2008 Mexico Rally : WRC Round 3 of 15 :
29th Februar - 02 Mach  of World Rallye Championship FIA.

2008 Rally Mexico : WRC Round 3 of 15 : 29th February - 2nd March

1. Unofficial Final Leaderboard

1. S Loeb/D Elena F Citroen C4 3h33m29.9s
2. C Atkinson/S Prevot AUS Subaru Impreza +1m06.1s
3. J-M Latvala/M Anttila FIN Ford Focus RS +1m39.7s
4. M Hirvonen/J Lehtinen FIN Ford Focus RS +3m38.7s
5. H Solberg/C Menkerud N Ford Focus RS +4m57.9s
6. M Wilson/S Martin GB Ford Focus RS +6m28.9s
7. F Villagra/J P Companc RA Ford Focus RS +19m03.0s
8. R Trivino/C Salom MEX Peugeot 206 +21m07.9s
9. S Ogier/J Ingrassis F Citroen C2 +25m00.4s
10. J Molder/F Miclotte EE Suzuki Swift +26m35.5s

2. Final News

Sébastien Loeb (Citroen) paced himself th rough the final stages to claim his third consecutive Rally Mexico victory. The Frenchman finished 66.1sec ahead of Chris Atkinson (Subaru), who scored his best ever result, despite feeling unwell and only three hours' sleep. BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team increased its advantage at the head of the FIA World Rally Championship after a strong double points haul in Mexico today.  The team, chasing its third consecutive manufacturers' world title, is 12 points clear with the Focus RS World Rally Car after Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila finished third in Rally Mexico and team-mates Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen claimed fourth. Behind the BP Ford Abu Dhabi cars, Henning Solberg (Ford) took fifth, the Munchi's driver losing fourth place after front right punctures on the final two tests. Stobart driver Matthew Wilson (Ford) rounded off the top six while Munchi's Federico Villagra (Ford) equalled his career best result in seventh. Petter Solberg (Subaru) claimed the fi nal manufacturers' point in 12th, despite a front right puncture on the penultimate stage and a spin on the final test.

BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team

BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team increased its advantage at the head of the FIA World Rally Championship after a strong double points haul in Mexico today.  The team, chasing its third consecutive manufacturers' world title, is 12 points clear with the Focus RS World Rally Car after Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila finished third in Rally Mexico and team-mates Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen claimed fourth. Hirvonen retains the lead in the drivers' standings after this third round of the 15-rally series, the 27-year-old Finn ahead by one point. Latvala lies third, five points behind his team-mate.

#3 : Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen: Hirvonen began the morning in fifth, after losing time through punctures on Friday and Saturday combined with being first in the start order and sweeping the roads clean of lo ose stones on the opening day. He was within striking distance of fourth and fastest time on the penultimate test moved him just ahead of Henning Solberg. He consolidated fourth on the final stage when the Norwegian struck trouble. "I tried to catch Henning but when stage 18 was cancelled, I decided I didn't have enough kilometres left in which to do it," said Hirvonen. "I was lucky he had a problem and I'm glad to finish fourth and take good points after a difficult weekend. It just wasn't my rally unfortunately. Jari-Matti and Loeb were very fast and I couldn't reach their pace but I'll have to find that speed or say goodbye to the championship. I was unlucky with punctures but fourth is OK in the circumstances and hopefully this is the worst rally I'll have this year. Unfortunately I will be first on the road again on the next round in Argentina, but it feels good to be still leading the championship.

#4 : Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila: Latvala, wh o led after Friday's opening action, started today's final day in third after a turbo pipe problem yesterday afternoon. With no pressure from behind and no chance of making progress up the leaderboard, the 22-year-old Finn paced himself through the final three special stages (the second test was cancelled for safety reasons due to the volume of spectators), but was still fastest on the opening stage to secure a podium finish. "It's an important result for me and it's a good result for the team and our championship challenge," he said. "I achieved my goal of being on the podium and it's just a shame we had a problem yesterday when fighting for the lead. But if I think about things closely, it has been a good weekend and I don't have any complaints. The best aspect was being able to challenge Loeb and match his times and I hope I can get just as close to him in the future because I had good speed this weekend."

Citroen Total World Rally Team

The final day of the 2008 World Rally Championship saw Sébastien Loeb, Daniel Elena and Citroën collect their third consecutive Rally Mexico win. Their hat-trick in the land of sombreros takes them to within a single point of the provisional Drivers' championship leader, while Citroën has made up a little of its deficit in the Manufacturers' classification.

#1 : Sebastien Loeb/Daniel Elena: "Despite our overnight lead, we approached today's leg cautiously because of the risks inherent in being first on the road, like having to sweep a clear line, punctures, etc." Despite their apprehension, the World Champions came through the day unscathed and the cancellation of the day's longest test (SS18) for safety reasons didn't upset them unduly. Today's result marks the 38th world class win for Sébastien and Daniel who were gi ven a heroes' welcome by everyone at Citroën Sport on their return to the Poliforum service park. "I'm delighted to have won here," beamed Seb as he stepped off the podium. "Following our blank scorecard in Sweden, it was important to try to bounce back straight away. It wasn't easy and, as often seems to be the case in Mexico, we had a troubled start, but the rest of the event went very well for us! It's the sort of victory I like because it came after a good fight. Marcus Grönholm's absence has already been filled by another Finn who is younger and just as determined. I think we can look forward to some good scraps this year, and that's fine by me! For this weekend's hard-packed stages, Pirelli took the safe choice with a very hard compound in a bid to ward off punctures. We effectively didn't suffer any, but we had to adjust our set-up to improve traction. The team responded well and our times here with the C4 WRC are an encouraging pointer for the rest of the year."

#2 : Daniel Sordo/Marc Marti: Dani Sordo and Marc Martí posted some excellent times, too, to finish 17th overall with their Citroën C4. "Once we had put the first day's disappointment behind us, my main concern was to find the ideal set-up. After feeling as comfortable as I did in Sweden, the season's first gravel rally was another encouraging sign for the remainder of the season." "Today's win is a great reward for everyone at Citroën Sport and everybody kept their eye on the ball throughout," concluded Olivier Quesnel. "We reacted well to match the set-up of the C4 so well to the specific characteristics of the Mexican stages and produce such a highly competitive package. Sébastien and Daniel have closed to within a point of the current Drivers' championship leader and Citroën has stabilised the gap in the Manufacturers' standings. Sébastien Loeb's performance at the sharp end of the leaderbo ard was mirrored by the first class run of Sébastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia in the FIA Junior WRC with their Citroën C2 Super 1600. The Equipe de France FFSA-backed driver won his first world class outing which really is something of an achievement."

Subaru World Rally Team

Chris Atkinson and Stephane Prevot completed Rally Mexico in spectacular style, recording their highest ever finish together in a World Rally Championship event with a hard-fought second place. Meanwhile Petter Solberg and Phil Mills pushed hard to clinch the final Manufacturers’ Championship point, keeping the Subaru World Rally Team in second position in the overall standings. Atkinson’s second podium in three rallies this season jumps him to fourth overall in the Drivers’ Championship, just six points shy of the top of the standings. It& rsquo;s his best start to a WRC season, and firmly establishes the Australian as a contender for WRC victories. Solberg and Mills lie just behind in fifth in the Championship standings, as the team continue their strong start to 2008 with more solid points.

#5 : Petter Solberg/Phil Mills: Solberg and Mills restarted this morning under Superally regulations, and left the morning’s service fighting fit. On the day’s opening stage and with a car the team worked on fervently yesterday afternoon, Solberg felt happy with the balance of his Impreza WRC2007 and was able to push hard to post the second fastest stage time, almost three seconds clear of the rest of field. Over the final day’s 38 kilometres of stages, Solberg and Mills fought hard to climb to 12th overall, displaying their characteristic grit and determination to the very end to keep the team in second position in the Manufacturers’ Championship and keep himself close enough to fight for a top s pot in the Drivers’ Championship as the season develops. “Today we were ok in the first stage, but with big gaps between everyone at the front people were backing off” said Petter Solberg. “We scored a Manufacturer point which is important, but other than that it’s been a frustrating weekend really. But we keep working and pushing, and Argentina will be better.”

#6 : Chris Atkinson/Stephane Prevot: “It’s a fantastic result, my best in the WRC!” said Chris Atkinson. “All the team, the guys on my car, Subaru all did a top job. It was good fun to beat Sebastien [Loeb] on the Superspecial at the end there! It’s a great start to the year for me and also for the team, and I hope we can keep building on this. We’re making good steps forward and the car felt really good this weekend. We did some work on the dampers after Sweden and that was a big help – they were good here in the heat which is always a t ough test. Now we look to Argentina and to keep this performance going. The sooner I can win the better!”

Stobart VK M-Sport Ford World Rally Team

Brits Matthew Wilson/Scott Martin have scored their first points for the year this weekend on the third round of the FIA World Rally Championship; Corona Rally Mexico. The pair finished sixth overall capturing three valuable manufacturers’ points for the Stobart VK M-Sport Ford rally team. Sixth place also secures Wilson with his first drivers’ point for 2008 putting him 10th in the Drivers’ Championship. This was the first event for the year in which he and co-driver Martin were nominated to score manufacturer points for the Stobart squad and it is Martin’s best ever result in the WRC; eclipsing his previous best of eighth in Rally Mexico last year. Unfortunately their team-mates Gigi Galli/Giovanni Bernacchini were unsuccessful in scoring points on this round after retiring from the event on Friday. It was a cruel blow after two great opening rounds this year which included a podium on last month’s Swedish Rally.

#8 : Gigi Galli/Giovanni Bernacchini: “It was very disappointing what happened on stage 4 on Friday and the fact we retired from the event. It was the first corner and I came flat in third gear and the car slid too wide and we banged into a rock. We tried to fix the problem on the stage but ended up losing too much time and had to retire. It was just so silly because everything was feeling good and it was so unlucky that we hit the rock because I felt like I was set up well for the fast left-hand corner. It is a shame I only got to drive about 60 kilometres on gravel and with the new tyres but I’m sure the experience will help me when we go to Argentina for the next round.”

#16 : Matthew Wilson/Scott Martin: “Finishing inside the top-six is a great feeling and I am happy with how our pace has improved from last year. When we got into the position on Saturday we were in a bit of a no man’s land with big gaps to fifth and seventh but with Gigi out on Friday it was important to finish and keep the Stobart team in a strong position. I am happy to have scored valuable points for the team on my first event as a nominated point-scoring driver. We have had three reasonable rallies this year and sure it would have been nice to come here with points from Sweden but the speed I feel has set me up for a good start to the year. The first time I tried these new Pirelli gravel tyres was on shakedown but now I have a full event with them and the feeling is good so I’m really looking forward to Argentina and seeing what we can do there.”

Suzuki World Rally Team

#11 : Toni Gardemeister/Tomi Tuominen: Retired.

#12 : Per-Gunnar Andersson/Jonas Andersson: Retired.

Munchi's World Rally Team

Fith place for Henning Solberg cements some well deserved points and his Munchi's team-mate Federico Villagra secures seventh place at rallies end. Henning Solberg lost over a minute on the last Super Special and his chance of finishing in fourth place. It is thought that the cause could have been linked to the problem that gave him a puncture near the end of SS19.

#9 : Federico Villagra/J. Perez Companc: “Very good. No problems. It has been a tough rally, but I am very happy.”

#14 : Henning Solberg/Cato Menkerud: Days end, “I had a front right puncture 4km from the end…aaaahhh!” Days start, “It will be quite interesting today. Mikko, for sure, will be pushing hard.”

5. Championship Points

Drivers

1  Hirvonen / Lehtinen 21
2  Loeb / Elena 20
3  Latvala / Anttila 16
4  Atkinson / Prévot 14
5  Solberg / Mills 9
-  Galli / Bernacchini 9
7  Duval / Chevalier 5
8  Solberg / Menkerud 4

Manufacturers

1  BP Ford WRT 37
2  Subaru World Rally Team 25
-  Citroen Total WRT 25
4  Stobart VK M-Sport WRT 19
5  Munchi's Ford WRT 6
6  Suzuki WRT 5

6. Next Event

The next challenge for the crews is Rally Argentina. Another classic round, this year the event returns to the month of March, having been run in May in recent times. Potentially, this means we tter and more unpredictable weather, and the risk that the many fjords will become engorged and the soft gravel roads will become rutted and waterlogged. Based in the town of Cordoba, the stages wind through the surrounding mountains and valleys. The altitude will again be a factor in performance on this tough event. Rally Argentina on 27 - 30 March.
 

2008 Rally Argentina: WRC Round 4 of 15 :
28th 30th March of World Rallye Championship FIA.