The 2009 Neste Oil Rally Finland was the 59th running of the

Rally Finland Rally Finland (formerly known as the Neste Rally Finland, Neste Oil Rally Finland, 1000 Lakes Rally and Rally of the Thousand Lakes; , ) is a rallying, rally competition in the Finnish Lakeland in Central Finland. The rally is driven on wide an ...

and the ninth round of the

2009 World Rally Championship season The 2009 World Rally Championship was the 37th season of the FIA World Rally Championship. The season consisted of twelve rallies and began on 30 January, with Rally Ireland and ended with Rally GB on 25 October. Sébastien Loeb won the World Dr ...

. The rally consisted of 23 special stages and was won by

Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

Mikko Hirvonen Mikko Hirvonen (born 31 July 1980) is a Finnish former rally driver, and a current Rally-Raid driver, who drove in the World Rally Championship. He placed third in the drivers' championship and helped Ford to the manufacturers' title in both 2 ...

. This marked his third victory in a row and his first in his home event. Last year's winner

Sébastien Loeb Sébastien Loeb (; born 26 February 1974) is a French professional rally, racing and rallycross driver. He is the most successful driver in the World Rally Championship (WRC), having won the world championship a record nine times in a row. He ho ...

Citroën Citroën ()The double-dot diacritic over the 'e' is a diaeresis () indicating the two vowels are sounded separately, and not as a diphthong. is a French automobile brand. The "Automobiles Citroën" manufacturing company was founded on 4 June 19 ...

finished second and took his first podium since the

Rally Argentina The Rally Argentina () is an Argentine rally competition that has been a round of the World Rally Championship, the Intercontinental Rally Challenge, the South American Rally Championship and the Argentine Rally Championship. It is held in the ...

back in April.

Jari-Matti Latvala Jari-Matti Latvala (; born 3 April 1985) is a Finnish rally driver who has competed in the World Rally Championship (WRC). His co-driver for most of his career was Miikka Anttila, who co-drove for Latvala between the 2003 Rallye Deutschland and ...

beat

Dani Sordo Daniel "Dani" Sordo Castillo (born 2 May 1983) is a Spanish rally driver. He competes in the World Rally Championship for Hyundai Motorsport. He achieved his first WRC victory at the 2013 Rallye Deutschland. Career Sordo began in motocross whe ...

to the final podium spot.

Entries

The final entry list included 90 crews – the highest number in any event this season. 18 drivers contested the event in the top category

World Rally Car A World Rally Car is a racing automobile built to the specific regulations set by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) and designed for competition in the World Rally Championship (WRC). The cars were introduced in 1997 as a repl ...

and ten were registered for the

Junior World Rally Championship The FIA Junior WRC Championship is an international rallying series restricted to drivers under 29 years old, running within the framework of the World Rally Championship. The series is governed by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobi ...

. In addition to usual names, Matti Rantanen, who finished seventh in last year's event in a private

Ford Focus RS WRC 06 The Ford Focus RS WRC is a car built for the Ford World Rally Team by Ford Europe and M-Sport and based on the Ford Focus Climate 2-litre production hatchback, developed to compete in the World Rally Championship. The RS stands for ''Rallye Sport ...

, partnered

Federico Villagra Federico Villagra (born May 1, 1969) is an Argentine rally driver competing in the Argentine Rally Championship. He had previously competed in the World Rally Championship for the Munchi's Ford World Rally Team. His co-driver is Diego Curletto. ...

in the

Munchi's Ford World Rally Team The Munchi's Ford World Rally Team was a private team competing in the World Rally Championship, founded by rally driver Luís Pérez Companc, son of Argentine entrepreneur Gregorio Pérez Companc,Ferrari Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello. Founded in 1939 by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988), the company built Auto Avio Costruzioni 815, its first car in 1940, adopted its current name in 1945, and be ...

's 2007

Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...

world champion

Kimi Räikkönen Kimi-Matias Räikkönen (; born 17 October 1979), nicknamed "the Iceman", is a Finnish racing driver who competed in Formula One between 2001 and 2021 for Sauber, McLaren, Ferrari, Lotus, and Alfa Romeo. Räikkönen won the 2007 Formula One ...

made his WRC debut at the event. This was also his first rally on gravel, after competing in two snow rallies in Finland and in a tarmac rally in Italy. As previously, he drove the

Super 2000 Super 2000 is an Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, FIA powertrain specification used in the World Rally Championship, the British Touring Car Championship, the World Touring Car Championship, and other touring car racing, touring car ...

class

Fiat Grande Punto The Fiat Punto is a supermini car (B-segment) produced by the Italian manufacturer Fiat from 1993 to 2018, spanning over three generations. The third generation of the car was marketed between 2005 and 2009 as the Grande Punto, and between 2009 a ...

Abarth Abarth & C. S.p.A. () is an Italian racing- and road-car maker and performance division founded by Italo-Austrian Carlo Abarth in 1949. Abarth & C. S.p.A. is owned by Stellantis through its Italian subsidiary. Abarth's logo is a shield with a ...

prepared by

Tommi Mäkinen Tommi Antero Mäkinen (; born 26 June 1964) is a Finnish racing executive and former rally driver. Mäkinen is one of the most successful World Rally drivers of all time, ranking fifth in rally wins (24) and third in championships (4), tied wit ...

Racing. Räikkönen faced competition from other S2000 entrants such as

Juho Hänninen Juho Ville Matias Hänninen (born 25 July 1981) is a Finnish rally driver. He is the 2010 Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC) champion and 2011 Super 2000 World Rally Championship (S-WRC) champion with co-driver Mikko Markkula driving a work ...

Anton Alén Anton Alén (born 3 June 1983) is a Finnish rally driver, who competed in World Rally Championship and Intercontinental Rally Challenge during his career. He was a factory driver for Fiat Abarth from 2007 to 2009. He scored one IRC victory, at ...

and

Janne Tuohino Janne Tuohino (born 22 May 1975) is a Finland, Finnish Rallying, rally driver. Career He began his rally career in 1993 when he entered a rally sprint in a Toyota Starlet. Although his first true rally was in January 1994, in which he drove ...

and from

Group N In relation to international motorsport governed by the FIA, Group N refers to regulations providing "standard" large-scale series production vehicles for competition. They are limited in terms of modifications permitted to the standard specifi ...

drivers such as Patrik Flodin. Former Stobart M-Sport Ford driver

Urmo Aava Urmo Aava (born 2 February 1979) is a former Estonian rally driver who competed in the World Rally Championship between 2002 and 2009. His regular co-driver was Kuldar Sikk, who later became Ott Tänak's co-driver. Career Urmo Aava spent five y ...

entered the event in a

Honda Civic Type-R The is a series of hot hatchback and sports sedan models based on the Civic, developed and produced by Honda since September 1997. The first Civic Type R was the third model to receive Honda's Type R badge (after the NSX and Integra). Type ...

R3.

Entry List

Summary

As in the previous year's event, the battle for the win was between the title contenders

and

. Although Loeb proved faster on the opening

super special stage A special stage (SS) is a section of closed road at a stage rallying event used for timed speed tests. Racers attempt to complete the stage in the shortest time. A race on a special stage is coordinated such that each competing racer begins after a ...

, Hirvonen took the lead when the rally really got underway on Friday, and began building up a lead by about a second per stage. Loeb backed off and settled for second after damaging a tyre and losing 13 seconds on SS15. Hirvonen's win was his first in his home event, after finishing runner-up to

Marcus Grönholm Marcus Ulf Johan "Bosse" Grönholm (born February 5, 1968) is a Finland, Finnish former rallying, rally and rallycross driver, being part of a family of the Swedish-speaking population of Finland lineage. His son, Niclas Grönholm, is an upcoming ...

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

and to Loeb in

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

, who suffered from food poisoning on day two, passed

to take his first podium in his home event.

Petter Solberg Petter Solberg (born 18 November 1974), nicknamed "Mr. Hollywood" is a Norwegian former professional rallying, rally and rallycross driver. Solberg debuted in the World Rally Championship in 1998 and was signed by the Ford World Rally Team, For ...

also looked set to challenge for a podium place, but suffered a puncture and then went wide and got stuck in a ditch right at the end of the fourth stage. Munchi's Ford driver Matti Rantanen took a career-best fifth place in only his second rally in a

. After Stobart's

Henning Solberg Henning Solberg (born 8 January 1973) is a Norway, Norwegian Rallying, rally and rallycross driver. Together with his female co-driver Ilka Minor, he currently competes in the World Rally Championship (WRC) with cars of M-Sport. Solberg is the o ...

, Rantanen's main challenger for the position, retired with a broken suspension, Rantanen was chased down by Citroën Junior Team's

Sébastien Ogier Sébastien Eugène Emile Ogier (; born 17 December 1983) is a French Rallying, rally driver, competing for the Toyota Gazoo Racing Team in the World Rally Championship (WRC). He is currently teamed with co-driver Vincent Landais. He has won 8 List ...

. Ogier closed to within 0.6 seconds before the final stage but a time only 0.3 seconds faster than Rantanen's kept him in sixth place. Ogier's teammates

Evgeny Novikov Evgeny Maksimovich Novikov (; born 19 September 1990) is a Russian former rally driver who competed in the World Rally Championship from 2007 to 2013. Career Born in Moscow, Novikov won the Russian Rally Cup in 2006 and finished runner-up ...

and

Conrad Rautenbach Conrad Rautenbach (born 12 November 1984) is a rally driver from Zimbabwe who competed in the World Rally Championship for the Citroën Junior Team along with his co-driver Daniel Barritt. He won the African Rally Championship twice, in 200 ...

both crashed out. Novikov crashed on both Friday and Saturday mornings while Rautenbach held ninth place until his accident on the penultimate stage.

Jari Ketomaa Jari Ketomaa (born 18 April 1979) is a Finnish former rally driver. Career A former kart racer, Ketomaa started rallying in 1995. He made his World Rally Championship debut in 2000 at Rally Finland. He won the Group N class of the Finnish R ...

made his World Rally Car debut in a private Subaru Impreza WRC2007 and was another driver to challenge for fifth, the "best of the rest" position. He incurred a puncture and struggled with steering damage on Friday, losing over a minute, but recovered to overtake Stobart's

Matthew Wilson Matthew James Wilson (born 29 January 1987) is a British rally driver from Cockermouth in Cumbria. He is the son of M-Sport boss and former World Rally Championship driver Malcolm Wilson. Wilson competed in the WRC for the Stobart M-Sport For ...

for eighth and then began closing in on

Mads Østberg Mads Østberg (born 11 October 1987) is a Norway, Norwegian Rallying, rally driver. His co-driver is Torstein Eriksen. Career Østberg competed in his first rally in 2004. His first World Rally Championship event was the 2006 Swedish Rally, in ...

in a year newer Impreza WRC. As the Norwegian crashed out on SS19, Ketomaa took the seventh place and his first-ever WRC points, and Wilson eighth and his first-ever point in the Rally Finland. Khalid al-Qassimi finished ninth and production class winner

beat Munchi's

for tenth place.

Martin Prokop Martin Prokop (, born 4 October 1982) is a Czech Republic, Czech Rallying, rally driver. He won the Junior World Rally Championship in the 2009 World Rally Championship season, 2009 season. Career After competing in the Czech Rally Champions ...

won the

category and secured the junior world title. Crowd favourite

impressed in his WRC debut. Despite engine trouble, he held third place in the production class until rolling out at exactly the same place as Østberg. Räikkönen's performance drew praise from the top rally drivers.

Results

Special stages

Championship standings after the event

Drivers' championship

Manufacturers' championship

References

External links

Official websiteEvent at WRC.com
{{2009 World Rally Championship season

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

Rally Finland