2009 Rally de Portugal
# 2009 Rally de Portugal

The 2009 Vodafone Rally de Portugal was the 43rd running of the Rally Portugal and the fourth round of the 2009 World Rally Championship season. It took place between 2-5 April 2009 and consisted of 18 special stages.

The event was won by Citroën's Sébastien Loeb ahead of Ford's Mikko Hirvonen and Loeb's teammate Dani Sordo. Norwegian drivers Petter Solberg, his brother Henning Solberg and Mads Østberg took the following positions. The last point-scoring places went to Federico Villagra and Khalid al-Qassimi, after Evgeny Novikov crashed out from eighth place on stage 15, and fifth-placed Matthew Wilson and now eighth-placed Conrad Rautenbach both retired on the penultimate stage.

The early leader Jari-Matti Latvala had a big crash on the fourth stage, rolling his Ford Focus WRC 17 times over a distance of 150 metres. Marcus Grönholm, who came out of retirement to contest the rally in a Prodrive-prepared Subaru Impreza WRC, crashed out from fourth place on stage eight.

## Results

| Pos. | Driver | Co-driver | Car | Time | Difference | Points |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| WRC |||||||
| 1 | Sébastien Loeb | Daniel Elena | Citroën C4 WRC | 3:53:13.1 | 0.0 | 10 |
| 2 | Mikko Hirvonen | Jarmo Lehtinen | Ford Focus RS WRC 08 | 3:53:37.4 | 24.3 | 8 |
| 3 | Dani Sordo | Marc Marti | Citroën C4 WRC | 3:54:58.5 | 1:45.4 | 6 |
| 4 | Petter Solberg | Phil Mills | Citroën Xsara WRC | 3:55:57.7 | 2:44.6 | 5 |
| 5 | Henning Solberg | Cato Menkerud | Ford Focus RS WRC 08 | 3:58:59.4 | 5:46.3 | 4 |
| 6 | Mads Østberg | Ole Kristian Unnerud | Subaru Impreza WRC 08 | 3:59:33.9 | 6:20.8 | 3 |
| 7 | Federico Villagra | Jose Diaz | Ford Focus RS WRC 08 | 4:06:12.6 | 12:59.5 | 2 |
| 8 | Khalid al-Qassimi | Michael Orr | Ford Focus RS WRC 08 | 4:11:24.8 | 18:21.7 | 1 |
| JWRC |||||||
| 1 | Michal Kosciuszko | Maciek Szczepaniak | Suzuki Swift S1600 | 4:22:38.6 | 0.0 | 10 |
| 2 | Kevin Abbring | Erwin Mombaerts | Renault Clio R3 | 4:28:45.1 | 6:06.5 | 8 |
| 3 | Hans Weijs Jr. | Bjorn Degandt | Citroën C2 S1600 | 4:32:01.3 | 9:22.7 | 6 |
| 4 | Luca Griotti | Corrado Bonato | Renault Clio R3 | 4:37:48.7 | 15:10.9 | 5 |
| 5 | Alessandro Bettega | Simone Scattolin | Renault Clio R3 | 4:49:23.1 | 26:44.5 | 4 |
| 6 | Simone Bertolotti | Luca Celestini | Suzuki Swift S1600 | 5:04:38.9 | 42:00.3 | 3 |
| PWRC |||||||
| 1 | Armindo Araujo | Miguel Ramalho | Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX | 4:15:31.6 | 0.0 | 10 |
| 2 | Martin Prokop | Jan Tománek | Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX | 4:16:38.7 | 1:07.1 | 8 |
| 3 | Eyvind Brynildsen | Denis Giraudet | Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX | 4:16:44.7 | 1:13.1 | 6 |
| 4 | Nasser Al-Attiyah | Giovanni Bernacchini | Subaru Impreza WRX STi | 4:26:09.2 | 10:37.6 | 5 |
| 5 | Mark Tapper | Jeff Rudd | Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X | 4:41:21.2 | 25:49.6 | 4 |
| 6 | Gianluca Linari | Andrea Cecchi | Subaru Impreza WRX STi | 4:43:39.3 | 28:07.7 | 3 |
| 7 | Gaurav Singh Gill | David Senior | Subaru Impreza WRX STi | 4:46:25.3 | 30:53.7 | 2 |
| 8 | Martin Semerád | Bohuslav Ceplecha | Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X | 5:00:32.7 | 45:01.1 | 1 |

## Special stages

| Day | Stage | Time (WEST) | Name | Length | Winner | Time | Rally leader |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 (2-3 APR) | SS1 | 16:50 | Estadio Algarve 1 | 2.21 km | Henning Solberg | 2:09.6 | Henning Solberg |
| 1 (2-3 APR) | SS2 | 10:15 | Ourique 1 | 23.42 km | Jari-Matti Latvala | 14:26.9 | Jari-Matti Latvala |
| 1 (2-3 APR) | SS3 | 11:12 | Silves 1 | 21.54 km | Jari-Matti Latvala | 12:11.6 | Jari-Matti Latvala |
| 1 (2-3 APR) | SS4 | 11:55 | Malhao 1 | 22.04 km | Sébastien Loeb | 14:10.8 | Daniel Sordo |
| 1 (2-3 APR) | SS5 | 15:00 | Ourique 2 | 23.42 km | Mikko Hirvonen | 14:27.3 | Mikko Hirvonen |
| 1 (2-3 APR) | SS6 | 15:57 | Silves 2 | 21.54 km | Daniel Sordo | 12:09.8 | Mikko Hirvonen |
| 1 (2-3 APR) | SS7 | 16:40 | Malhao 2 | 22.04 km | Sébastien Loeb | 14:06.6 | Mikko Hirvonen |
| 2 (4 APR) | SS8 | 09:55 | Santa Clara 1 | 22.61 km | Sébastien Loeb | 13:52.3 | Mikko Hirvonen |
| 2 (4 APR) | SS9 | 10:30 | Almodovar 1 | 27.18 km | Sébastien Loeb | 17:14.6 | Sébastien Loeb |
| 2 (4 APR) | SS10 | 11:40 | Vascao 1 | 22.8 km | Sébastien Loeb | 14:47.2 | Sébastien Loeb |
| 2 (4 APR) | SS11 | 14:50 | Santa Clara 2 | 22.61 km | Sébastien Loeb | 13:50.0 | Sébastien Loeb |
| 2 (4 APR) | SS12 | 15:25 | Almodovar 2 | 27.18 km | Sébastien Loeb | 17:20.3 | Sébastien Loeb |
| 2 (4 APR) | SS13 | 16:35 | Vascao 2 | 22.8 km | Sébastien Loeb | 14:40.6 | Sébastien Loeb |
| 3 (5 APR) | SS14 | 07:50 | Loule 1 | 22.65 km | Sébastien Loeb | 15:46.6 | Sébastien Loeb |
| 3 (5 APR) | SS15 | 08:45 | S. Bras Alportel 1 | 16.23 km | Sébastien Loeb | 11:40.1 | Sébastien Loeb |
| 3 (5 APR) | SS16 | 11:16 | Loule 2 | 22.65 km | Mikko Hirvonen | 15:34.9 | Sébastien Loeb |
| 3 (5 APR) | SS17 | 12:11 | S. Bras Alportel 2 | 16.23 km | Mikko Hirvonen | 11:36.0 | Sébastien Loeb |
| 3 (5 APR) | SS18 | 14:00 | Estadio Algarve 2 | 2.21 km | Henning Solberg | 2:08.8 | Sébastien Loeb |
