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Source: YouTube

Rally Mexico: Ones to Watch

The Mexico form book says Loeb, Loeb, Loeb for the win – but we look at a few other drivers who will use their nerve and skill to challenge Sébastien for the Corona Rally Mexico's WRC crown this week.

Jari-Matti Latvala (FIN) – Ford

WRC’s youngest-ever winner, in Sweden in 2008, came tantalisingly close to back-to-back victories when the series visited Mexico in the next event. Latvala (pictured, above) led the way after day one, but then a fault with the turbo on his Focus engine, along with the built-in disadvantage of starting first on the road, saw the Finn’s lead gradually eaten away to nothing. Nevertheless, he did take third back then, and with a podium already in Sweden this year, perhaps the Ford man’s Mexican luck might change this weekend.

Mikko Hirvonen (FIN) – Ford

Dani Sordo and Sébastien Loeb might have set the early pace in their Citroëns in last month’s Rally Sweden, but in the middle of day two, Hirvonen grabbed Loeb’s lead and didn’t let it go. The Finn’s record in Mexico is rather ordinary by his high standards – 14th, third and fourth in the last three visits – and being first on the road here this time will mean he sweeps the road for everyone else on day one. It’s too early in the season for team orders, but perhaps what his wingman Latvala does here, whether by a win or other means, will decide whether it’s Hirvonen or Loeb on top of the WRC standings come Sunday.

Sébastien Loeb (FRA) – Citroën

Losing out to Hirvonen in Sweden is unlikely to have concerned Loeb too greatly. Snow has never been the six-time champion’s best surface, and he goes to Mexico knowing that his Finnish adversary will have to sweep the loose, gravelly surface for him from his rally-starting position. Nevertheless, Loeb is serious enough about ensuring Citroën success this season to turn down an offer to drive a Peugeot at Le Mans this year, so will be fully focused on securing a fourth consecutive Rally Mexico win.

Sébastien Ogier (FRA) – Citroën

Frenchman Ogier is no doubt fond of Mexico. In the last rally here back in 2008, he not only won the J-WRC class outright on his full debut in the Citroën C2 Super 1600 but also took a point in the overall WRC standings, the first S1600 driver ever to do so, after being promoted to eighth after local driver Ricardo Triviño was excluded for using unhomologated driving gloves. If this was a lucky break, Ogier’s fifth place in Sweden last month, now in a Citroën Junior Team C4, was not. Expect another impressive showing.

Kimi Räikkönen (FIN) – Citroën

Räikkönen’s entry into WRC has been, quite literally, a very bumpy ride so far. Having crashed out of the Arctic Lapland Rally, in which he’d entered his C4 WRC to get accustomed to conditions ahead of the WRC's season-opening Rally Sweden, he first hit traffic, in the form of strugglng Matthew Wilson, and then a snowbank when he was flying on his WRC debut in Karlstad, finishing 30th. A recurring back problem from his F1 days has now nobbled his chances of testing for his gravel debut, so Mexico will be a real unknown quantity. But Räikkönen will be undaunted… and this means watching him drive should once again be enormously entertaining.

Source: Red Bull

[Video] Drivers preview Rally Mexico

Source: WRC

What did we learn in Sweden? Allow The WRC Guru to explain

So, after a four month break the 2010 World Rally Championship is finally up and running, and as the snow dust settles after a sensational Rally Sweden, it looks like the year ahead will be cracker.

Of course it's not easy to draw too many long-term conclusions after a rally as specialised as Sweden, but the performances of the top drivers on ice have given us some useful indications about how the season might pan out.

To help interpret the results here at wrc.com, we can call upon the expertise of WRC TV's stage end reporter Julian Porter - a man who spends more time talking to the drivers on the stages than just about anybody.

This unique level of rally insight, combined with an encyclopaedic knowledge of the sport, is why Julian is more commonly known as 'The Guru'.

So what did we learn from Rally Sweden? Here are the Guru's top five suggestions:

1: Raikkonen has passed his first WRC driving lesson
"Before any WRC season there's always a lot of hype about what's going to happen, and who's going to do what. This year was no different, except that we had another factor to consider: just how was former F1 world champion Kimi Raikkonen going to get on? Pushed out of his Ferrari F1 drive, Raikkonen decided the challenge of rallying was just what he wanted and I for one am delighted he's come to the WRC.

"Even after his Arctic rally warm-up, however, Sweden was always going to be a tough start for him, and anybody who thought he was going to set the world alight straight away obviously didn't understand the sport.

"Probably the best thing that happened to Kimi was getting stuck behind Khalid Al Qassimi on the first proper stage. This immediately took away a lot of the pressure to succeed. Over the three days Kimi got very well acquainted the snow shovel carried in his Citroen but remained in good humour as he learned. The experience gained in Sweden will be invaluable for future events. Well done Kimi. Welcome to the WRC and thank you, Ferrari."

2: It's advantage Mikko in the title race
"Mikko Hirvonen says losing the 2009 championship by one point made him stronger and he's prepared to be more aggressive in his approach this year. Well, if Sweden is anything to go by he's certainly following his own advice. Mikko was brilliant in all areas in Sweden and on Saturday showed Sebastien how to use the tyres to their best.

It's also worth pointing out that Mikko didn't back off on Friday night - when he had the chance - to run behind Seb in Saturday's running order. In fact, Saturday was probably the best day of Mikko's WRC career to date. What he'll manage to do in Mexico nobody knows, but with Mikko having the advantage from round one he could have set up the biggest championship fight we've had in many years. I like the look of the new more aggressive Mikko Hirvonen."

3: Sebastien Loeb has a fight on his hands for title number seven
"On the other side of the battle for the lead was Sebastien Loeb, the six time world rally champion. Seb has won on every surface in the WRC and for that reason is favourite to win every rally he enters. But he must have left Sweden thinking this year is going to be tough.

"Sweden showed us that if he wants to take a seventh title then he will have to dig extra deep. Seb made a wrong decision on when to change tyres on Saturday and nearly threw everything away with a big scare on Sunday morning. At that point he decided second on round one wasn't such a bad result and backed off. I can't remember the last time Seb has openly given up on the lead fight like that, but it just goes to show how strong an opponent Mikko was."

4: Dani Sordo is under pressure
"Dani ended the 2009 season strongly, and driving for the top team and in the best car in many ways seems to be living the WRC dream. But in Sweden we saw some of the extreme pressure that Sordo is under. Having Sebastien Loeb, one of the greatest drivers in the history of the sport, as your team-mate has never been easy, but now his Junior team colleague Sebastien Ogier looks to be stalking him.

"Dani needs to win a rally very soon to prove his worth. In Sweden he was good on Friday but lacked speed on Saturday morning, before that lucky escape from a massive sixth-gear spin. Things got worse in the afternoon when the radiator covers were left on and he lost his third stopping to remove them. If that wasn't bad enough, team boss Olivier Quesnel showed little sympathy, blaming Sordo for the 'stupid' mistake. Dani responding by saying it was his co-driver's job to remove the covers. Whoever was to blame, Dani must be feeling the pressure from a Sebastien up ahead and another one coming up from behind."

5: Sometimes in the WRC things just don't go to plan
"The Rally Sweden entry list was dripping with quality names in quality cars - including four former world champions; Sebastien Loeb, Marcus Gronholm, Petter Solberg and Kimi Raikkonen. Much had been made of Petter's title-winning potential this year, but it's not easy to do everything yourself and on Thursday night the pressure showed. Unfortunately for him, the mistakes on the Super Special set the tone for the rest of the weekend. Despite having the same basic machinery as Sebastien Loeb, nothing seemed to go right for Solberg in Sweden. Now he's hoping for a fresh start in Mexico. Let's hope Sweden was just an isolated 'blip' for Petter.

"Marcus Gronholm was still as popular and funny as ever, but he too wished things had gone differently. He spent Friday morning getting up to speed only to have the Focus stop on him in the afternoon. Later on he was unlucky enough to get a puncture and go off the road on Saturday. He will take some good memories though. When he announced he was coming out of retirement he said he wanted to go fastest on his favourite stage of the WRC, Sagen. In the morning on Saturday he came off second best to Loeb, but in the afternoon he was fastest. Job done. Marcus, it was great having you back."

Source: WRC

WRC: Hirvonen takes 16 sec lead into final day in Sweden; Räikkönen is 35th overall...

Ford team-leader Mikko Hirvonen will take a 16.6 second lead into Sunday's final day of Rally Sweden, an advantage his chief opponent, Citroen driver Sebastien Loeb, acknowledged will be difficult to overturn on the five stage which remain.

Saturday's second day of the rally featured two identical loops of four stages in the Varmland region of central Sweden, clustered around the Hagfors Service Park. Under clear blue skies and in temperatures than plunged to -22ºC, crews tackled 117.76km of ice and snow covered gravel stages.

Hirvonen started Saturday's competition in the lead, 6.2 seconds ahead of Loeb, but after a back and forth scrap in the morning, this gap was down to 4.2sec by the midpoint service. The afternoon was another story, however, when Hirvonen and Loeb gambled on fitting fresh tyres at different times - a decision which ultimately went Hirvonen's way and netted him a 23sec lead after SS15.

"Okay, it's been a good day," said Hirvonen. "Sixteen seconds is not much, but it's more than we had in the morning. For sure there are long stages to go tomorrow and Seb will try hard, but we'll see. Hopefully I can keep him behind. First on the road today was not a problem, especially on the first pass it's pretty good to be there; you can make your own lines and there is no snow or ruts or anything."

Loeb ended the day well, clawing back 6.4sec on the final Sprint stage, but the Frenchman was angry at giving time away. "We made a stupid mistake today with the tyres; it was very much the wrong choice," he said. "[On SS15] I put fresh tyres on the front with some completely destroyed tyres on the rear and I couldn't use it. I lost a lot of time to Mikko. Can I catch him? I don’t know, but it will be very difficult. Normally 16 seconds is possible but when you look at the times between us today you can see it’s difficult to make any difference."

Hirvonen's team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala holds third place, after a mixed day at the wheel of his Ford Focus RS WRC. He got a lucky break on SS15, however, when the man ahead of him, Dani Sordo, stopped briefly with an overheating engine. "It’s been an okay day, but the morning was frustrating because Dani was running away," he said. "I thought we might lose the fight, but this afternoon we made a few set-up changes and everything came together. Okay, we were a little bit lucky with Sordo's problems as well. I plan to stay here until the end. It would be nice to start the season with a podium."

Fifty-four seconds behind Latvala, Sordo was left to rue a mistake on SS15 when he didn't remove an air flow blanking panel from the front his car and almost cooked his engine mid stage. "It’s really disappointing," he said. "Anyway I will try to get the best finish and take some points now. The season has only just started with this rally - we'll see how we get on in Mexico."

Citroen Junior Team driver Sebastien Ogier remained well cushioned in fifth all day and was content with his progress. "Our target was fifth place, so if we can carry on like this it will have been a very good first Rally Sweden for us." Stobart Ford team driver Henning Solberg also remained static in the standings, holding sixth all day. "It's okay but I don't think I have one stud in my rear tyres now!" he said at the end of SS16. "I did my best today, but I lost all my studs on Vargasen [SS13] and I don't know why. We'll try some different settings tomorrow. I can get better!"

Henning's Stobart team-mate Matthew Wilson is seventh, after moving ahead of rival Mads Ostberg on SS13. The Briton will take a 13.2sec advantage over Ostberg on Sunday. "We changed the car at lunchtime and it felt completely new; I wish we could start the rally again!" he said. It's been good fun this afternoon, around that Super Special we had no studs left at all, we just slid all the way around. I reckon I can stay ahead of Mads now the car's feeling better, we'll see." Ostberg, meanwhile, is equally determined to finish seventh. "It’s been a difficult day, especially when it comes to tyre wear, but I'm happy I'm here and definitely up for the fight with Matthew," he said.

After losing a lot of time on Friday, Citroen privateer Petter Solberg holds ninth, and was pleased to put another disappointing day behind him. "Maybe I'm using the tyres too hard - I have to drive smarter and more carefully," he said. "It sounds a bit boring but all I can say is I've tried and it is getting better."

Overall classification (check WRC.com for each stage's times):

Kimi's overall standings:

Source: WRC.com

Rally Sweden day one: Manufacturer team reaction

BP Ford Abu Dhabi Team principal, Malcolm Wilson on...

Mikko Hirvonen's leading performance: "I'm very happy. Everybody likes to be leading from the start, but Mikko made some small changes to his set up on SS4 and from then on he's had good confidence. We were a little bit worried that he might have destroyed the tyres by being maybe a bit aggressive, but now we’re starting to see the benefit of his experience - he just kept on pushing to get as far ahead as he could."

Jari-Matti Latvala's contribution: "He's done a good job. On the second stage this afternoon we saw what he's really capable of, but I think he pushed a little too hard there and did some damage to the tyres. But when you see those sorts of times you see he's got the potential."

Citroen Total World Rally Team director, Olivier Quesnel on...

Sebastien Loeb's cautious approach to tyre wear: "This afternoon we thought we should take care of the tyres, and maybe Seb didn't push enough, but this is it, and Mikko was right to push."
Dani Sordo and Sebastien Ogier: "Dani is doing a very good rally, but I must mention Sebastien Ogier too. This is his first time in Sweden and only his second time on snow. What he's done here is amazing."

Kimi Raikkonen's learning curve: "Kimi is learning. He went off the road but as I've said before we have to give Kimi time to learn. We have to wait until the middle of the season. In the second half he should be okay, but this is his first WRC rally with us. Everybody is very fast and Sweden is very complicated. For me there is no problem. He just has to learn."

Source: WRC.com

SS1: Sordo leads after Thursday night's Super Special

Citroen Total Team driver Dani Sordo is Thursday's overnight leader of Rally Sweden after setting the fastest time through the rally opening Super Special Stage in his C4 World Rally Car.

Thousands of spectators braved sub-zero temperatures to watch the first stage of the 2010 World Rally Championship - a floodlit, head-to-head blast around a 1.9km ice circuit in the rally's host city of Karlstad.

After recording a time of 1min 34.4sec around the figure-of-eight track Sordo was delighted with his performance. "We had a really good pre-event test, as well as a good time on the arctic rally a fortnight ago and that's helped me get a good feeling in the car," he said. "I know I can still go faster if I need to, but so far so good."

Citroen Junior team driver Sebastien Ogier, also in a C4 WRC, was nearest to Sordo's time, but a full two seconds slower. "I enjoyed the stage and I like to drive in these ice conditions," he said.

A deliberately careful start from Ford team leader Mikko Hirvonen netted him the third fastest time, while similar approaches put defending world champion Sebastien Loeb fourth and Marcus Gronholm fifth.

Super Special winner in 2008 Petter Solberg, however, paid the price for a more aggressive approach. The Norwegian nudged a snow bank and later spun his C4 WRC, reaching the finish control 18.3sec slower than Sordo and without a front bumper. "I got some very, very bad oversteer, but it was my fault - I tried too hard. That's just how it is," he explained.

On his first WRC stage with the Citroen Junior Team, Kimi Raikkonen set the ninth fastest time. "That was okay," he said. "A little bit cautious but I took it easy. It's okay, all you can do on these stages is lose it."

After this evening's prelude, the proper stage action begins on Friday morning at 0818hrs, when crews tackle the first of six stages in the countryside north of Karlstad, before a return to Karlstad for a repeat of the Super Special.

[EDIT] Link to full results of SS1 here

Sources: WRC.com, Motorsport