Hirvonen named Rally Australia winner after Citroen penalties
 

Taken from wrc.com

[QUOTE]6/9/09
Hirvonen named Rally Australia winner after Citroen penalties
In a shock development late on Sunday night, BP Ford Abu Dhabi Team driver Mikko Hirvonen has been named the new winner of Repco Rally Australia after Stewards handed Sebastien Loeb, Dani Sordo and Sebastien Ogier time penalties for a technical infringement.
At Sunday evening's post event scrutineering, Loeb's Citroen C4 WRC was found to be fitted with a front anti-roll bar link which did not comply with the homologation form of the car.
Representatives from the Citroen Total World Rally Team agreed that part of the anti-roll bar link on his car was different to the one on the homologation photograph.
After establishing that the C4s of Sordo and Ogier were fitted with the same part, Stewards levied a one-minute penalty on each of the three cars, as well as reprimanding the Citroen team for using a part which was not homologated.
The Citroen team are not appealing the decision, which means the amended results are now final.

Victory for Hirvonen means his lead over Loeb in the drivers' championship standings increases to five points. The changes mean that Citroen's advantage over Ford in the manufacturers' series is now 13 points.
[/QUOTE]

More on the matter from Citroen...


[QUOTE]Citroen team boss apologises to Loeb for 'administrative error'
The boss of Citroen Racing, Olivier Quesnel, has apologised to his lead driver Sebastien Loeb for the technical irregularity which cost him the lead of Repco Rally Australia today.
Loeb was the highest profile casualty of a post-event decision by Stewards to impose a one minute penalty on all three Citroen C4 WRC drivers, because their cars were fitted with a front anti-roll bar link which did not match the car's homologation form.
Quesnel said: "We accept the decision given that the photo on the homologation form does not match the part fitted to the car. The difference had no effect on either the performance or reliability of the car; it was simply due to an administrative error and does not stem from any desire to cheat. On behalf of the team, I would personally like to apologise to Sebastien Loeb and Daniel Elena who scored a superb victory on the stages this weekend."
Sebastien Loeb said: "I am obviously disappointed, but you've got to accept it when the regulations are applied. Instead of being just one point behind Mikko Hirvonen, I now have a five-point deficit to make up. That clearly complicates matters regarding our bid to win a sixth title, but this won't have any effect on our determination to
win in Spain..."
[/QUOTE]

Very interesting. Who knows maybe this will be Mikko's year (hopefully).

Stickin it to the French... :icon_thum

As much as i have over-whelming respect for his ability, (Loeb), I do enjoy seeing someone else win occasionally.. haha. :D I mean, dont get me wrong, I still loved watching PS, RB and CA driving for SWRT, but they werent the same calibre as Seb. And didnt really put the runs on the board for Subaru after 2003.

Kind of reminds me of the days of MS at Ferrari. Freak! :cool:

Unlucky for Seb, especially if he actually had no idea... but... Go Hirvonen!

Brent.
:)

It's very unusual to impose a time penalty for a technical irregularity. I cannot recall another time when a penalty other than exclusion has been issued. FFS Carlos Sainz was excluded from Rally Aus for stopping his car in a control zone! What a crock of shit saying it was an admin error! I don't know if they currently use it, but they were using a Kinetic sway bar link in the past, potential for massive gains in that area, don't let the frogs BS their way into you thinking they weren't cheating.

Ouch thats gotta hurt personally, to work your ass of so hard and win, then have it taken away from you on a technicality!

[QUOTE=elemist;392478]Ouch thats gotta hurt personally, to work your ass of so hard and win, then have it taken away from you on a technicality![/QUOTE]

One he probably knew about and wanted on the car!

At this level of motorsport, there are no 'mistakes' like this, so it's pretty obvious they were cheating (or someone fucked up big time).

If this was McLaren in the F1, there would be a $100 million fine attached to it too.

[QUOTE=Kato;392516]At this level of motorsport, there are no 'mistakes' like this, so it's pretty obvious they were cheating (or someone fucked up big time).[/QUOTE]

Agreed. Those boys know excatly what the deal is. tutt tutt ;)

Agreed.... They dont fuck up like that at a factory level. Every part on the car is bar-coded and checked in and out of the workshop for the simple fact that they dont get all the way to Australia and then blame the apprentice for bringing and installing the wrong part on not 1 car but all three...:book1:

This all starts to smell like the old toyota restricter bypass scam from the early 90's. All three cars should have been excluded from the results, not just recieve a slap on the hand.