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2005 WRC: MEXICO

SOLBERG WINS IN NEW 2005 SUBARU IMPREZA

• WINNER: Petter Solberg takes the championship lead after his 2nd consecutive win of the year. He led every leg of the rally. "I was very pleased to win with the old car in Sweden and then it's an incredible feeling to win with the new one here. The tribute for the rally is for Mr. Kuze; it was him that made it possible for us to be here. I am so, so pleased! I was really nervous before the start because I was not completely happy with the new car, but this is a fantastic result for the whole team."
• 2ND: Marcus Gronholm "Normally I would not be happy to finish second, but now it feels good after retiring in Sweden and not finishing so well in Monte-Carlo. Next time we will push harder to make it difficult for Petter"
• World champion Sebastien Loeb started 14th after mechanical trouble on Day 1, won both stages on Sunday. He finished 4th overall.

WINNER: Solberg, Subaru

2nd, Gronholm, Peugeot

2nd, Martin, Peugeot

• 1. Petter Solberg , Norway, Subaru Impreza WRC 05 3HR 00M 41.6S
• 2. Marcus Gronholm , Finland, Peugeot +34.5s behind
• 3. Markko Martin , Estonia, Peugeot 1m 38.3
• 4. Sebastien Loeb , France, Citroen 3m 51.1
• 5. Harri Rovanpera , Finland, Mitsubishi 3m 58.1
• 6. Toni Gardemeister , Finland, Ford 4m 05.6
• 7. Antony Warmbold , Germany, Ford 6m 01.0
• 8. Gilles Panizzi , France, Mitsubishi 6m 01.7
• 9. Armin Schwarz , Germany, Skoda 8m 05.3
• 10. Francois Duval , Belgium, Citroen 16m 14.2
• 11 *Guy Wilks , Suzuki Ignis
• 12 Jani Paasonen 13 *Per-gunnar Andersson 14 Michael Kahlfuss 15 *Luca Cecchettini 16 Carlos Tejada 17 *Pavel Valousek
• *JUNIOR WORLD RALLY

POST RACE QUOTES

• 1ST Petter Solberg: "It's incredible, I'm just so happy! To get a win with the old car in Sweden and another with the new one here is a great feeling - for sure there's still more to come from this car but I'm very happy with the progress we've made already. It's also very special to be able to win here for Mr Kuze. Without him, none of this would be possible, and I'm pleased to be able to dedicate this win to him. At the end of the day this result is all about teamwork, and I'm lucky to have such a great group of people behind me, from Phil in the car to everyone else at Subaru, I can't thank them enough. The Championship is getting pretty close now, there's some very close competition and I reckon this year will turn out to be one of the greatest battles we've ever seen in the WRC"
• 2ND Marcus Gronholm: "Today was actually a bit boring - we were just driving to get to the finish of the rally without making any mistakes. I was very glad to see the end; it has been a very tricky event and I was concentrating extremely hard on not taking any unnecessary risks. This has not really been a rally I enjoyed, but the most important thing is that the car has been extremely reliable and we are on the podium. Next is Rally New Zealand - it's an event I like a lot so I am looking forward to it."
• 3RD, Martin: "I'm quite happy with third place and to keep second in the driver's championship: it was more than I was expecting at this point in the year. With every kilometre I drive in the 307 WRC I gain more experience and confidence, so this is a very good way to start the season. There are still some areas where we need to improve the car to suit my driving style, but we are definitely on the right track"
• DNF, Chris Atkinson, tech problem final stage: Obviously I'm a bit disappointed not to finish, but I think I've learned so much this weekend it's almost irrelevant. The speed has been encouraging; especially as I wasn't pushing so much that we went off the road all the time. The new car feels great, and there's definitely more pace in it yet. In New Zealand I'm going to be looking to get some good experience of the stages and hopefully a useful finish position too"

• 14 STAGES
• Thursday 10 March: Ceremonial Start Start Guanajuato 21.00
• Friday 11 March: Leg 1 Leon - Leon
  Start Leon 08.30 SS1 Ibarrilla - El Zauco 1 22.56km
  09.07 SS2 Ortega - La Esperanza 1 29.06km
  10.25 SS3 Santana - Cubilete 1 21.80km 11.16 Serv A Leon (30 mins)
  13.01 SS4 Ibarrilla - El Zauco 2 22.56km
  14.08 SS5 Ortega - La Esperanza 2 29.06km
  15.26 SS6 Santana - Cubilete 2 21.80km
  16.17 Serv B Leon (flexi 45 mins) 17.37 Finish Karlstad 18.22 Total 146.84km
• Saturday 12 March: Leg 2 Leon - Leon Serv C Leon (10 mins)
  08.30 SS7 El Zauco - Mesa 1 25.45km
  09.43 SS8 Duarte - Otates 1 24.23km
  11.06 SS9 Derramadero - Chichimequillas 1 23.56km 11.57 Serv D Leon (30 mins)
  13.37 SS10 El Zauco - Mesa 2 25.45km
  15.10 SS11 Duarte - Otates 2 24.23km
  16.33 SS12 Derramadero - Chichimequillas 2 23.56km 17.24 Serv E Leon (flexi 45 mins) 18.39 Finish Leon 19.24 Total 146.48km
• Sunday 13 March: Leg 3 Leon - Leon Serv F Leon (10 mins)
  08.30 SS13 Comanjilla - Chichimequillas 1 18.26km
  09.17 SS14 Alfaro - El Establo 44.39km 10.25 Serv G Leon (20 mins) 11.45 Finish Leon 12.30
  Total 62.65km Rally Total 355.97km

• Drivers: Sebastien Loeb and Daniel Elena; Francois Duval and Stephane Prevot
• LOEB: "... The stages are quite fast and not too rough. I like it. The thing I found the most surprising to begin with was the inevitable drop off in power you get at this altitude. You can't help but feel it and it tends to be the only thing you think of. Then you begin to
  get accustomed to it and you end up not paying it any more attention. In any case, it's the same for everyone."
• DUVAL: "... The Mexican stages are quite similar to those of Argentina. They're not easy to read, there are sandy portions and the roads are narrow in places. As for my approach, it's clear we have to finish, and high up. That means finding the right pace, quick and safe. In Sweden, before losing a lot of time when I was forced to change a wheel following a puncture, I think I found that balance."

PEUGEOT

• Drivers: Marcus Gronholm and Timo Rautiainen, Markko Martin and Michael Park
• GRONHOLM: "... Personally, I will be principally out to score points. I was really affected by my retirement in Sweden and I want to put the incident behind me. I know I can count on the car's reliability and our recent events have been very positive on that front. We have also progressed in terms of performance and a long test session is planned in Europe to fine-tune the set-up. As for the majority of the other drivers, Rally Mexico was new to me last year. It's an interesting event and well organised. I am looking forward to it."
• MARTIN: "... The stages are very varied, with slow and quick portions and no particular surprises to catch you out, and that's a good thing. I think we can do well. It would be great to win a second time but that won't be easy. I still have to accustom myself to the car and tyres which are new for me, especially on the loose. But we are making good progress."

FORD

• Drivers: Toni Gardemeister and Jakke Honkanen; Roman Kresta and Jan Tomanek; Daniel Sola and Xavier Amigo
• GARDEMEISTER: "... We could drop time by starting ahead of our rivals but as I haven't been to Mexico before, I don't really know what the stages will be like. But given the choice of running further down the order or leading the championship and starting first, I would happily have accepted the current situation. I hope it's no better for the next round either, because that would mean I would still be leading the championship. My inexperience here means we must work hard during the practice to ensure our pace notes are as accurate as possible. There has been big interest in Finland since I took the championship lead in Sweden. There has been huge coverage in the newspapers and on websites and it's good for both me and Ford that our results so far have attracted that kind of attention."
• KRESTA: "... Mexico is totally new to me and will be another event where I must learn about the characteristics of the stages as the rally progresses. I have no pressure to take points for the team so that allows me to drive at a pace at which I am comfortable. It is important to learn as much about the roads as possible so I will not take any risks."
• SOLA: "... I know the rally better than most but I must get used to the new car. I've tested the Focus twice and I have an incredible feeling. It's the best car I've driven. The dampers, the suspension and the whole balance of the car feels good. Of course, I don't know the limits yet but my first impressions are that it's easy to drive. It's difficult to know what is possible in Mexico. I need to drive progressively at first to understand and learn the car in a competition setting."

SUBARU

• Drivers: Petter Solberg ; Chris Atkinson
• SOLBERG: "... Although I was a bit unlucky on Rally Mexico last year, it's a great event to take part in and I'm really looking forward to getting back next month. It's a very well run rally, last year the organisers did a very professional job considering it was their first year in the WRC, and I'd say it's one of the best events of the season. Mexico is an interesting place for us to visit too, and as a destination in the WRC
  it's somewhere I'd like to spend more time; the people, food, scenery and the whole atmosphere make it unique. The stages seem to suit the Subaru Impreza pretty well. We've got a new evolution of the car to launch this time and hopefully, if we have a clean run with no problems, we've got a good chance of winning."
• ATKINSON: "... Sweden was a big learning experience for me but that was the aim, to learn as much as possible. We achieved what we set out to and, although the overall result could have been better, we gained from every mistake we made and that's really important I think. We picked up on lots of little things that we could improve and they all came together, allowing me to improve my stage times. This will be our second rally in a WRC car and our first on gravel, so we've still got a lot of learn. I hope we'll be more comfortable on this event, due to the extra testing time that we've had in the car since Sweden. In addition, gravel is a surface that I'm
  much more familiar with. That said, the conditions in Mexico are not that similar to those in Australia. In Mexico it seems there's quite a hard base, which should offer good levels of grip and should be medium to high speed, which suits my driving style."

MITSUBISHI

• Drivers: Harri Rovanperä and Risto Pietiläinen ; Gilles Panizzi and Herve Panizzi:
• ROVANPERA: "... The gravel test was good; we worked with the new differential system and also made some improvements to the suspension settings. Gilles continued with the test program so I will see the latest results during the shakedown test in México. This was also my first test with the Pirelli gravel tire and the only small problem was that the weather conditions were slightly different to how they will be in México, but the feeling was very good and I am quite confident with the Pirelli gravel tires".
• PANIZZI: "... I did two days and maybe 350 test kilometers of testing and I continue to say the car is getting better and better. The new active center differential helps a lot with the balance and traction, especially under braking into corners. We still need more experience with the new system, in particular with all the different adjustments, but I am confident. I also like Rally México a lot because it has nice stages and is very interesting to drive".

SKODA

• Drivers: Armin Schwarz & Klaus Wicha; Jani Paasonen & Janni Vainikka:
• SCHWARTZ: "... We had a good test at the end of February in Spain where I drove around 400kms (a full rally distance) in two days. We had no problems with the Fabia WRC 05 and my shoulder was fine. The improvements to the car have made it more driveable so I am quite happy. I haven't competed here before but I did the recce in 2004. The stages remind me a lot of those around Fafe in Portugal which were some of the most enjoyable in the whole World Rally Championship."
• PAASONEN: "... We had a good test session in Spain with the new Fabia WRC 05. We lost a bit of test time because of snow, which I don't expect we will see in Mexico! However, I still did about 250kms. I can already see some improvements from the previous car so I'm looking forward to the rally. I like this event very much. The roads are nice and I set some good times there with a Group N car in 2004."

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