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2007 Wales Rally GB

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2007 Rally GB
63rd Wales Rally of Great Britain
Round 16 of the 2007 World Rally Championship
← Previous event
Rally winner Mikko Hirvonen.
Host country United Kingdom
Rally baseCardiff, Wales
Dates runNovember 30 – December 2, 2007
Stages17 (359.54 km; 223.41 miles)
Stage surfaceGravel
Statistics
Crews108 at start, 83 at finish
Overall results
Overall winnerFinland Mikko Hirvonen
United Kingdom BP Ford World Rally Team

The 2007 Wales Rally GB (formally known as 63rd Wales Rally of Great Britain) was the 16th round of the 2007 World Rally Championship. The race was held over three days between 30 November and 2 December 2007.

Report

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Sébastien Loeb became world champion for the fourth time in a row. He had thus equaled Tommi Mäkinen's record. Third place at the season finale in Wales was enough for the Citroën driver. Loeb started the last world championship race of the season six points ahead of his rival Marcus Grönholm. Grönholm was able to make up two points with second place, and in the end Loeb had a four-point lead in the drivers' standings.

Rally won Grönholm teammate Mikko Hirvonen. He took the lead with four special stage best times on Friday. Hirvonen was 15.2 seconds clear of second-placed Gronholm to secure his fourth WRC win of his career.

Subaru driver Petter Solberg came fourth behind the leading trio. He was able to conclude such a season with moderate success in a reasonably forgiving manner. Fourth place and his teammate Chris Atkinson's seventh place secured Subaru third place in the Manufacturers' Championship ahead of the Stobart team. Days two and three were dominated by young M-Sport driver Jari-Matti Latvala, who had already been confirmed as a driver for Ford for next year. However, since he had lost almost ten minutes on the first day due to a broken windshield wiper, he was only able to finish tenth.

Results

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Pos. Driver Co-driver Car Time Difference Points
WRC
1. Finland Mikko Hirvonen Finland Jarmo Lehtinen Ford Focus RS WRC 07 3:22:50.9 0.0 10
2. Finland Marcus Grönholm Finland Timo Rautiainen Ford Focus RS WRC 07 3:23:06.1 15.2 8
3. France Sébastien Loeb Monaco Daniel Elena Citroën C4 WRC 3:24:23.9 1:33.0 6
4. Norway Petter Solberg United Kingdom Phil Mills Subaru Impreza WRC2007 3:25:48.2 2:57.3 5
5. Spain Dani Sordo Spain Marc Marti Citroën C4 WRC 3:26:05.2 3:14.3 4
6. United Kingdom Matthew Wilson Republic of Ireland Michael Orr Ford Focus WRC 06 3:30:23.8 7:32.9 3
7. Australia Chris Atkinson Belgium Stéphane Prévot Subaru Impreza WRC2007 3:31:20.4 8:29.5 2
8. Austria Manfred Stohl Austria Ilka Minor Citroën Xsara WRC 3:31:45.5 8:54.6 1
PCWRC
1. (13.) United Kingdom Guy Wilks United Kingdom Phil Pugh Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 3:44:23.7 0.0 10
2. (14.) Finland Juho Hänninen Finland Mikko Markkula Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 3:44:57.9 34.2 8
3. (16.) United Kingdom Mark Higgins United Kingdom Scott Martin Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 3:46:10.2 1:46.5 6
4. (17.) Italy Alessandro Bettega Italy Simone Scattolin Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 3:49:47.3 5:23.6 5
5. (19.) United Kingdom David Higgins United Kingdom Ieuan Thomas Subaru Impreza WRX STi 3:51:32.8 7:09.1 4
6. (21.) San Marino Mirco Baldacci Italy Giovanni Agnese Subaru Impreza WRX STi 3:53:12.8 8:49.1 3
7. (23.) Portugal Armindo Araújo Portugal Miguel Ramalho Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 4:00:58.9 16:35.2 2
8. (23.) Czech Republic Štěpán Vojtěch Czech Republic Michal Ernst Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 4:02:31.4 18:07.7 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
(30 Nov)
SS1 09:53 Port Talbot 1 17.41 km Finland M. Hirvonen 9:15.2 112.9 km/h Finland M. Hirvonen
SS2 10:41 Resolfen 1 25.08 km Finland M. Hirvonen 12:50.6 117.2 km/h
SS3 11:39 Rheola 1 27.91 km Finland M. Hirvonen 15:55.7 105.1 km/h
SS4 14:10 Port Talbot 2 17.41 km Finland M. Hirvonen 9:17.2 112 km/h
SS5 14:58 Resolfen 2 25.08 km France S. Loeb
Finland M. Grönholm
13:20.9 112.7 km/h
SS6 16:23 Rheola 2 27.91 km Finland J. Latvala 16:39.3 100.5 km/h
2
(1 Dec)
SS7 09:38 Crychan 1 19.56 km Finland J. Latvala 10:31.2 111.6 km/h
SS8 10:21 Epynt 1 13.76 km Finland J. Latvala 7:33.2 109.3 km/h
SS9 10:54 Halfway 1 18.37 km Finland J. Latvala 10:28.3 105.3 km/h
SS10 14:47 Crychan 2 19.56 km Finland J. Latvala 10:39.8 110.1 km/h
SS11 15:30 Epynt 2 13.76 km Finland J. Latvala 7:40.1 107.7 km/h
SS12 16:29 Halfway 2 18.37 km Finland J. Latvala 10:39.6 103.4 km/h
SS13 19:00 Cardiff 1.10 km Finland M. Grönholm 1:03.8 62.1 km/h
3
(2 Dec)
SS14 07:46 Brechfa 1 28.89 km Finland J. Latvala
Finland M. Hirvonen
16:14.2 106.8 km/h
SS15 08:33 Trawscoed 1 28.24 km Finland J. Latvala 16:39.7 101.7 km/h
SS16 12:09 Brechfa 2 28.89 km Finland J. Latvala 16:11.6 107.0 km/h
SS17 12:56 Trawscoed 2 28.24 km Finland J. Latvala 16:51.0 100.6 km/h

Final championship standings

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Drivers' championship

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Pos Driver MON
Monaco
SWE
Sweden
NOR
Norway
MEX
Mexico
POR
Portugal
ARG
Argentina
ITA
Italy
GRC
Greece
FIN
Finland
GER
Germany
NZL
New Zealand
ESP
Spain
FRA
France
JPN
Japan
IRL
Republic of Ireland
GBR
United Kingdom
 Pts 
1 France Sébastien Loeb 1 2 14 1 1 1 Ret 2 3 1 2 1 1 Ret 1 3 116
2 Finland Marcus Grönholm 3 1 2 2 4 2 1 1 1 4 1 3 2 Ret Ret 2 112
3 Finland Mikko Hirvonen 5 3 1 3 5 3 2 4 2 3 3 4 13 1 4 1 99
4 Spain Dani Sordo 2 12 25 4 3 6 3 24 Ret Ret 6 2 3 2 2 5 65
5 Norway Petter Solberg 6 Ret 4 Ret 2 Ret 5 3 Ret 6 7 6 5 Ret 5 4 47
6 Norway Henning Solberg 14 4 3 9 9 5 4 5 5 13 9 10 9 3 16 15 34
7 Australia Chris Atkinson 4 8 19 5 Ret 7 10 6 4 15 4 8 6 Ret 42 7 31
8 Finland Jari-Matti Latvala Ret Ret 5 7 8 4 9 12 Ret 8 5 7 4 26 3 10 30
9 Austria Manfred Stohl 10 7 12 6 10 8 7 8 Ret Ret 12 Ret 14 6 Ret 8 13
10 Belgium François Duval Ret 2 5 Ret 12
11 United Kingdom Matthew Wilson 12 Ret 26 8 12 30 12 10 10 9 10 11 Ret 4 7 6 11
12 Czech Republic Jan Kopecký 8 10 8 22 Ret 7 Ret 5 Ret 7 12 10
Finland Toni Gardemeister 7 6 Ret DSQ 6 7 10
14 Sweden Daniel Carlsson 5 7 6 Ret 9
15 Italy Gigi Galli 13 6 7 5
16 Argentina Luís Pérez Companc 15 19 DNS 28 Ret 11 11 23 Ret 5 Ret 4
Spain Xavier Pons 25 Ret 16 6 18 Ret 9 8 36 Ret 9 4
18 United Kingdom Guy Wilks Ret Ret 9 9 10 6 13 3
Estonia Urmo Aava 28 15 13 14 7 12 8 18 Ret 18 3
20 Argentina Federico Villagra DNS 9 11 32 14 11 13 7 18 2
21 Finland Juho Hänninen DSQ 17 11 8 Ret Ret 19 23 24 1
Norway Mads Østberg 9 37 Ret Ret 8 11 1
Japan Katsuhiko Taguchi 8 1
Republic of Ireland Gareth MacHale 11 Ret 13 Ret 8 1
Pos Driver MON
Monaco
SWE
Sweden
NOR
Norway
MEX
Mexico
POR
Portugal
ARG
Argentina
ITA
Italy
GRC
Greece
FIN
Finland
GER
Germany
NZL
New Zealand
ESP
Spain
FRA
France
JPN
Japan
IRL
Republic of Ireland
GBR
United Kingdom
 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
Monaco
SWE
Sweden
NOR
Norway
MEX
Mexico
POR
Portugal
ARG
Argentina
ITA
Italy
GRC
Greece
FIN
Finland
GER
Germany
NZL
New Zealand
ESP
Spain
FRA
France
JPN
Japan
IRL
Republic of Ireland
GBR
United Kingdom
1 BP Ford World Rally Team 10 16 18 14 9 14 18 15 18 11 16 11 9 10 5 18 212
2 Citroën Total World Rally Team 18 9 1 15 16 13 6 8 6 10 11 18 16 8 18 10 183
3 Subaru World Rally Team 8 2 5 4 8 2 5 9 5 5 7 4 7 2 6 8 87
4 Stobart VK M-Sport Ford 1 5 10 3 2 9 7 4 4 5 5 2 7 7 9 1 81
5 OMV Kronos 2 7 5 3 4 1 3 2 0 8 0 4 0 4 0 2 45
6 Munchi's Ford World Rally Team 0 0 0 0 1 5 0 0 8 0 14
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