2009 World Rally Championship

Regulation changes

The number of mechanics available per car has been dropped from 12 to 8.

Calendar

The 2009 championship was contested over twelve rounds in Europe, South America and Oceania.

Calendar changes

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.

Teams and drivers

In 2009 two categories are eligible to compete for the Manufacturer's championship:

Manufacturer (M)

• must take part in all the rallies of the Championship with two cars of the same make
• must enter only cars corresponding to the latest homologated version of a World Rally Car in conformity with the 2009 Appendix J
• must inform the FIA of the name of the first driver entered for the season at the time of registration for the Championship. No change of the first driver is authorised, except in a case of force majeure. The driver of the second car may be changed for each of the rallies in the Championship

Manufacturer Team (MT)

• must take part in a minimum of 8 Championship rallies with one or two cars; those rallies must be nominated on registering for the Championship
• cannot enter World Rally Cars homologated during the year 2009 and cannot use parts homologated after 2 January 2009
• can only score points in the events it nominated on registering.

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.

All teams ran Pirelli tyres.

Team and Driver changes

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. 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. Chris Atkinson would drive for the Citroën Junior Team in the season opener in Ireland as a one off.

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. 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. 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. Their three main drivers were 2008 JWRC champion Sébastien Ogier, Conrad Rautenbach and Evgeny Novikov.

J-WRC Entries

P-WRC Entries

:† – At each rally, the organiser may nominate two "guest drivers" from their country to score support category points.

Results and standings

Results and statistics

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Notes:

• – Stages 7 (Murley) and 8 (Fardross) were cancelled.
• – Stages 3 (Evangelistria) and 16 (Loutraki 2) were cancelled.
• – Stages 6 (CTEK East 1) and 11 (CTEK East 2) were cancelled.

Drivers' championship

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• Sébastien Loeb secured the drivers' championship title in Wales.

Manufacturers' championship

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• Citroën secured the manufacturers' championship in Catalunya.

JWRC Drivers' championship

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PWRC Drivers' championship

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References

References

1. (2009-10-25). "Loeb secures sixth title in a row". BBC Sport.
2. "2009 WRC sporting regulations (section 51.3)".
3. "Juwra 2009 WRC calendar".
4. (16 December 2008). "Subaru join Suzuki in pulling out of WRC".
5. Grassman, Oliver. (12 February 2009). "Solberg launches comeback with own team".
6. Evans, David. (17 June 2009). "Solberg to test Peugeot 307".
7. Klose, Steane. (27 December 2008). "Chris Atkinson Scores A Seat With Citroen For 2009 WRC".
8. (15 December 2008). "Suzuki pull out of world rally championship".
9. Panzariu, Ovidiu. (23 January 2009). "Aava Aims for Maiden Points in Ireland".
10. Beer, Matt. (23 January 2009). "Citroen: Junior team can win too".
11. "World Rally Championship – FIA Juniors –".
12. "World Rally Championship - P-WRC -".
13. "4. Rally Ireland 2009 - Event stats". ewrc-results.com.
14. "56. Acropolis Rally of Greece 2009 - Event stats". ewrc-results.com.
15. "20. Repco Rally Australia 2009 - Event stats". ewrc-results.com.