The 2009 World Rally Championship was the 37th season of the FIA World Rally Championship. The season consisted of twelve rallies and began on 30 January, with Rally Ireland and ended with Rally GB on 25 October. Sébastien Loeb won the World Drivers' championship at Rally GB by one point from Mikko Hirvonen, taking his sixth consecutive crown. Citroën secured their fifth Manufacturers' title, Martin Prokop won the JWRC Drivers' championship and Armindo Araujo won the PWRC Drivers' championship.

Regulation changes

The number of mechanics available per car has been dropped from 12 to 8.

Calendar

The 2009 championship was contested over twelve rounds in Europe, South America and Oceania. The 2009 season included twelve rallies, which was three fewer than the 2008 season, because the FIA imposed a "Round Rotation" System in order to attract candidate rallies to have a chance to be a WRC event. Monte Carlo, Sweden, Mexico, Jordan, Turkey, Germany, New Zealand, France and Japan were dropped from the calendar for 2009, but will return at the 2010 WRC Season. Ireland, Norway, Cyprus, Portugal, Poland and Australia returned to the 2009 season. The eight events also part of the Production World Rally Championship were Norway, Cyprus, Portugal, Argentina, Italy, Greece, Australia and Rally GB. The eight rallies also on the Junior World Rally Championship schedule were Ireland, Cyprus, Portugal, Argentina, Italy, Poland, Finland and Spain.

Teams and drivers

In 2009 two categories are eligible to compete for the Manufacturer's championship: Manufacturer (M) Manufacturer Team (MT) The registered Manufacturers are Citroën Total World Rally Team and BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team; the registered Manufacturer Teams are Stobart VK M-Sport Ford, Munchi's Ford and Citroën Junior Team. Suzuki and Subaru pulled out of the WRC at the end of the 2008 championship, both citing the economic downturn then affecting the automotive industry for their withdrawal.

J-WRC Entries

P-WRC Entries

Results and standings

Results and statistics

Notes:

Drivers' championship

Manufacturers' championship

JWRC Drivers' championship

PWRC Drivers' championship