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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.
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. [3]
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.
Round | Dates | Rally Name | Rally HQ | Support Category | Surface |
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1 | 30 January – 1 February | Rally Ireland | ![]() | JWRC | Wintry asphalt |
2 | 12–15 February | Rally Norway | ![]() | PWRC | Ice and snow-covered gravel |
3 | 13–15 March | Cyprus Rally | ![]() | JWRC/PWRC | Asphalt and gravel |
4 | 3–5 April | Rally de Portugal | ![]() | JWRC/PWRC | Gravel |
5 | 24–26 April | Rally Argentina | ![]() | JWRC/PWRC | Gravel |
6 | 22–24 May | Rally d'Italia Sardegna | ![]() | JWRC/PWRC | Gravel |
7 | 12–14 June | Acropolis Rally | ![]() | PWRC | Gravel |
8 | 26–28 June | Rally Poland | ![]() | JWRC | Gravel |
9 | 31 July – 2 August | Rally Finland | ![]() | JWRC | Gravel |
10 | 4–6 September | Rally Australia | ![]() | PWRC | Gravel |
11 | 2–4 October | Rally Catalunya | ![]() | JWRC | Asphalt |
12 | 23–25 October | Rally GB | ![]() | PWRC | Gravel |
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.
Suzuki and Subaru pulled out of the WRC at the end of the 2008 championship, both citing the economic downturn then affecting the automotive industry for their withdrawal.
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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Petter Solberg is a Norwegian former professional rally and rallycross driver.
The FIA Junior WRC Championship, is an international rallying series restricted to drivers under 29 years old, running within the framework of the World Rally Championship. The series is governed by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) and promoted by M-Sport Ltd.
Sébastien Loeb is a French professional rally, racing and rallycross driver. He is the most successful driver in the World Rally Championship (WRC), having won the world championship a record nine times in a row. He holds several other WRC records, including most event wins, most podium finishes and most stage wins. Loeb retired from full time WRC participation at the end of 2012. He currently drives part time in the WRC for M-Sport Ford World Rally Team, and full time in the World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC) for Bahrain Raid Xtreme.
Mikko Hirvonen is a Finnish former rally driver, and a current Rally-Raid driver, who drove in the World Rally Championship. He placed third in the drivers' championship and helped Ford to the manufacturers' title in both 2006 and 2007. In 2008, 2009, 2011 and 2012 he finished runner-up to Sébastien Loeb. Hirvonen's co-driver was Jarmo Lehtinen from the 2003 season until his retirement in 2014, Lehtinen had replaced Miikka Anttila who co-drove with Hirvonen in the 2002 season.
The 2005 World Rally Championship was the 33rd season in the FIA World Rally Championship. The season began on January 21 with the Monte-Carlo Rally and ended on November 13 with the Rally Australia.
The 2004 World Rally Championship was the 32nd season of the FIA World Rally Championship. The season consisted of 16 rallies. The drivers' world championship was won by Sébastien Loeb in a Citroën Xsara WRC, ahead of Petter Solberg and Markko Märtin. The manufacturers' title was won by Citroën, ahead of Ford and Subaru.
The 2003 World Rally Championship was the 31st season of the FIA World Rally Championship. The season consisted of 14 rallies. The drivers' world championship was won by Petter Solberg in a Subaru Impreza WRC, ahead of Sébastien Loeb and Carlos Sainz. The manufacturers' title was won by Citroën, ahead of Peugeot and Subaru.
The 2006 World Rally Championship was the 34th season in the FIA World Rally Championship. The season began on January 20 with the 74th Monte Carlo Rally where Finland's Marcus Grönholm, in a Ford Focus RS WRC, took the win ahead of France's Sébastien Loeb. After the Swedish Rally ended with the same top-two, Loeb and Kronos Citroën went on to win five rallies in a row. Despite an injury in a mountain-biking accident before the Rally of Turkey, forcing Loeb to miss last four rallies, he secured his third drivers' title, whereas Ford won their first manufacturers' title since 1979.
The 2007 World Rally Championship was the 35th season in the FIA World Rally Championship. The season began on 19 January, with the Monte Carlo Rally and ended on 2 December, with the Wales Rally GB. Citroën's Sébastien Loeb won his fourth consecutive drivers' world championship ahead of Ford's Marcus Grönholm and Mikko Hirvonen. Ford took the manufacturers' title.
The Citroën C4 WRC is a World Rally Car built for the Citroën World Rally Team by Citroën Racing to compete in the World Rally Championship. It is based upon the Citroën C4 road car and replaced the Citroën Xsara WRC. The car was introduced for the 2007 World Rally Championship season and has taken the drivers' title each year since in the hands of Sébastien Loeb, as well as the manufacturers' title in 2008, 2009 and 2010.
The Citroën Xsara WRC is a World Rally Car built for the Citroën World Rally Team by Citroën Racing to compete in the World Rally Championship. It is based upon the Citroën Xsara road car. The car was introduced for the 2001 World Rally Championship season and has taken first three of nine drivers' titles for Sébastien Loeb, as well as the manufacturers' title in 2003, 2004, and 2005.
The 2008 World Rally Championship was the 36th season of the FIA World Rally Championship. The season consisted of 15 rallies and began on 24 January, with the 2008 Monte Carlo Rally. Frenchman Sébastien Loeb successfully retained the Drivers' World Championship, his and co-driver Daniel Elena's record-breaking fifth consecutive title, all of them attained driving Citroëns. In addition, Citroën secured their fourth Manufacturers' title, and their first since 2005, from 2006 and 2007 victors, Ford.
The Citroën Total World Rally Team was the Citroën factory backed entry into the World Rally Championship (WRC), run by Citroën Racing.
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The 2014 FIA World Rally Championship was the 42nd season of the World Rally Championship, a rallying championship recognised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile as the highest class of international rallying. Teams and drivers contested thirteen rallies across four continents, competing for the FIA World Rally Championships for Drivers and Manufacturers. The WRC-2, WRC-3 and Junior WRC championships all ran in support of the premier championship.
The 2016 FIA World Rally Championship was the 44th season of the World Rally Championship, a rallying championship recognised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) as the highest class of international rallying. Teams and drivers competed in thirteen rounds—starting with the Rallye Monte Carlo in January and finishing with Rally Australia in November—for the World Rally Championships for Drivers and Manufacturers.
The 2019 FIA World Rally Championship was the forty-seventh season of the World Rally Championship, a rallying championship recognised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) as the highest class of international rallying. Teams and crews competed in fourteen events for the World Rally Championships for Drivers, Co-drivers and Manufacturers. Crews were free to compete in cars complying with World Rally Car and Group R regulations; however, only Manufacturers competing with World Rally Cars homologated under regulations introduced in 2017 were eligible to score points in the Manufacturers' championship. The series was once again supported by the WRC2 category at every round, which was split into 2 classifications: WRC2 Pro for manufacturer entries and WRC2 for private entries, and by Junior WRC at selected events. WRC3 was discontinued in 2018.