KINGSCLIFF // Hours after absorbing a potentially crucial dent to his drivers' championship prospects, BP Ford Abu Dhabi's Mikko Hirvonen was gifted a shock Rally Australia victory late last night.
According to a statement from the organisers, a post-event scrutineering report from the FIA Technical Delegate stated the front anti-roll bar of "car number one" - Sebastien Loeb's Citroen - did not comply with the homologation form of the car.
Following frantic discussions by Loeb's team representatives, Citroen agreed the part differed with the homologation photo, according to the statement.
Citroen also verified that both Dani Sordo and Sebastien Ogier's cars were fitted with the identical parts following which the stewards decided to levy a one-minute penalty on the trio for the technical infringement.
The punishment, to which Citroen did not appeal, saw Hirvonen leapfrog Loeb, and his fifth-placed teammate Jari-Matti Latvala trade fourth place with Ogier. Sordo remained third.
The revised results mean Hirvonen extended his lead in driver's standings over Loeb by five points, while Ford reduced Citroen's manufacturers' lead down to 13 points with just two rounds - Spain and Great Britain - remaining.
"It's a shame that after such a thrilling three-day battle the result of the rally is decided in the stewards' room," said Hirvonen. "I suffered a points loss in Portugal two years ago, so I know how Sebastien must feel."
The late development also saw Citroen Junior Team driver Conrad Rautenbach disappear from final classifications.
Earlier, a triumphant Loeb had said: "It has been a great battle, there's been 35 long stages and it's not easy to keep the rhythm. I knew I had to win and couldn't make any mistakes."
However, errors by the mechanical crew now seem to have dented the Frenchman's bid to win a sixth consecutive world championship. No one was available to comment from Citroen.
With Loeb widely expected to win the WRC's penultimate round in Spain, which runs on his favoured tarmac surface, Hirvonen had earlier revealed his dejection being second.
"I wanted to win but it wasn't enough, they were faster this weekend and played their tactics well, that it," he said.
"Nobody had any room for mistakes, but I knew in the morning it was going to be tough. Mentally I'm not giving up, even though Spain is not my best surface."
Sordo, who is yet to win a World Rally Championship event, is the only original top-five finisher to be unaffected by the infringement penalty. "I'm happy, I tried to catch Mikko but he drove well," he said before the late drama.
"The battle was great for the spectators, it was never more than four seconds to either of us. Now we'll see what happens in Spain, maybe I will go faster than Mikko."
Further back, Ford's third driver, Sheikh Khalid al Qassimi climbed six places - and jumped another after Rautenbach's disappearance - to finish 19th overall.
The Emirati driver, whose car caught fire at the end of the penultimate stage, posted several top 10 stages times, but was ultimately undone by the 35-minute penalty he shouldered from his day one retirement.
"Overall, with the ups and downs, I enjoyed it - especially the last two days," he said.
emegson@thenational.ae
BUNDESLIGA FIXTURES
Friday (UAE kick-off times)
Cologne v Hoffenheim (11.30pm)
Saturday
Hertha Berlin v RB Leipzig (6.30pm)
Schalke v Fortuna Dusseldof (6.30pm)
Mainz v Union Berlin (6.30pm)
Paderborn v Augsburg (6.30pm)
Bayern Munich v Borussia Dortmund (9.30pm)
Sunday
Borussia Monchengladbach v Werder Bremen (4.30pm)
Wolfsburg v Bayer Leverkusen (6.30pm)
SC Freiburg v Eintracht Frankfurt (9on)
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The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
Bombshell
Director: Jay Roach
Stars: Nicole Kidman, Charlize Theron, Margot Robbie
Four out of five stars
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
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2070km to run
38 days
273,600 calories consumed
28kg of fruit
40kg of vegetables
45 pairs of running shoes
1 yoga matt
1 oxygen chamber
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The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo
Power: 178hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 280Nm at 1,350-4,200rpm
Transmission: seven-speed dual-clutch auto
Price: from Dh209,000
On sale: now
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NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
The biog
Name: Shamsa Hassan Safar
Nationality: Emirati
Education: Degree in emergency medical services at Higher Colleges of Technology
Favourite book: Between two hearts- Arabic novels
Favourite music: Mohammed Abdu and modern Arabic songs
Favourite way to spend time off: Family visits and spending time with friends
The view from The National
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
The specs: 2017 Lotus Evora Sport 410
Price, base / as tested Dh395,000 / Dh420,000
Engine 3.5L V6
Transmission Six-speed manual
Power 410hp @ 7,000rpm
Torque 420Nm @ 3,500rpm
Fuel economy, combined 9.7L / 100km
The Energy Research Centre
Founded 50 years ago as a nuclear research institute, scientists at the centre believed nuclear would be the “solution for everything”.
Although they still do, they discovered in 1955 that the Netherlands had a lot of natural gas. “We still had the idea that, by 2000, it would all be nuclear,” said Harm Jeeninga, director of business and programme development at the centre.
"In the 1990s, we found out about global warming so we focused on energy savings and tackling the greenhouse gas effect.”
The energy centre’s research focuses on biomass, energy efficiency, the environment, wind and solar, as well as energy engineering and socio-economic research.
