Thread: Rally Mexico 2008 (WRC)

Rally Mexico is the highest round in the series. Most stages are over 2000m above sea level and the first leg climbs to more than 2700m on hillsides awash with cacti and water crossings. But while the altitude may be breathtaking for the spectators, the thinner air is doing the same to the engines of the rally cars, which can lose up to 30 per cent of their usual power.

Last year it was Loeb who won the event, but both Subaru drivers Solberg and Atkinson were going very fast there untill they got technical problems. Subaru boss Richards is optimistic under the race and excepts their drivers to score high, even win. Loeb has somewhat pressure now since he retired in Sweden and lost the championship lead to Hirvonen. Hirvonen will start first to stages on friday and with roads like Mexico has, that is not the ideal spot to drive, I'd bet that we see some tactical moves by drivers, slowing onto stages to get better starting positions for saturday.

Engine of Loeb's Citroen was changed and the race-jury might give him a time penalty. He was driving to shakedown stage when the engine just died. Citroen C4 has been pretty unreliable in this season, Sordo and Loeb both have had engine problems.

go subie all the way! citroen's gonna implode anyway, and whos left?

Citroen didn't change the engine afterall, the time penalty looked too obvious so they choosed to try and fix the troubles somewhere in fuel department, risky business...Subaru started the rally with style yesterday and after 1st SS their drivers are holding 1-2.

situation after 4 stages

1. Jari-Matti Latvala Ford 54.27,1
2. Sebastien Loeb Citroen +7,0
3. Chris Atkinson Subaru +13,3
4. Mikko Hirvonen Ford +23,4
5. Petter Solberg Subaru +50,2
6. Matthew Wilson Ford +2.06,9
7. Henning Solberg Ford +2.19,1
8. Federico Villagara Ford +4.21,0

1. J-M. Latvala Ford 1.23.38,6
2. Sebastien Loeb Citroen +9,6
3. Chris Atkinson Subaru +22,4
4. Petter Solberg 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. Federico Villagra Ford +5.30,0

Some news from the stages

SS1: Petter Solberg hits a dog, Sordo dnf's because of broken suspension.
SS2: Gardemeister in big troubles with transmission and loses over 14 minutes to lead.
SS3: Gigi Galli in troubles, Hirvonen overtakes him.
SS4: Andersson, Galli and Gardemeister all retire.
SS5: Hirvonen suffers a tyre failure and loses over 30 seconds to lead.

Latvala was really on fire on the first day, his teamie Hirvonen is 'annoyed' by the speed he is showing at Mexico. Even Loeb says that they will have to try tweak the setup to answer Latvala's pace.

BTW those who didn't know, wrc.com nowadays provides excellent coverage on the latest news on stages and also huge variety of onboard clips, interviews and stuff in almost real time.

SS9: Latvala is now cleaning the road for everyone else and Loeb has found new setup faster.
SS10: P. Solberg suffers a drive shaft failure and loses over 4 minutes to lead, Hirvonen is now 4th and Loeb takes the lead.
SS11: Solberg retires from the race.
SS12: Hirvonen has to stop on the stage to change a tyre, at finish also another tyre is empty, he loses 3 minutes to Loeb.
SS13: Latvala in engine problems, loses over a minute to the fastest.
SS14: Latvala's turbo is broken and Loeb can now ease up. A spectator throws huge stone to Wilson's windshield, luckily nothing bad happnes.

TIMESHEET AFTER SATURDAY

1. Sebastien Loeb Citroen 3.08.39,8
2. Chris Atkinson Subaru +1.01,4
3. J-M. 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. Federico Villagra Ford +18.14,3
8. Ricardo Trivino Peugeot +19.31,1

SS17: Loeb and Atkinson are slowing down to secure their positions.
SS18: The stage is cancelled due to safety issues, too many spectators.
SS19: Henning Solberg damages a tyre and Hirvonen gets pass him.

The rally ends and here is top-3

1. Sebastien Loeb Citroen 3.33.29,9
2. Chris Atkinson Subaru +1.06,1
3. J-M. Latvala Ford +1.39,7

After Ford drivers got into troubles, Loeb got somewhat an easy win. Atkinson scored his career best here by finishing second, grats to Chris! Hirvonen was disappointed, not just because all the difficulties but also that Loeb and Latvala are both going so fast. He said to tv reporters that "I really have to sit down and think about where I can find more speed. Otherwise I can just forget the championship fight"

Like Atkinson, Latvala indeed has been a surprise of the season so far. Finns are looking forward him to be their next rally-superstar. Sneaky-Seb placed little pressure on Hirvonen, who was supposed to be the clear No. 1 status driver when Latvala was publicly stated as the "supporting driver". Loeb stated to the press that "Latvala has stepped into Gr?nholm's shoes, he is as fast and determined but younger."

Drivers Championship table after three rallys (3/15)

1. Mikko Hirvonen 21
2. Sebastien Loeb 20
3. Jari-Matti Latvala 16
4. Chris Atkinson 14
5. Gigi Galli 9
6. Petter Solberg 9
7. Francois Duval 5
8. Henning Solberg 4
9. Andreas Mikkelsen 4
10. Matthew Wilson 3
11. Daniel Sordo 3
12. Toni Gardemeister 2
13. Jean Marie Cuoq 2
14. Federico Villagra 2
15. P-G. Andersson 1
16. Juho H?nninen 1
17. Ricardo Trivino 1


Contructors Table:

1. Ford 37
2. Citroen 25
3. Subaru 25
4. Stobart Ford 19
5. Munchi's Ford 6
5. Suzuki 5