WRC: LOEB DISCOVERS 4th CONSECUTIVE VICTORY IN MEXICO
2010-03-08 14:04:52 Author: admin Source:
Sébastien Loeb started the final day of Rally Mexico with a comfortable lead over their pursuers, namely Ford's Mikko Hirvonen. All he had to do was to control the gap to score his fourth consecutive victory in Mexico. The Frenchman fulfilled his mission and instantly took the lead in the World Rally Championship (WRC) Drivers' standings. Team mate Dani Sordo rejoined in the Super Rally and helped the Citroën Rally Team to score more Manufacturers points than Ford. Citroen also ruled Mexico following Petter Solberg and Sebastian Ogier second and third places respectively.
High altitude and slippery gravel roads in the hills above the rally base of León, 400km north-west of Mexico City, characterized the event, returning to the championship after a year's absence. The speed tests climbed to 2730 metres, and the thin air at that height meant engines 'ran out of breath', losing up to 30 per cent of their power. Loose gravel on the surface was a huge disadvantage to the early starters, who swept away the stones to leave a cleaner and faster line for those behind. The program of the final day of the rally had been pared down and was truncated after organisers cancelled the 7.05km SS20 Sauz Seco for safety reasons.
After a short stop in the Poliforum service park, the drivers tackled a loop made up of three timed stages, including a final pass in the ‘Autodrome de León’ super special. Loeb who led the rally by almost a minute took the final loop seriously: At the finish of the 30-kilometre Guanajuatito stage (SS19), the six-time WRC champion had lost 16 seconds to the quickest drivers; Sébastien Ogier and Petter Solberg.
Ford Rally Team retained the lead of the WRC manufacturers after a double points haul in Rally Mexico. Hirvonen (above left) finished fourth on the demanding dirt roads with team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala (above right) 27.6 seconds behind in fifth. Ford leads the manufacturers' standings by six points after two rounds of the 13-rally series, but Hirvonen has lost ground to Loeb in the Drivers' race.
Hirvonen and Latvala were first and third in the start order on the opening leg (Friday) and Hirvonen endured the worst of the conditions. The Finn, winner of the opening round in Sweden last month, ended the leg in sixth, one place behind Latvala. Better start positions on the second day offered the opportunity to climb the order and Hirvonen and Latvala were second and third fastest respectively in the leg. However, they did not regain as much time as was hoped and moved to fourth and fifth.
The final leg on Sunday was short as the Finns consolidated their positions. Latvala deliberately slowed on the final countryside special stage to allow team leader Hirvonen, making his 100th WRC start, to move ahead and take extra points to aid his challenge for the drivers' chase.
"It was a difficult weekend and after winning in Sweden I hoped for a better result here," admitted Hirvonen. "I'm happy that we scored good points for the team, but I made too many mistakes with my driving. I never really found a good rhythm and I felt I couldn't push as hard as I wanted to. When I tried, the car ended up sliding wide and I dropped even more time. I tried lots of different things but I never really found the answer."
"I never had the pace to fight for the win, so taking all that into account, I have to be happy with a solid finish. It's important to keep the points ticking over so early in the season and that's what we ended up doing here," he added.
The Stobart Rally Team collected a double points finish at the Rally Mexico through Henning Solberg's sixth place and Matthew Wilson single point scoop. In tough Mexican environments, Solberg and Wilson managed to avoid major trouble and made steady progress to end the first leg in seventh and eighth overall, just behind the factory Ford cars in fifth and sixth.
On day two, the longest stage of the event, featuring the tricky 29.90km SS10 Ibarrilla slippery gravel surface, caught out three of the top ten WRC crews and forced them to retire, Wilson was among them. The Brit went off the road and beached his car on a pile of large rocks, resulting in lost of positions and possible better points finish.
Solberg, meanwhile, enjoyed more luck, surviving the carnage on the first test and going on to be among the fastest Ford runners throughout the day. The Norwegian clocked in the second-fastest time on the 23.27km SS11 Duarte, and then a third fastest time on the following SS12 Derramadero. Then, despite having to drive around brake problems, he pushed on to take sixth overall, 25.3sec behind Hirvonen at the end of day two.
On the last leg, Wilson, like Citroen's Dani Sordo, rejoined the fray under SuperRally rules aiming to use the remaining stages as an opportunity to develop the settings on his Ford Focus. Solberg, on the other hand, took no risks as he sought to consolidate sixth after a good performance the previous day.
The next stop for WRC is the Jordan Rally at the end of the month.
Results
1. Loeb Citroën 3h42’41’’7
2. P. Solberg Citroën +24’’2
3. Ogier Citroën +25’’3
4. Hirvonen Ford +1’47’’5
5. Latvala Ford +2’15’’1
6. H. Solberg Stobart Ford +2’48’’0
7. Villagra Companc Ford +10’13’’4
8. Pons Ford +18’44’’4
9. Prokop Ford +19’02’’0
10. Araujo Mitsubishi +21’32’’5
