The 2010 Rally Japan, was the 10th round of the 2010 World Rally Championship (WRC) season. The 26 stage gravel rally took place on 9 – 12 September 2010 and was based in the city of Sapporo. The rally featured eight super specials at the Sapporo Dome with the rally finishing at the Dome on the Sunday afternoon.
Sébastien Ogier took the second WRC victory of his career, capitalising on a broken damper for Petter Solberg which dropped him out of the lead on the final morning of the rally. Ogier also cut into teammate Sébastien Loeb's championship lead, reducing it to 43 points before their home event in France.
Introduction Prior to the rally, depending on results, Sébastien Loeb could have clinched his seventh consecutive world title with three events to spare. With a 58-point lead over teammate Sébastien Ogier pre-rally, Loeb had to outscore Ogier by 18 points in order to secure the championship, as well as beating Ford's Jari-Matti Latvala by 2 points, as the Finnish driver was 74 points behind Loeb. Petter Solberg and Dani Sordo were still in mathematical contention but would have to finish in the top two placings in Japan, with Loeb failing to score, to stay in contention.
Results
Event standings Pos. Driver Co-driver Car Time Difference Points Overall 1. Sébastien Ogier Julien Ingrassia Citroën C4 WRC 3:10:26.4 0.0 25 2. Petter Solberg Chris Patterson Citroën C4 WRC 3:10:42.1 15.7 18 3. Jari-Matti Latvala Miikka Anttila Ford Focus RS WRC 09 3:10:52.4 26.0 15 4. Dani Sordo Diego Vallejo Citroën C4 WRC 3:11:01.6 35.2 12 5. Sébastien Loeb Daniel Elena Citroën C4 WRC 3:11:19.7 53.3 10 6. Mikko Hirvonen Jarmo Lehtinen Ford Focus RS WRC 09 3:11:39.9 1:13.5 8 7. Henning Solberg Ilka Minor Ford Focus RS WRC 08 3:13:29.5 3:03.1 6 8. Federico Villagra Jorge Pérez Companc Ford Focus RS WRC 08 3:20:44.3 10:17.9 4 9. Jari Ketomaa Mika Stenberg Ford Fiesta S2000 3:25:13.5 14:47.1 2 10. Martin Prokop Jan Tománek Ford Fiesta S2000 3:25:47.2 15:20.8 1 SWRC 1. (9.) Jari Ketomaa Mika Stenberg Ford Fiesta S2000 3:25:13.5 0.0 25 2. (10.) Martin Prokop Jan Tománek Ford Fiesta S2000 3:25:47.2 33.7 18 PWRC 1. (11.) Patrik Flodin Göran Bergsten Subaru Impreza WRX STI 3:31:08.3 0.0 25 2. (12.) Hayden Paddon John Kennard Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X 3:33:54.1 2:45.8 18 3. (16.) Gianluca Linari Paolo Gregoriani Subaru Impreza WRX STI 3:46:15.1 15:06.8 15 4. (17.) Kyosuke Kamata Takumi Takahashi Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX 3:48:18.6 17:10.3 12 5. (20.) Wang Rui Pan Hongyu Subaru Impreza WRX STI 3:53:07.8 21:59.5 10 6. (46.) Reijo Muhonen Lasse Miettinen Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X 4:39:53.3 1:08:45.0 8
Special stages All dates and times are JST (UTC+9). DayStageTimeNameLengthWinnerTimeAvg. spd.Rally leaderLeg 1(9–10 Sept) SS1 18:40 SSS Sapporo 1 1.57 km Sébastien Ogier 1:21.8 69.10 km/h Sébastien Ogier SS2 18:52 SSS Sapporo 2 1.57 km Sébastien Ogier 1:21.4 69.43 km/h SS3 10:23 Iwanke 1 26.92 km Petter Solberg 16:21.2 98.77 km/h SS4 11:27 Sikot 1 27.76 km Petter Solberg 15:49.9 105.21 km/h Petter Solberg SS5 12:15 Koyka 1 3.55 km Henning Solberg 1:55.1 111.03 km/h SS6 15:03 Iwanke 2 26.92 km Jari-Matti Latvala 16:08.0 100.12 km/h SS7 16:07 Sikot 2 27.76 km Mikko Hirvonen 15:35.0 106.88 km/h SS8 16:55 Koyka 2 3.55 km Mikko Hirvonen 1:55.9 110.27 km/h SS9 18:34 SSS Sapporo 3 1.57 km Sébastien Loeb 1:24.5 66.89 km/h SS10 18:46 SSS Sapporo 4 1.57 km Petter Solberg 1:24.0 67.29 km/hLeg 2(11 Sept) SS11 10:28 Nikara 1 17.68 km Petter Solberg 9:38.8 109.97 km/h SS12 11:26 Kamuycep 1 33.76 km Jari-Matti Latvala 21:02.3 96.28 km/h SS13 12:22 Kina 1 9.55 km Dani Sordo 5:34.5 102.78 km/h Jari-Matti Latvala SS14 15:09 Nikara 2 17.68 km Petter Solberg 9:30.0 111.66 km/h SS15 16:07 Kamuycep 2 33.76 km Dani Sordo 20:31.5 98.69 km/h SS16 17:03 Kina 2 9.55 km Petter Solberg 5:32.6 103.37 km/h Petter Solberg SS17 18:33 SSS Sapporo 5 1.57 km Petter Solberg 1:24.8 66.65 km/h SS18 18:45 SSS Sapporo 6 1.57 km Mikko Hirvonen 1:24.1 67.21 km/hLeg 3(12 Sept) SS19 7:31 Bisan 1 4.71 km Sébastien Loeb 2:27.7 114.80 km/h SS20 8:13 Naekawa 1 17.86 km Sébastien Ogier 14:21.6 74.62 km/h Sébastien Ogier SS21 9:37 Sunagawa 1 3.70 km Sébastien Loeb 2:39.7 83.41 km/h SS22 10:12 Bisan 2 4.71 km Sébastien Ogier 2:26.4 115.82 km/h SS23 10:54 Naekawa 2 17.86 km Jari-Matti Latvala 14:05.6 76.04 km/h SS24 11:58 Sunagawa 2 3.70 km Sébastien Loeb 2:36.3 85.22 km/h SS25 14:00 SSS Sapporo 7 1.57 km Sébastien Ogier 1:24.0 67.29 km/h SS26 14:12 SSS Sapporo 8 1.57 km Jari-Matti Latvala 1:23.8 67.45 km/h
Standings after the rally
Drivers' Championship standings Driver Points 1 Sébastien Loeb 201 2 Sebastien Ogier 158 3 Jari-Matti Latvala 132 4 Petter Solberg 118 5 Dani Sordo 107 6 Mikko Hirvonen 94 7 Matthew Wilson 56 8 Henning Solberg 31 9 Federico Villagra 30 10 Kimi Räikkönen 21
Manufacturers' Championship standings Manufacturer Points 1 Citroen WRT 345 2 BP Ford WRT 250 3 Citroen Junior Team 183 4 Stobart Ford 130 5 Munchi's Ford 46
References
External links The official website for the rally The official website of the World Rally Championship Results at eWRC.com