The 2009 ORLEN Platinum Rally Poland was the 66th running of the Rally Poland and the eighth round of the 2009 World Rally Championship season. Rally Poland had previously been part of the WRC schedule during the inaugural 1973 season. The rally consisted of 18 special stages and was won by Ford's Mikko Hirvonen, who took his first-ever back-to-back victories. However, the team's celebration was subdued after Jari-Matti Latvala crashed out from second place on the final super special stage, losing important manufacturers' championship points.
Citroën's Dani Sordo then finished second and Stobart's Henning Solberg beat his brother Petter to take the final podium spot. Home country's Krzysztof Hołowczyc, a three-time winner of the event, finished sixth behind regular Stobart driver Matthew Wilson. This marked the first time a Polish driver scored WRC points in the history of the series.
Citroën's defending world champion Sébastien Loeb lost the drivers' championship lead by crashing out in the second rally in a row. However, he re-joined the event under superally rules and with mechanical problems for Andreas Mikkelsen, Mads Østberg and Sébastien Ogier, he had climbed back into the top ten. Citroën then issued team orders and Citroën Junior Team's Conrad Rautenbach and Evgeny Novikov both stopped for enough minutes to let the Frenchman take the eighth place, which eventually became seventh after Latvala's mistake.
Results Pos.DriverCo-driverCarTimeDifferencePoints WRC 1 Mikko Hirvonen Jarmo Lehtinen Ford Focus RS WRC 09 3:07:27.5 0.0 10 2 Dani Sordo Marc Martí Citroën C4 WRC 3:08:37.8 +1:10.3 8 3 Henning Solberg Cato Menkerud Ford Focus RS WRC 08 3:09:33.2 +2:05.7 6 4 Petter Solberg Phil Mills Citroën Xsara WRC 3:09:51.8 +2:24.3 5 5 Matthew Wilson Scott Martin Ford Focus RS WRC 08 3:11:45.0 +4:17.5 4 6 Krzysztof Hołowczyc Łukasz Kurzeja Ford Focus RS WRC 08 3:12:01.4 +4:33.9 3 7 Sébastien Loeb Daniel Elena Citroën C4 WRC 3:26:42.6 +19:15.1 2 8 Conrad Rautenbach Daniel Barritt Citroën C4 WRC 3:26:48.1 +19:20.6 1 JWRC 1 Kevin Abbring Erwin Mombaerts Renault Clio R3 3:35:05.2 0.0 10 2 Martin Prokop Jan Tománek Citroën C2 S1600 3:36:15.4 +1:10.2 8 3 Yoann Bonato Benjamin Boulloud Suzuki Swift S1600 3:40:39.7 +5:34.5 6 4 Hans Weijs Bjorn Degandt Citroën C2 S1600 3:45:17.2 +10:12.0 5 5 Simone Bertolotti Luca Celestini Suzuki Swift S1600 3:51:50.3 +16:45.1 4 6 Radosław Typa Maciej Wisławski Citroën C2 R2 3:56:32.3 +21:27.1 3 7 Luca Griotti Corrado Bonato Renault Clio R3 4:00:53.6 +25:48.4 2
Special stages DayStageTime (CEST)NameLengthWinnerTimeRally leader1(June 25) SS1 20:00Mikołajki 1 2.50 km Petter Solberg 1:48.3 Petter Solberg2(June 26) SS2 9:51Grabówka 1 12.09 km Mikko Hirvonen 6:49.7 Sébastien Loeb SS3 10:19Pianki 1 11.34 km Mikko Hirvonen 5:22.2 Mikko Hirvonen SS4 10:39Paprotki 1 33.17 km Jari-Matti Latvala 18:14.0 SS5 14:01Grabówka 2 12.09 km Jari-Matti Latvala 6:49.3 SS6 14:29Pianki 2 11.34 km Mikko Hirvonen 5:15.4 SS7 14:59Paprotki 2 33.17 km Jari-Matti Latvala 17:57.23(June 27) SS8 10:14Danowo 1 11.88 km Sébastien Loeb 6:18.1 SS9 10:59Gawliki 1 32.75 km Dani Sordo 17:44.4 SS10 11:52Wydminy 1 30.09 km Sébastien Loeb 15:40.9 SS11 15:18Danowo 2 11.88 km Mikko Hirvonen 6:12.5 SS12 16:03Gawliki 2 32.75 km Sébastien Loeb 17:21.1 SS13 16:56Wydminy 2 30.09 km Sébastien Loeb 15:26.94(June 28) SS14 7:51Miłki 1 27.07 km Sébastien Ogier 13:59.3 SS15 8:57Tros 1 15.11 km Henning Solberg 7:53.2 SS16 11:49Miłki 2 27.07 km Henning Solberg 13:56.0 SS17 12:55Tros 2 15.11 km Sébastien Loeb 7:44.4 SS18 14:24Mikołajki 2 2.50 km Petter Solberg 1:49.0
Championship standings after the event
Drivers' championship Pos Driver IRL NOR CYP POR ARG ITA GRC POL FIN AUS ESP GBR Pts 1 Mikko Hirvonen 3 2 2 2 Ret 2 1 158 2 Sébastien Loeb 1 1 1 1 1 4 Ret 757 3 Dani Sordo 2 5 4 3 2 23 12 239 4 Henning Solberg 4 4 18 5 3 8 15 3 27 5 Jari-Matti Latvala 14 3 12 Ret 6 1 3 Ret25 Petter Solberg 6 3 4 Ret 3 Ret 4 25 7 Matthew Wilson 7 7 5 Ret 5 6 14 5 19 8 Federico Villagra 7 7 4 Ret 414 9 Sébastien Ogier 6 10 Ret 17 7 Ret 2 Ret13 10 Conrad Rautenbach 18 Ret 6 Ret Ret 9 5 88 11 Mads Østberg 9 6 7 7 Ret 7 12 Khalid al-Qassimi 8 8 8 16 6 6 13 Evgeny Novikov 12 Ret Ret 5 16 94 Chris Atkinson 54 15 Krzysztof Hołowczyc 6 3 16 Nasser Al-Attiyah 11 16 8 10 9 1 Urmo Aava 10 8 1 Lambros Athanassoulas 8 1 Pos Driver IRL NOR CYP POR ARG ITA GRC POL FIN AUS ESP GBR Pts
Manufacturers' championship Pos Team Event Totalpoints IRL NOR CYP POR ARG ITA GRC POL FIN AUS ESP GBR 1 Citroën Total World Rally Team 18 14 16 16 18 8 4 12 106 2 BP Ford World Rally Team 8 14 10 8 3 18 18 10 89 3 Stobart M-Sport Ford Rally Team 8 8 6 5 10 7 5 11 60 4 Citroën Junior Team 5 2 4 0 2 5 6 5 29 5 Munchi's Ford World Rally Team 0 0 3 4 5 0 6 0 18
References
External links Full results at WRC.com