2010 Rally Japan

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.^[1]

2010 Rally Japan
Round 10 of the 2010 World Rally Championship season ← Previous event Next event →
Host country	Japan
Rally base	Sapporo, Hokkaidō
Dates run	9 – 12 September 2010
Stages	26[1] (301.12 km; 187.11 miles)
Stage surface	Gravel
Overall distance	1,205.07 km (748.80 miles)
Statistics
Crews	70 at start, 54 at finish
Overall results
Overall winner	Sébastien Ogier Citroën World Rally Team

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.^[2] 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.^[3] 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).

Day	Stage	Time	Name	Length	Winner	Time	Avg. spd.	Rally leader
Leg 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/h
Leg 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/h
Leg 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 Pos. 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 Pos. 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