withdrew entry from
the event (WD)

Manufacturers' championship

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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 - 194
2 Citroën Total World Rally Team 18 9 1 15 16 13 6 8 6 10 11 18 16 8 18 - 173
3 Stobart VK M-Sport Ford 1 5 10 3 2 9 7 4 4 5 5 2 7 7 9 - 80
4 Subaru World Rally Team 8 2 5 4 8 2 5 9 5 5 7 4 7 2 6 - 79
5 OMV Kronos 2 7 5 3 4 1 3 2 0 8 0 4 0 4 0 - 43
6 Munchi's Ford World Rally Team 0 0 0 0 1 5 0 0 8 - 14

References

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  1. ^ Wilkins, Robert (2007-11-13). "Preview: 2007 Rally Ireland". Crash.net. Archived from the original on 2008-11-23.
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