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Ogier wins WRC Rally Japan on debut

The French pairing of Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia won September’s Rally Japan on their first outing to the Asian round of the FIA World Rally Championship while fellow Citroen driver Petter Solberg and Chris Patterson finished second with BP Ford’s Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila third.

Positions remain unchanged in the drivers’ championship standings with Sébastien Loeb, Sébastien Ogier and Jari-Matti Latvala heading the leader-board. The Citroën Total World Rally Team also heads the BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team by 95 points in the manufacturers’ championship, with three rounds remaining.

“Obviously, I’m delighted to have scored another victory, my first for the Citroën Total World Rally Team. I couldn’t dream of a better present to thank the team for its confidence in me,” laughed Ogier. “Everything went off exactly as planned. I’m not really very keen on these stages but I managed to adapt my driving style to find the right rhythm. I think I’ve made another big step forward this weekend.”

Solberg led the rally at the end of the opening day with BP Ford’s Mikko Hirvonen climbing into second place ahead of Ogier after a day of hard-fought, close competition. Ogier had to defend his position from Latvala, who was just 1.1 seconds adrift in fourth. Dani Sordo ran as high as third but dropped to fifth in SS6 with a differential problem while Citroen team-mate Sébastien Loeb struggling with grip to end the first day in sixth, 54.5 seconds adrift of the lead.

In the second day of action to the south of host city, Sapporo, Solberg managed to hold onto his overnight lead after being pushed hard with four drivers fighting for the lead with just a handful of seconds separating them. Hirvonen and Ogier maintained second and third paces respectively, while Latvala dropped to fifth which promoted Sordo to fourth overnight. Loeb remained in sixth.
 
Day three saw Solberg immediately under attack from Ogier and, within two stages, the Frenchman had taken the lead from the former world champion. Solberg battled hard, but a broken damper and steering problem then saw him forced to settle for second. Hirvonen plummeted from second to sixth with a broken hydraulic pump, but his Ford team-mate, Latvala, overhauled Sordo for the final podium position. Loeb took fifth place and its ten points to remain comfortably at the top of the leader-board.

Loeb said: “I was never really in the running for victory but I’m happy with ten points. A forty-three point lead with three rallies left to go is still a fairly comfortable situation. My calculations for Rally France are pretty simple as I’ll win the title if I come first, whatever the positions of my rivals. I’d like to congratulate Sébastien on his victory as I can tell you that finding the right dose of speed to push hard on this kind of terrain wasn’t at all obvious.”

Solberg took some solace in setting the fastest time in seven of the event’s 26 stages. “I am so happy with the second,” says Solberg. “I started this rally with fever and a really bad cold, so being second today feels quite good. Of course I do feel a bit disappointment of not winning after being so close, but second is good enough today!”

The only leading retirement of the final day was Kimi Räikkönen. After a faultless two days, the Finn slid down a bank in the first stage after mishearing a pace note. With no spectators to help him back on the road, the former Formula One World Champion was forced to retire.

Stobart M-Sport Ford's Henning Solberg and Ilka Minor finished seventh in a Focus RS WRC while team-mates Matthew Wilson and Scott Martin were 22nd, restarting the final day under SupeRally rules after spinning into a ditch the previous day. Munchi's Ford duo Federico Villagra and Jorge Perez Companc were eighth. Ford Fiesta S2000 cars took first and second in the S-WRC support category with Jari Ketomaa and Mika Stenberg beating Martin Prokop and Jan Tomanek by 33.7sec.

In the Production category, Swedish duo Patrik Flodin and Göran Bergsten flew through Rally Japan, clocking 13 stage wins en route, to finish an impressive two minutes 46 seconds ahead of nearest rival Hayden Paddon (NZL, Mitsubishi), and take his third victory of the season. Claiming maximum points, Flodin also stole the lead in the P-WRC standings from defending PWRC champion Armindo Araújo (PRT, Mitsubishi) who now lies seven points adrift of the young Swede. The pressure was on this weekend for Flodin who only has one more point-scoring round after this in 2010 (GB), while championship rivals Araújo and Paddon both have two.

Rising star Paddon followed Flodin home in his second non-Pirelli Star Driver event of the season, reinforcing the Kiwi’s third place in the PWRC standings. Having opted to drive his Team Green Lancer Evo IX – the car he drove to victory in New Zealand earlier in the year – Paddon found it tough to control his car on the opening stages. A near collision with an official vehicle attending an incident on SS4, a broken steering arm on SS7 and then a broken rear brake calliper on SS12 hindered his progress. However, consistently strong times and only conceding one stage win to Flodin on the third day – giving the Kiwi a total of 11 across the event - left him over 12 minutes ahead of the battle raging for third between Michel Jourdain (MEX), Gianluca Linari (ITA) and Paulo Nobre (BRA) .

The FIA World Rally Championship contenders now return to Europe for the Strasbourg-based Rallye de France which runs from 1 to3 October.
 
Rally Japan – Final Results
1. S Ogier/J Ingrassia, FRA, Citroen C4, 3hr 10min 26.4sec
2. P Solberg/C Patterson, NOR, Citroen C4, 3hr 10min 42.1sec
3. J-M Latvala/M Anttila, FIN, Ford Focus RS, 3hr 10min 52.4sec
4. D Sordo/D Vallejo, ESP, Citroen C4, 3hr 11min 01.6sec
5. S Loeb/D Elena, FRA, Citroen C4, 3hr 11min 19.7sec
6. M Hirvonen/J Lehtinen, FIN, Ford Focus RS, 3hr 11min 39.9sec
7. H Solberg/I Minor, NOR, Ford Focus RS, 3hr 13min 29.5sec
8. F Villagra/J Perez Companc, ARG, Ford Focus RS, 3hr 20min 44.3sec
9. J Ketomaa/M Stenberg, FIN, Ford Fiesta S2000, 3hr 25min 13.5sec
10. M Prokop/J Tomanek, CZE, Ford Fiesta S2000, 3hr 25min 47.2sec

Drivers’ Championship
1. S Loeb, 201pts
2. S Ogier, 158pts
3. J-M Latvala, 132pts
4. P Solberg, 118pts
5. D Sordo, 107pts
6. M Hirvonen, 94pts