WRC Mexico: Rally Guanajuato Bicentenario 2010 preview

KBmexicorelease WRC Mexico: Rally Guanajuato Bicentenario 2010 preview

A complete change of scenery greets the World Rally Championship this weekend. Visiting 13 different locales around the world, each rally is different and exciting for both crews and spectators. The second round of the 2010 WRC season takes place on the American continent for Rally Mexico. From the snow and pine forests of WRC Rally Sweden last month, crews now face the dry heat and dust of Mexico.

Story by Evan Rothman

This is the only WRC event held on the American continent. For its re-introduction to the WRC calendar this year, the organisers have planned a route to challenge the drivers and entertain the many thousands of fans lining the rally roads. The season got off to an explosive start in Sweden, with Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen (BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team) claiming victory ahead of their rivals Sebastien Loeb/ Daniel Elena (Citroen Total World Rally Team) having to settle for second place. The Ford Focus RS WRC of Hirvonen, which brough Ford their 74th win in the WRC, proved too quick for the Citroen C4s in the snow and icy conditions last month.

Hirvonen and Ford head into this event on top of the Drivers’ and Manufacturer’ Championship standings, thanks to a hard-working team and the support of team-mate Jarri-Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila to keep the Citroen Total World Rally Team crews in check.

After a year’s absence from the WRC calendar, the rally returns to the city of Leon in the centre of the country 400km northwest of Mexico City. Event organisers have stayed faithful to their tried and tested format, but for 2010 have included a few changes. The major difference is the introduction of a short street stage in the middle of the opening two legs.

On Day three, just one stage offers new rally roads for crews to learn. The compact route comprises of high-speed stages in the mountains to the north and east and climb to above 2 737m on the hillsides, making this the highest rally of the season. The altitude takes its toll on the cars as the thinner air means that engines can lose up to 30 percent of their usual power.

WRC Rally Mexico’s road surface is hard-packed gravel, with some parts sandier that can become rough and rutted during the second pass. The stages are fast and fl owing, although there are slow and technically demanding sections thrown in for good measure.Covering just 884,58km, the 354,60 competitive stage kilometers are divided into 22 special stages over the three days of competition.

WRC Rally Mexico marks Hirvonen’s 100th WRC career start, and he will be leading the pack on SS1 and through Day One’s stages. Running as sweep car on the opening stages will undoubtedly cost the young Finn valuable time, but his skill on gravel and his hunger for success in 2010 will surely minimise that disadvantage somewhat.

“Leading the championship can have its disadvantages, and I now run first on the road for the opening gravel rally of the season,” said Mikko Hirvonen. “My rivals have better road positions than me so it will be difficult, but I’ll still try to find a way to challenge for the win. I’m not underestimating the difficulties, but I wouldn’t swap my win in Sweden for a better start seeding.

“Sweden was the perfect start to the championship for both me and the team. It’s important that we build on that in Mexico and continue to take the brave decisions that paid off in the opening round. The first gravel rally of the season is always an interesting one because, with the majority of the championship on that surface, it gives pointers as to how the season may play out,” added Hirvonen.

Citroen’s factory squad will be looking for nothing less than victory here this weekend. With Dani Sordo gaining confi dence in leaps and bounds, he will be pressuring the factory Ford drivers in every stage. Loeb will be chasing for a win, and an all-out attack on Hirvonen will take place here.

“It’s a very pleasant rendezvous. You can really feel that the organisers work flat out to make this rally a big event and the spectators always give us a warm welcome. The start in the streets in the historic centre of Guanajuato is one of the highlights of the season,” exclaimed Dani Sordo.

Sebastien Loeb is also delighted to be back racing in this rally: “I’ve competed in all the events since the rally became part of the WRC in 2004. The first couple of years didn’t attract a huge crowd. Then people started to get interested in our sport and it’s now one of the most popular rounds of the season.

“We can’t really say that the championship’s got off to a bad start with our second place in Sweden, but I’m not going to let Mikko Hirvonen open up a gap in the overall classification,” said Loeb. “A win would put us on level pegging. The route’s an interesting one from a driver’s point of view. The stages aren’t too hard on the car and they’re a kind of digest of all the challenges in a rally with very quick sections, twisty ones and fliers! Our C4 WRC will be very much at home on this type of terrain, which we know very well. But I’m not going to make any predictions as we haven’t raced in such conditions for six months. Mikko Hirvonen has made a lot of progress recently and he’s going to start the rally full of confidence and motivation. Last year, he lost the title by a point and I know he won’t give an inch this season! I think Dani will put on a good performance again. Although he’s a little less experienced than Mikko he’s improving at exactly the same rate. He’s got every reason to show what he can do and to win.”

Sebastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassi (Citroen Junior Team) set the tone for their season with an outstanding performance in the snow stages of Sweden. The Frenchman is more at home on gravel and asphalt surfaces, and here he will targeting fourth place or higher. His speed is astounding, and has overshadowed the rest of the WRC field. Team-mates Kimi Raikkonen/Kaj Lindstrom, who debuted in WRC Rally Sweden, have not competed in Mexico before, and will be aiming to clock up as much seat time as possible this weekend to learn more about their Citroen C4 WRC for the next four gravel rallies on the calendar.

“We started the season well, with a top-five finish on our first visit to Sweden,” said Ogier. “Our objective is to maintain this same pace throughout the season and get closer to the podium on the events that we know a bit already. “In Mexico, we start off with the advantage of having already driven eight of the 11 different stages in the C2 Super 1600. On top of that, we were able to prepare for this rally with a day of testing in Spain. If there’s a chance of finishing higher than fifth, we’re certainly going to go for it!”

After a solid start to his 2010 WRC campaign, Matthew Wilson (alongwith co-driver Scott Martin) is looking forward to WRC Rally Mexico to maintain and improve his pace and standing in the Drivers’ Championship points: “It looks like most of the route is the same as the last time we were there in 2008, so that should make it a bit easier to get up to speed. It’s been a good rally for us in the past. Hopefully we can build on the start we made in Sweden. It was good to get some points there on what was a really difficult rally, but we want to do even better in Mexico. We’re moving from a rally where the conditions helped the car run at optimum levels to one where the high altitude really sucks the life out of it. You have to take the reduction in power into account and some of the stages are pretty rough so you need to watch out for punctures too, but these differences in events are what rallying is all about and it’s a great challenge.”

Henning Solberg/Ilka Minor, team-mates to Wilson in the Stobart M-Sport Ford World Rally Team, placed one place ahead of them in sixth place in last month’s rally. With the talent to finish on the podium, and a car that suits the gravel stages, Henning could well be aiming to move higher up the leaderboard after this round of the Championship.

Brother Petter Solberg and co-driver Phil Mills (Petter Solberg World Rally Team) suffered poor luck on the Swedish stages, but managed to finish in the points-paying positons. After testing his car, the former World Rally Champion will be targeting a podium result by attacking every stage of this rally. He is the dark horse for this event, I think.

Returning to the WRC is the Munchi’s Ford World Rally Team piloted by reigning Argentinean Rally Champions Federico Villagra/Jorge Perez Companc. Last seen in the WRC Rally Spain six months ago, Villagra has tested his Ford Focus RS WRC and is hoping to repeat his 2008 performance at the event where he finished seventh overall.

Rounding out the top WRC crews is another Ford team: debuting in the World Rally Championship is the Monster World Rally team of Ken Block and Alex Gelsomino. The American action sports star stated: “This weekend I’ll be up against the greatest rally drivers on earth and, believe me, I will be truly humbled because I am basically a novice in the WRC,” he said. “I’m on a good development process to get to the top level and its going to take a while but I’m going to do my best. It’s going to an incredible experience. Success for me would be to finish the event and not embarrass myself too much!”

Bringing his personality to the sport is refreshing. His talents behind the steering wheel of a rally car are impressive, and he should put on a daring display this weekend in Mexico.

The rally this weekend also plays host to round two of the S2000 World Rally Championship (S-WRC) and the Production World Rally Championship (P-WRC). In the S-WRC, several new drivers have entered this rally and most are tipped for this year’s title.

Nasser Al-Attiyah (Skoda Fabia S2000) switched from a Ford Fiesta S2000 to his Skoda, and will partner Eyvind Brynildsen at the Rene Georges Rally team. Michael Kosciuszko (Ford Fiesta S2000) starts his S-WRC season this weekend, and will be vying for the top spot here. Former Citroen and Subaru factory team driver Xavier Pons will also be competing in a Ford Fiesta this weekend, in a new team headed by Luis Moya. Expect big things from this driver!

Six S-WRC drivers that nominated Rally Mexico in their 2010 campaigns, only two - Martin Prokop and Eyvind Brynildsen – participated in Sweden. Prokop lies third in the S-WRC standings with a total of 15 points, while Brynildsen is fifth with 10 points.

In the P-WRC, there will be a clash of champions as former double P-WRC champion Toshi Arai (Subaru Impreza WRX STi) takes on reigning P-WRC Champion Armindo Araujo (Mitsubisi Lancer Evolution X).

Araujo took part in the Rally Sweden last month, and netted a welldeserved podium result. Arai, however, will only begin his six-event season here.

Motorsport’s attention will be on Mexico this weekend, and rally enthusiasts are in for a special treat! Read next week’s issue of HANDBRAKES & HAIRPINS for a full event review.

Photo: MWRT

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