MotorSportVoice - 2009

The first WRC event of the season took place in Ireland. Harsh weather met the crews as they descended on the Emerald Isle, with snow, heavy rain and ice featuring throughout the shakedown, and leaving slippery surfaces for the event proper.

Young Finnish ace Jari-Matti Latvala opted for the extreme weather tyre for the first set of stages, and it paid off instantly. He dominated the first stage, beating nearest rival Urmo Aava by almost 20 seconds, and leaving multiple World Champion Sebastien Loeb some 40 seconds behind. Loeb fought back through the rest of the day, claiming stage wins on all of the remaining stages to take the rally lead. Latvala was forced to retire after the second stage. He suffered two punctures after an off, but also endured mechanical damage which ended his day. Niall McShea was setting very quick times in the Proton Satria Super 2000 specification car, but was forced to retire with electrical problems midway through the day. Before Loeb took over the lead of the event, young Estonian Urmo Aava enjoyed his first stint at leading a World Rally event. But he also fell by the wayside as he went off into a ditch. The final two stages of day one were cancelled due to flooding.
Day two saw Loeb stretch his rally lead, followed by his team mate Daniel Sordo. The day saw a massive battle between Henning Solberg, who isn't the worlds biggest fan of asphalt rallies, and Chris Atkinson who was making his debut in the Citroen C4. Last year's runner up Mikko Hirvonen couldn't match the pace of the Citroen's and settled for bolstering his third place in the event, but was hampered with power steering problems throughout day two. Another Irish Championship regular, Gareth MacHale was enjoying running as high as 7th overall, but fell back with gearbox problems.
The final day saw the Solberg – Atkinson battle resume, with Henning at one point resigning to the fact that Atkinson would pass him, and he did. Although after an overshoot midway through the day, he gifted Solberg the fourth spot back again. The battle was entertaining on the stages, and in the service park, as old fashioned rally banter between two professionals was a joy to behold. Mikko Hirvonen dominated the day in terms of stage wins, but he was powerless to overcome Sordo in second, and he has to settle for third. Loeb drove a typically steady and composed final day to claim yet another rally victory, even though he did have a slight moment on one of the stages. Henning Solberg claimed a brilliant fourth place, but the most prominent part of the leader board was 6th through 9th. Sebastien Ogier, Matthew Wilson, Khalid Al Qassimi and Eamon Boland occupied those places.

The next major event is the Rally of Norway from the 12th to 15th February 2009. The event will see the inclusion of the new Petter Solberg World Rally Team. The 2003 World Champion has purchased a Citroen Xsara, which is run by his own team, which features some of the former Subaru World Rally Team personnel.