With their second place in Mexico, Petter and Phil took a good step up in the drivers championship. They now have 20 points and is number five on the list. Loeb is back in lead, and Hirvonen is second.

Next event is Rally Jordan, 1 – 3 April.

Drivers standings, 2 of 13 events;
1. Sebastien Loeb, France 43p
2. Mikko Hirvonen, Finland 37p
3. Jari-Matti Latvala, Finland 25p
3. Sebastein Ogier, France 25p
5. Petter Solberg, Norway 20p
6. Henning Solberg, Norway 16p
7. Dani Sordo, Spain 12p
8. Matthew Wilson, UK 6p

- I am absolutely mega-happy right now, I’ve been controlling this the whole weekend. I were not afraid to be first on the road on Saturday, even though I knew I were going to loose half a second per kilometer. It were my choice, and I knew I could still be top three, which were the main target for the weekend. There will be some strategic thinking before Jordan, but I must say this looks good for the rest of the season!

An amazing weekend is finished her in Mexico, with the Petter Solberg World Rally Team on the podium. It was a thriller to the final end, but Petter and Phil just got the second place in front of Sebastien Ogier who ended third. Sebastien Loeb won the event.

Overall classification Rally Mexico 2010

1. Sebastien Loeb, Citroën
2. Petter Solberg, Citroën + 24,2
3. Sebastien Ogier, Citroën +25,3
4. Hirvonen, Ford +1.47,5
5. Latvala, Ford +2.15,1
6. Henning, Ford +2.48,0
7. Villagra, Ford +10.13,4

Day 2 in Mexico is done, with Petter and Phil still on the podium. Sebastien Loeb is in the lead, Petter is second and Sebastien Ogier is third.

Being the rally leader after day 1, also means that you have to be first on the road the next day, which in Mexico is not an advantage. – It’s been so slippery today. All that sand and gravel were a real challenge, said Petter Solberg after the final stage of the day. – Even on the second run through it was slippery. But, we are doing really good, and have been on the pace today anyway, so I’m very happy with the day. The car feels good, so will push real hard tomorrow to keep my second position, and to get some more fighting.

Only 3 more stages to go tomorrow, first car will be on the road from 0843 (local time). 4 stages were scheduled for tomorrow, but SS20 is already cancelled due to bad road-conditions.

Overall classification Rally Mexico day 2

1. Loeb, Citroën
2. Petter, Citroën +55,5
3. Ogier, Citroën +58,2
4. Latvala, Ford +1.43,9
5. Hirvonen, Ford +1.59,9
6. Henning, Ford +2.25,2
7. Villagra, Ford +9.11,8
8. Prokop, Ford +16.28,0
9. Pons, Ford +16.32,8
10. Araujo, Mitsubishi +18.04,7

- The day has been exactly as planned. It’s much more tricky and slippery compared to yesterday, and we expected a loss of about 40 seconds. Still more stages to go, nothing is final yet. I’m very happy with the car.

Overall classification 13 of 22 stages
1. Loeb, Citroën
2. Petter, Citroën +17,8
3. Ogier, Citroën +19,9
4. Latvala, Citroën +1.20,7
5. Hirvonen, Ford +1.31,0
6. Henning, Ford +1.42,2
7. Villagra, Ford +6.33,4

Petter and Phil had a fantastic day here in Mexico. With the fastest time on 5 of todays 9 stages, the Petter Solberg World Rally Team is now the overnight leader of Rally Mexico. Sebastien Ogier is second, 15 seconds behind, and Sebastien Loeb is third.

- Today has been good fun, Petter says. – Of course our road position was a good advantage, but still we have been fast. It will be more difficult tomorrow being first car on the road, but I will keep on enjoying the driving and the fight.

Together with the afternoon stages, came the questions about tactics and if Petter would drop down on the classification to avoid being first on the road tomorrow. – I have no reason to play tactics, Petter said. I’m here to drive as fast as possible not to play. We have no plan, no strategy, just to take it as it comes.

Rally Mexico continues with 8 more stages Saturday. First car will be on the road at 0754 (local time).

Overall classification, Rally Mexico day 1

1. Petter, Citroën 1.23.39,9
2. Ogier, Citroën +15,0
3. Loeb, Citroën +27,5
4. Sordo, Citroën +40,8
5. Latvala, Ford +1.01,2
6. Hirvonen, Ford +1.31,5
7. Henning, Ford +1.37,5
8. Wilson, Ford +2.47,2
9. Villagra, Ford +4.19,8
10. Block, Ford +4.33,3

- It’s been a good morning, says Petter Solberg. – Had a good road position, but still we have set some good times today. It’s been very slippery conditions, but I have tried to push and times have been good. We will see more tonight after the second run the stages.

Overall classification, 4 of 22 stages

1. Petter, Citroën
2. Ogier, Citroën +17,1
3. Loeb, Citroën +26,1
4. Sordo, Citroën +29,1
5. Latvala, Ford +40,3
6. Hirvonen, Ford +55,2
7. Henning, Ford +1.01,8
8. Wilson, Ford +1.28,2
9. Block, Ford +1.45,6
10. Villagra +2.26,5

Petter and Phil were fastest at todays Shakedown in Mexico. They did 5 runs through the 5,15km long stage, and the fastest time came on the final run. – We drove slowly on the 4 first runs, especially trough the water-splash, but on the final run we went flat out, said Petter Solberg after. – We found a good set up during the test, which worked well today.

A lot of drivers got into trouble today, caused by high speed into the water-splash. The road down to it were quite steep, and when hitting the water it went straight into the cooling system. When the road in to a water splash is more flat, the car just flows over the water without any damage.

Rally Mexico starts Friday morning (local time).

Shakedown times

1. Petter, Citroën 2.51,7
2. Sordo, Citroën 2.51,8
3. Ogier, Citroën 2.51,9
4. Loeb, Citroën 2.52,5
5. Räikkönen, Citroën 2.54,2
6. Hirvonen, Ford 2.55,3
7. Henning, Ford 2.56,2
8. Villagra, Ford 2.56,4
9. Wilson, Ford +2.59,9
10. Latvala, Ford +3.00,1

It’s rally-week again, and we are ready for the second event on the 2010 Championship – Rally Mexico. From the very winterly Sweden, we have now moved overseas to the sun in Mexico. We are in the city of Leon, which is the biggest city in the Guanajuato district, with 1,2 million inhabitants.

The Petter Solberg World Rally Team came to Mexico last week, and have done a two days test during the weekend. – It’s been two hard days, but I think we now got most of it in place for the rally, says Petter Solberg, who won this rally in 2005.

35 cars are on the entry-list for the rally, and they will compete a total of 348kms and 22 special stages during the weekend. Rally Mexico kicks off with a fantastic ceremonial start on Thursday evening, whilst the first stage is on from Friday morning.

Itinerary Rally Mexico (local times, Mexico is GMT -6 hrs)

Friday 5 March
0728 SS1 Alfaro 1 23,37km
0901 SS2 Ortega 1 23,83km
0949 SS3 El Cubilete 1 18,87km
1057 SS4 Coca-Cola Street stage 1,50km
Service Poliforum Service Park
1217 SS5 Alfaro 2 23,37km
1350 SS6 Ortega 2 23,83km
1438 SS7 El Cubilete 2 18,87km
1553 SS8 Super Special 1 2,21km
1558 SS9 Super Special 2 2,21km

Saturday 6 March
0754 SS10 Ibarrilla 1 29,90km
0917 SS11 Duarte 1 23,27km
1008 SS12 Derramadero 1 23,28km
1121 SS13 Coca Cola Street Stage 1,50km
Service Poliforum Service Park
1252 SS14 Ibarrilla 2 29,90km
1415 SS15 Duarte 1 23,27km
1506 SS16 Derramadero 2 23,28km
1621 SS17 Super Special 3 2,21km
1626 SS18 Super Special 3 2,21km

Sunday 7 March
0843 SS19 Guanajuatito 29,13km
0934 SS20 Sauz Seco 7,05km
1012 SS21 Comanjilla 17,94km
1127 SS22 Super Special 5 2,21km

In just a few days time, the Petter Solberg World Rally Team heads overseas to Mexico and the second event in the 2010 championship. A two-days test is planned the weekend before the rally starts. Containers with all the long-haul equipment sailed off from Europe in January, and the rally-car will be air freighted early next week.

- We have put Sweden behind us now, and are fully focused on the upcoming event, says Petter Solberg. – I’ve always liked the roads in Mexico, and I’m pretty sure we will have some fun there! Petter and Phil won Rally Mexico in 2005.

Rally Mexico starts March 4th.

After restarting under Superally-regulations today, Petter ended 12th in Mexico and scored one important point in the manufactures championship. Petter restarted today with a 30 minute penalty. But overall Subaru did a good result in Mexico, as Chris Atkinson ended 2nd, his best result in the WRC ever.

The winner of the Rally Mexico 2008 is Sebastien Loeb. Jari-Matti Latvala ended third and Mikko Hirvonen fourth. Henning was in fourth position when he started on the final stage of the rally, but suffered a puncture and lost too much time and dropped down to fifth.

Only 29 of the 39 entered cars started in Mexico today, and some of them were under Superally regulations. Four stages were scheduled today, but SS18 were cancelled for safety reasons – too many spectators were waiting for the cars.

Next event is Rally Argentina, 27. – 29. March. Elda – are you ready?!?

Overall classification Rally Mexico 2008

1. Sebastien Loeb, Citroen – time 3h 33m 29,9 sec
2. Chris Atkinson, Subaru +1.06,1
3. Jari-Matti Latvala, Ford +1.39,7
4. Mikko Hirvonen, Ford +3.38,7
5. Henning Solberg, Ford +4.57,9
6. Matthew Wilson, Ford +6.28,9
7. Villagra, Ford + 19.03,0
8. Trivino, Peugeot +21.17,3
12. Petter, Subaru +30.9,0

Petter and Phil are restarting Rally Mexico under SupeRally regulations. They will receive a penalty of 30 minutes, but yet they can be fighting for manufacturers points. If you retire from a rally, you can choose to restart again under SupeRally regulations the next day. But, for each of the stages you do not cross the finish line, you will get a fixed time pluss a 5 minute penalty. The team also need to make time for getting the car ready again. Normally they have 30 or 45 minutes to do job, but SupeRally regulations gives them 2 hours and 50 minutes. The time starts to run when they start to work on the car in the servicepark. The team can choose when to start themselves, but the car need to be in Parc Ferme within the timelimit set from the organizer.

While waiting for the rally to start again, take a look at these atmosphere-photos from Mexico. If you cannot see all the images, go to the html-site by clicking the link on the top.

Another 8 stages have been run in Mexico today. Petter started the day in fourth place, but was forced to retire from SS10 with a broken driveshaft.

Sebastien Loeb is leading going into the third and final day, while Chris Atkinson is second. Latvala, who was second yesterday, got into engine trouble on SS13 and lost his second position overall. Mikko Hirvonen hit a rock on SS12, had to change a wheel in the stage and lost over 3 minutes. Henning has struggled with brakeproblems, but has climbed on the overall classification and is no fourth.

Rally Mexico continues with the final four stages Sunday, first car is on the road at 0828, local time.

Overall classification Day 2 Rally Mexico

1. Sebastien Loeb, Citroen – time 3.08.39,8
2. Chris Atkinson, Subaru +1.01,4
3. Jari-Matti Latvala, Ford +2.06,4
4. Henning Solberg, Ford +3.51,6
5. Mikko Hirvonen, Ford +4.07,5
6. Matthew Wilson, Ford +6.10,6
7. Villagra +18.14,3
8. Trivino +19.31,1

Remote fuel in Mexico Saturday morning. Dusty, in the middle of nowhere and – well, remote!

Teamwork and tyre-change in no time.

Discussing the new Scorpion tyres with Sebastien Loeb. Loeb is actually asking Petter for some good advices regarding the tyres!

 
Petter and Phil got off to a dramatic start in Mexico. And all the excitement started on the first stage of the rally, when they hit a dog. The impact with the dog did not cause any damage to the car, but we can only imagine how the dog felt after being hit by a car that was not taking it slowly. Later, at the end of the stage, Petter got into some really problems, when the car suddenly were without brakes. – No handbrake, and the pedal went right to the floor, which was not fun considering the rest of the stage were only downhill! On the roadsection after the stage they managed to locate the problem and drove the next two stages with brakes on only 3 wheels, before the team were able to solve the problem in the servicepark.

But day 1 didn’t just bring difficulties for our boys. Two stagewins, SS4 and SS7, together with splendid driving throughout the day, has placed them in fourth position with only a minute up to the leader, Jari-Matti Latvala. Who needs brakes?!?!

The winner of the Swedish Rally is also leading Rally Mexico after day 1. Jari-Matti Latvala have been driving fast, in spite of being second on the road today and “member of team Sweaping the Road”. Sebastien Loeb is second overall today, while the other Subaru with Chris Atkinson is third.

Rally Mexico has been challenging for most of the drivers today, and forced many of them to retire. Dani Sordo were the first one, when he retired on SS1 with a broken suspension. Suzuki came down with two retirements today. PG Andersson started on SS3 with an engine running only on 3 cylinders. He made it back to the servicepark, but after inspection the team found the engine was too damaged to continue with rallying. Toni Gardemeister were facing problems from the start of the day, also engine-related, and he retired on SS4. Gigi Galli went off the road first time on SS3, and lost about 90 seconds when the rear wheels were stuck in a ditch. Galli also went off the road on SS4, and this time it was forcing him to retire. Mikko Hirvonen lost about 30 seconds on a puncture at SS5.

Rally Mexico continues with 8 more stages Saturday. First car is on the road at 0824 local time (1524 norwegian time).

Overall classification Day 1 Rally Mexico

1. Jari- Matti Latvala, Ford, tid  1.23.38,6
2. Sebastien Loeb, Citroen +9,6
3. Chris Atkinson, Subaru +22,4
4. Petter, Subaru +1.01,9
5. Mikko Hirvonen, Ford +1.10,6
6. Henning Solberg, Ford +2.43,6
7. Matthew Wilson, Ford +2.52,9
8. Frederico Villagra, Ford +5.30,0

This weekend it is all ready for the third event in the 2008 WRC, Rally Mexico. Rally Mexico is the first gravel rally this year, and also the first long haul event. Teams are already settled down in the city of Leon, about 400k’s north of Mexico City. Leon is the 5th biggest city in Mexico with 1,2 million inhabitants. The total population of Mexico is 101 million people.

Rallyheadquarter and servicepark are based indoors in the Poliforum Expo Centre, and the stages are running up in the mountains of Sierra de Lobos and Sierra de Guanajuato, with peaks rising towards 2700mts above sea level. The stages are fast, but they don’t flow naturally with the landscape. The stages also changes quickly from fast to slow, making it difficult for the drivers to find the needed rhythm with the car. The high altitudes makes it hard to breath for the engines, and reduces power.

354k’s of special stages are to be competed trough the weekend. And with only 477k’s of roadsection, Rally Mexico is the most compact rally on the calendar. Swedish Rally had 1100k’s of roadsection. It is the organizer them selves that decide about the roadsections, but every event need to have at least 350k’s of competitive route.

Petter and Phil are already settled in in Leon and ready to start the rally. – Mexico is a rally that we really enjoy, and we also have good results here in the past. We will definitely be fighting for the podium! Sebastien Loeb won Rally Mexico in 2007 and 2006, but Petter and Phil won in 2005. They had to retire in 2007, and ended 2nd in 2006.

Itinerary

Friday, 29. February

0828 SS1 Alfaro 1 22,96km
0951 SS2 Ortega 1 23,83km
1039 SS3 El Cubilete 1 18,87km
Service – Poliforum
1302 SS4 Alfaro 2 22,96km
1425 SS5 Ortega 2 23,83km
1513 SS6 El Cubilete 2 18,87km
1633 SS7 Super Special 1 2,21km
1638 SS8 Super Special 2 2,21km

Saturday, 1. March

0824 SS9 Ibarrilla 1 29,90km
0947 SS10 Duarte 1 23,27km
1038 SS11 Derramadero 1 23,28km
Service – Poliforum
1312 SS12 Ibarilla 2 29,90km
1435 SS13 Duarte 2 23,27km
1526 SS14 Derramadero 2 23,28km
1641 SS15 Super Special 3 2,21km
1646 SS16 Super Special 4 2,21km

Sunday, 2. march

0828 SS17 Leon 16,09km
0856 SS18 Guanajuatito 22,30km
1019 SS19 Comanjilla 17,88km
1134 SS20 Super Special 5 4,42km
Service – Poliforum
1300 Finish Podium

www.wrc.com

www.rallymexico.com

From the snow and the cold in Sweden, the WRC are now heading overseas to sunny Mexico. Petter is flying into Mexico and the city of Leon on Friday, to get prepared for the fast gravel stages in the Mexican mountains.

In 2007 we had a lot of expectations as Petter and Phil started Rally Mexico with a brand new car. And it started fantastic, with 3 stage wins. But later in the rally they had to retire due to engine problems. Still, this is a rally that Petter enjoys, and with a second place in 2006 and victory in 2005, it is likely that they can score more points in the championship. Sebastien Loeb won the 2007 Rally Mexico.

With 2 of the 15 events of the 2008 Championship finished, Petter is 4th with 9 points, and Subaru is second in the Manufacturers Championship.

Drivers Championship

1. Mikko Hirvonen – 16 p
2. Jari-Matti Latvala – 10p
2. Sebastien Loeb – 10p
4. Petter Solberg – 9p
4. Gigi Galli – 9p
6. Chris Atkinson – 6p

Manufacturers Championship

1. BP – Ford Abu Dhabi WRT, 26p
2. Subaru WRT, 16p
2. Stobart VK M-Sport Ford Rally Team, 16p
4. Citroën Total WRT, 15p
5. Suzuki WRT, 5p

Petter had a brilliant start in Rally Mexico, with 3 stagewins. The cars are now heading back to the servicepark, before they set off again for the second loop of the same stages. Petter is very happy with the results and says this is very good for the Subaru-team.

Henning did not get the same good start, after hitting a rock on the first stage the car rolled. Henning and Cato managed to finish all three stages of today, but with major gearchange- and diffproblems.

Sebastien Loeb got hit with a stone on stage 2, which caused him a broken windscreen on the codrivers side. Loeb said himself after the stage, that the stone was thrown by a spectator. This has happend before in Mexico.

SS4 starts at 2002 norwegian time, 1302 local time.