2007 Rally Japan

Template:Short description The 2007 Rally Japan was the 14th round of the 2007 World Rally Championship. It took place between 26 and 28 October 2007.

Report

Ford Mikko Hirvonen took the lead on Friday afternoon after overtaking Jari-Matti Latvala. Hirvonen then led the rally to the end. After team-mate Marcus Grönholm had already retired on Friday morning, the task was to keep Sébastien Loeb behind and thereby take points from him in the Drivers' World Championship. Hirvonen did that with success, he put the three-time world champion under pressure and fought an exciting battle for the top with him.

The situation changed on Saturday afternoon. Loeb was also eliminated after his co-driver Daniel Elena misread a pace note. Third-placed Latvala, who had led the rally at the start, also had to retire after an accident. Both later started again under the Rallye 2 regulations. So Hirvonen had a new pursuer Daniel Sordo. However, Hirvonen's lead was already large enough for him to control the rally. In the end, Hirvonen had a 37.4 second lead over Sordo. Loeb won four special stages on Sunday, after which he finally had to retire due to oil pressure problems.

Results

Pos.	Driver	Co-driver	Car	Time	Difference	Points
WRC
1.	Template:Flagicon Mikko Hirvonen	Template:Flagicon Jarmo Lehtinen	Ford Focus RS WRC 07	3:23:57.6	0.0	10
2.	Template:Flagicon Daniel Sordo	Template:Flagicon Marc Marti	Citroën C4 WRC	3:24:35.0	37.4	8
3.	Template:Flagicon Henning Solberg	Template:Flagicon Cato Menkerud	Ford Focus RS WRC 06	3:28:31.3	4:33.7	6
4.	Template:Flagicon Matthew Wilson	Template:Flagicon Michael Orr	Ford Focus RS WRC 06	3:30:35.5	6:37.9	5
5.	Template:Flagicon Luís Pérez Companc	Template:Flagicon Jose Maria Volta	Ford Focus RS WRC 06	3:30:38.0	6:40.4	4
6.	Template:Flagicon Manfred Stohl	Template:Flagicon Ilka Minor	Citroën Xsara WRC	3:31:01.9	7:04.3	3
7.	Template:Flagicon Federico Villagra	Template:Flagicon José Luis Díaz	Ford Focus RS WRC 06	3:35:12.9	11:15.3	2
8.	Template:Flagicon Katsuhiko Taguchi	Template:Flagicon Mark Stacey	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9	3:44:37.7	20:40.1	1
PWRC
1. (9.)	Template:Flagicon Gabriel Pozzo	Template:Flagicon Daniel Stillo	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9	3:45:50.6	0.0	10
2. (11.)	Template:Flagicon Leszek Kuzaj	Template:Flagicon Craig Parry	Subaru Impreza WRX STI	3:48:30.7	2:40.1	8
3. (12.)	Template:Flagicon Takuma Kamada	Template:Flagicon Naoki Kase	Subaru Impreza WRX STI	3:48:39.0	2:48.4	6
4. (17.)	Template:Flagicon Yevgeni Vertunov	Template:Flagicon Georgi Troshkin	Subaru Impreza WRX STI	3:50:41.7	4:51.1	5
5. (19.)	Template:Flagicon Mark Higgins	Template:Flagicon Scott Martin	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9	3:51:23.3	5:32.7	4
6. (21.)	Template:Flagicon Patrik Flodin	Template:Flagicon Maria Andersson	Subaru Impreza WRX STI	3:58:39.6	12:49.0	3
7. (23.)	Template:Flagicon Juho Hänninen	Template:Flagicon Mikko Markkula	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9	4:03:12.4	17:21.8	2
8. (10.)	Template:Flagicon Yoshio Ikemachi	Template:Flagicon Sadatoshi Ando	Subaru Impreza WRX STI	4:03:48.7	17:58.1	1

Retirements

• Template:Flagicon Marcus Grönholm - went off the road (SS4);
• Template:Flagicon Chris Atkinson - crashed his car (SS6);
• Template:Flagicon Fumio Nutahara - mechanical (SS14);
• Template:Flagicon Sébastien Loeb - mechanical (SS26);
• Template:Flagicon Armindo Araujo - excluded after post-rally technical check;

Special Stages

All dates and times are JST (UTC+9).

Leg	Stage	Time	Name	Length	Winner	Time	Avg. spd.	Rally leader
1 (26 Oct)	SS1	07:33	Pawse Kamuy reverse 1	9.03 km	Template:Flagicon J. Latvala	4:48.9	112.5 km/h	Template:Flagicon J. Latvala
	SS2	08:13	Cup Kamuy 1	13.95 km	Template:Flagicon M. Grönholm	8:29.7	98.5 km/h
	SS3	08:36	Kimun Kamuy 1	26.03 km	Template:Flagicon S. Loeb	13:56.0	112.1 km/h	Template:Flagicon M. Grönholm
	SS4	09:29	Rikubetsu 1	2.73 km	Template:Flagicon D. Sordo	2:05.4	78.4 km/h	Template:Flagicon J. Latvala
	SS5	13:35	Pawse Kamuy reverse 2	9.03 km	Template:Flagicon J. Latvala	4:39.1	116.5 km/h
	SS6	14:15	Cup Kamuy	13.95 km	Template:Flagicon M. Hirvonen	8:09.0	102.7 km/h	Template:Flagicon M. Hirvonen
	SS7	14:38	Kimun Kamuy 2	26.03 km	Template:Flagicon M. Hirvonen	13:26.7	116.2 km/h
	SS8	15:31	Rikubetsu 2	2.73 km	Template:Flagicon D. Sordo	2:04.2	79.1 km/h
	SS9	17:44	Obihiro 1	1.35 km	Template:Flagicon A. Araujo	1:18.5	61.9 km/h
	SS10	17:54	Obihiro 2	1.35 km	Template:Flagicon X. Pons	1:16.8	63.3 km/h
2 (27 Oct)	SS11	07:13	Rikubetsu 3	2.73 km	Template:Flagicon S. Loeb	2:06.8	77.5 km/h
	SS12	07:44	Puray 1	34.96 km	Template:Flagicon M. Hirvonen	19:28.3	107.7 km/h
	SS13	08:23	Niueo 1	20.75 km	Template:Flagicon D. Sordo	12:31.3	99.4 km/h
	SS14	09:01	Sipirkakim 1	22.43 km	Template:Flagicon P. Solberg	12:13.1	110.1 km/h
	SS15	13:44	Rikubetsu 4	2.73 km	Template:Flagicon P. Solberg	2:05.6	78.2 km/h
	SS16	14:15	Puray 2	34.96 km	Template:Flagicon P. Solberg	19:01.0	110.3 km/h
	SS17	14:54	Niueo 2	20.75 km	Template:Flagicon D. Sordo	12:17.5	101.3 km/h
	SS18	15:47	Sipirkakim Short	4.67 km	Template:Flagicon P. Solberg	2:42.4	103.5 km/h
	SS19	17:57	Obihiro 3	1.35 km	Template:Flagicon F. Villagra	1:21.4	59.7 km/h
	SS20	18:07	Obihiro 4	1.35 km	Template:Flagicon F. Villagra	1:22.0	59.3 km/h
3 (28 Oct)	SS21	07:06	Rera Kamuy 1	8.76 km	Template:Flagicon S. Loeb	5:10.1	101.7 km/h
	SS22	07:29	Panke Nikorpet 1	17.04 km	Template:Flagicon D. Sordo	9:35.0	106.7 km/h
	SS23	08:09	Penke 1	22.19 km	Template:Flagicon S. Loeb	13:23.8	99.4 km/h
	SS24	11:35	Rera Kamuy 2	8.76 km	Template:Flagicon S. Loeb	5:02.5	104.3 km/h
	SS25	11:58	Panke Nikorpet 2	17.04 km	Template:Flagicon S. Loeb	9:17.9	110.0 km/h
	SS26	12:38	Penke 2	22.19 km	Template:Flagicon D. Sordo	13:05.4	101.7 km/h
	SS27	14:33	Obihiro 5	1.35 km	Template:Flagicon F. Villagra	1:23.6	58.1 km/h

Championship standings after the event

Drivers' championship

Pos Driver MON Template:Flagicon SWE Template:Flagicon NOR Template:Flagicon MEX Template:Flagicon POR Template:Flagicon ARG Template:Flagicon ITA Template:Flagicon GRC Template:Flagicon FIN Template:Flagicon GER Template:Flagicon NZL Template:Flagicon ESP Template:Flagicon FRA Template:Flagicon JPN Template:Flagicon IRL Template:Flagicon GBR Template:Flagicon  Pts  1 Template:Flagicon Marcus Grönholm 3 1 2 2 4 2 1 1 1 4 1 3 2 Ret 104 2 Template:Flagicon Sébastien Loeb 1 2 14 1 1 1 Ret 2 3 1 2 1 1 Ret 100 3 Template:Flagicon Mikko Hirvonen 5 3 1 3 5 3 2 4 2 3 3 4 13 1 84 4 Template:Flagicon Dani Sordo 2 12 25 4 3 6 3 24 Ret Ret 6 2 3 2 53 5 Template:Flagicon Petter Solberg 6 Ret 4 Ret 2 Ret 5 3 Ret 6 7 6 5 Ret 38 6 Template:Flagicon Henning Solberg 14 4 3 9 9 5 4 5 5 14 9 10 9 3 34 7 Template:Flagicon Chris Atkinson 4 8 19 5 Ret 7 10 6 4 15 4 8 6 Ret 29 8 Template:Flagicon Jari-Matti Latvala Ret Ret 5 7 8 4 9 12 Ret 8 5 7 4 26 24 9 Template:Flagicon François Duval Ret 2 5 Ret 12 Template:Flagicon Manfred Stohl 10 7 12 6 10 8 7 8 Ret Ret 12 Ret 14 6 12 11 Template:Flagicon Jan Kopecký 8 10 8 22 Ret 7 Ret 5 Ret 7 10 Template:Flagicon Toni Gardemeister 7 6 Ret DSQ 6 7 10 13 Template:Flagicon Daniel Carlsson 5 7 6 Ret 9 14 Template:Flagicon Matthew Wilson 12 Ret 26 8 12 30 12 10 10 9 10 11 Ret 4 6 15 Template:Flagicon Gigi Galli 13 6 7 5 16 Template:Flagicon Luís Pérez Companc 15 19 DNS 28 Ret 11 11 23 Ret 5 4 Template:Flagicon Xavier Pons 25 Ret 16 6 18 Ret 9 8 36 4 18 Template:Flagicon Urmo Aava 28 15 13 14 7 12 8 18 Ret 18 3 19 Template:Flagicon Federico Villagra DNS 9 11 32 14 11 13 7 2 20 Template:Flagicon Juho Hänninen DSQ 17 11 8 Ret Ret 19 23 24 1 Template:Flagicon Mads Østberg 9 37 Ret Ret 8 1 Template:Flagicon Katsuhiko Taguchi 8 1 Pos Driver MON Template:Flagicon SWE Template:Flagicon NOR Template:Flagicon MEX Template:Flagicon POR Template:Flagicon ARG Template:Flagicon ITA Template:Flagicon GRC Template:Flagicon FIN Template:Flagicon GER Template:Flagicon NZL Template:Flagicon ESP Template:Flagicon FRA Template:Flagicon JPN Template:Flagicon IRL Template:Flagicon GBR Template:Flagicon  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

Rank	Manufacturer	Event																Total points
		MON Template:Flagicon	SWE Template:Flagicon	NOR Template:Flagicon	MEX Template:Flagicon	POR Template:Flagicon	ARG Template:Flagicon	ITA Template:Flagicon	GRC Template:Flagicon	FIN Template:Flagicon	GER Template:Flagicon	NZL Template:Flagicon	ESP Template:Flagicon	FRA Template:Flagicon	JPN Template:Flagicon	IRL Template:Flagicon	GBR Template:Flagicon
1	BP Ford World Rally Team	10	16	18	14	9	14	18	15	18	11	16	11	9	10	-	-	189
2	Citroën Total World Rally Team	18	9	1	15	16	13	6	8	6	10	11	18	16	8	-	-	155
3	Subaru World Rally Team	8	2	5	4	8	2	5	9	5	5	7	4	7	2	-	-	73
4	Stobart VK M-Sport Ford	1	5	10	3	2	9	7	4	4	5	5	2	7	7	-	-	71
5	OMV Kronos	2	7	5	3	4	1	3	2	0	8	0	4	0	4	-	-	43
6	Munchi's Ford World Rally Team		0		0		0	0	1	5		0	0		8	-	-	14

External links

• Results on the official site: WRC.com
• Results on eWRC.com
• Results at Jonkka's World Rally Archive