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The 2009 World Rally Championship was the 37th season of the FIA World Rally Championship. The season consisted of twelve rallies and began on 30 January, with Rally Ireland and ended with Rally GB on 25 October. Sébastien Loeb won the World Drivers' championship at Rally GB by one point from Mikko Hirvonen, taking his sixth consecutive crown. [1] Citroën secured their fifth Manufacturers' title, Martin Prokop won the JWRC Drivers' championship and Armindo Araujo won the PWRC Drivers' championship.
The number of mechanics available per car has been dropped from 12 to 8. [2]
The 2009 championship was contested over twelve rounds in Europe, South America and Oceania.
Rd. | Start date | Finish date | Rally | Rally headquarters | Surface | Stages | Distance | Support class |
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1 | 30 January | 1 February | ![]() | Sligo, Connacht | Tarmac | 19 | 349.73 km | JWRC |
2 | 12 February | 15 February | ![]() | Hamar, Innlandet | Snow | 23 | 360.90 km | PWRC |
3 | 13 March | 15 March | ![]() | Lemesos, Limassol District | Mixed | 14 | 332.07 km | PWRC/JWRC |
4 | 2 April | 5 April | ![]() | Almancil, Algarve | Gravel | 18 | 361.36 km | PWRC/JWRC |
5 | 23 April | 26 April | ![]() | Carlos Paz, Córdoba | Gravel | 23 | 331.80 km | PWRC/JWRC |
6 | 22 May | 24 May | ![]() | Olbia, Sardinia | Gravel | 17 | 347.12 km | PWRC/JWRC |
7 | 12 June | 14 June | ![]() | Loutraki, Corinthia | Gravel | 17 | 371.02 km | PWRC |
8 | 25 June | 28 June | ![]() | Mikołajki, Mrągowo County | Gravel | 18 | 352.00 km | JWRC |
9 | 30 July | 2 August | ![]() | Jyväskylä, Central Finland | Gravel | 23 | 345.15 km | JWRC |
10 | 3 September | 6 September | ![]() | Kingscliff, New South Wales | Gravel | 35 | 344.72 km | PWRC |
11 | 2 October | 4 October | ![]() | Salou, Catalonia | Tarmac | 18 | 353.62 km | JWRC |
12 | 23 October | 25 October | ![]() | Cardiff, Wales | Gravel | 16 | 348.30 km | PWRC |
Sources: [3] |
The 2009 season included twelve rallies, which was three fewer than the 2008 season, because the FIA imposed a "Round Rotation" System in order to attract candidate rallies to have a chance to be a WRC event. Monte Carlo, Sweden, Mexico, Jordan, Turkey, Germany, New Zealand, France and Japan were dropped from the calendar for 2009, but will return at the 2010 WRC Season. Ireland, Norway, Cyprus, Portugal, Poland and Australia returned to the 2009 season.
The eight events also part of the Production World Rally Championship were Norway, Cyprus, Portugal, Argentina, Italy, Greece, Australia and Rally GB. The eight rallies also on the Junior World Rally Championship schedule were Ireland, Cyprus, Portugal, Argentina, Italy, Poland, Finland and Spain.
In 2009 two categories are eligible to compete for the Manufacturer's championship:
Manufacturer (M)
Manufacturer Team (MT)
The registered Manufacturers are Citroën Total World Rally Team and BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team; the registered Manufacturer Teams are Stobart VK M-Sport Ford, Munchi's Ford and Citroën Junior Team.
Subaru pulled out of the WRC at the end of the 2008 season, citing the economic downturn then affecting the automotive industry for their withdrawal, leaving Petter Solberg and Chris Atkinson without a drive. [4] Solberg would set up his own team for the 2009 season, running an eight year old Citroën Xsara WRC for the majority of the season, although the Norwegian did consider switching to a Peugeot 307 WRC for Rally Finland. [5] [6] Chris Atkinson would drive for the Citroën Junior Team in the season opener in Ireland as a one off. [7]
Suzuki pulled out of the WRC at the end of the 2008 season, citing the economic downturn then affecting the automotive industry for their withdrawal, leaving Toni Gardemeister and Per-Gunnar Andersson without a seat. [8] Gardemeister would leave the WRC while Andersson would do a one off round at Rally Norway in a Škoda Fabia WRC.
Stobart VK M-Sport Ford Rally Team retained Henning Solberg and Matthew Wilson for 2009 and had planned to run Urmo Aava in eight rallies but was dropped after two. [9] 2008 drivers François Duval and Gianluigi Galli left the WRC.
Citroën set up the Citroën Junior Team as a manufacturer Team run by PH Sport who had run privateer C4’s the previous year. [10] Their three main drivers were 2008 JWRC champion Sébastien Ogier, Conrad Rautenbach and Evgeny Novikov.
No | Driver | Co-driver | Car | Rounds |
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31 | ![]() | ![]() | Suzuki Swift S1600 | 1, 3, 5–6, 9, 11 |
32 | ![]() | ![]() | Suzuki Swift S1600 | 3–6, 8–9 |
33 | ![]() | ![]() | Suzuki Swift S1600 | 1, 4, 6, 8–9, 11 |
34 | ![]() | ![]() | Renault Clio R3 | 1, 4, 6, 8–9, 11 |
35 | ![]() | ![]() | Suzuki Swift S1600 | 1, 4, 6, 8–9, 11 |
36 | ![]() | ![]() | Citroën C2 S1600 | 1, 4, 6, 8–9, 11 |
37 | ![]() | ![]() | Renault Clio R3 | 1, 4, 6, 8–9, 11 |
38 | ![]() | ![]() | Citroën C2 S1600 | 1, 3, 6, 8–9, 11 |
39 | ![]() | ![]() | Renault Clio S1600 | 5 |
Renault Clio R3 | 4, 6, 8 | |||
![]() | ![]() | 9, 11 | ||
Additional guest entries † | ||||
60 | ![]() | ![]() | Suzuki Swift Sport | 1 |
59 | ![]() | ![]() | Citroën C2 R2 | 8 |
60 | ![]() | ![]() | Citroën C2 R2 | 8 |
59 | ![]() | ![]() | Renault Clio R3 | 9 |
59 | ![]() | ![]() | Renault Clio R3 | 11 |
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