Review of Rally Australia 2011!

Apologies for the very late review! So much school stuff to do I barely had time to follow the rally :O :O I know Shocking :-P


Rally Australia was full of surprises and unexpected events. No-one could have predicted how the weekend played out, ending with a one, two for Ford!

Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen took the win with Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttilla second. It was an extremely important win for the team who have been waiting for a win since the beginning of the season!

Latvala had started the day in the lead but ultimately slowed to enable his team mate to win the rally to aid his chances in the drivers championship. Championship leader Loeb is now 15 points in the lead with the Citroen team 62 points ahead of Ford in the manufacturers title.After a bad spat of rallies Jari-Matti has decided this his title dreams are over for this year so he wasn't annoyed when told to slow. It was the teams first one two since Sardinia in 2009!
It was also a good weekend for Matthew Wilson who equalled his best ever WRC result.
It was another strong weekend for Petter Solberg and Chris Patterson. They finished the weekend the leading Citroen, on the podium and back on pace! Petter Solberg Never Gives Up! Solberg also took away one point for coming third on the powestage!

After a catastrophic first day Sebastien Loeb and Sebastien Ogier fought back to finish in 10th and 11th place respectively. Loeb also managed to win the powerstage taking 4 valuable points away from Rally Australia.
0 points for Ogier moved him down the championship standings from 2nd to 3rd.

The very happy drivers who graced the podium at rally Australia!

Rally Australia - all the Day 1 action!

Ford's Mikko Hirvonen is leading this years Rally Australia after one of the most dramatic opening days to a rally in the last few years!
Hirvonen leads the rally by 7seconds followed by team mate Jari-Matti Latvala.

As the day began the weather was very unexpected to say the least. Heavy rain fell on the Coffs Coast in New South Wales and drivers had to compete on an unsuited hard-compound tire.

Sebastien Ogier began the day strong taking the early lead in stage 2. Team mate Loeb fought back in stage 3 to overtake Ogier only for one of the most uncharacteristic mistakes in Motorsport to happen.
1.3 Kilometres into stage 4 Seven time World Rally Championship Sebastien Loeb rolled his car out of the rally. It is the first time since Poland 2009 that Monsieur Loeb has not finished the first day of a rally. Its fair to say everyone was shocked....

Then on stage 6 his team mate Ogier stopped, crashing out 23.6km into the stage. He hit a tree and damaged his radiator, putting an end to his day. 
The Citroen Team will continue working on the cars overnight in a bid to get them back out on the stages tommorow!Both Citroen Total drivers were out for Day 1 at least and Ford drivers inherited 1st and 2nd position!

Citroen Privateer Petter Solberg and his Co-Driver Patterson had a solid Day 1 and are now the leading Citroen car in the rally after Day1!
Brother Henning Solberg is just behind in the overall classifications going into Day 2 with Matthew Wilson rounding off the top 5!

DAY 1 PRESS CONFERENCE
LATVALA, HIRVONEN, SOLBERG!

Rally Australia!

Unfortunately I Have no time what so ever to to write about the start of rally Australia even though I would love to!
Back to school and in 5th year so I have loads of homework every night! :(
  This weekend I will write about each day not each stage unfortunately!
I am very excited about this weekends rally and cant wait to see how it plans out!
Petter Solberg FTW ! :P