Day 3 – Loeb victorious ahead of Atkinson and Latvala

Sébastien Loeb secured his second victory of the year in Mexico after three eventful days on the arid lands of Leon and Mexico City. The Frenchman in the Citroen C4 WRC managed to maintain his lead acquired yesterday and finished a minute ahead of Australian Chris Atkinson (Subaru) and Finnish Jari-Matti Latvala (BP Ford Focus), who was the leader on the first day.

The French quadruple world champion was off to a bad start in this 5th Mexico Rally with major engine problems from the Shakedown. Avoiding a 5-minute penalty thanks to the repair of the original engine, Citroen likely allowed Loeb to save his championship and pick up valuable points.

« There is always a little more pressure when you are behind in the championship, » he commented.

But I expected to get a good result here in Mexico. It wasn’t easy, but I really like this rally and despite the big battle we had with Latvala, we finally won.

Second, Chris Atkinson for Subaru achieves the best result of his young WRC career in Mexico, placing Subaru on a podium. Jari-Matti Latvala had an impeccable first day, leading the rally until day 2 when the Finn had to open the track.

With this handicap, Latvala attacked very hard and experienced a mechanical turbo problem, causing him to lose his second place to the Australian Atkinson.

Fourth by a narrow margin, Mikko Hirvonen retains the lead in the championship by just one point over Loeb. The BP Ford driver was in 5th place with two stages remaining before the end of the rally but took advantage of a puncture suffered by Henning Solberg to steal 5 points from him. Solberg therefore finishes 5th. He positions Stobart close to the competitors but almost did not finish the rally after encountering a mechanical issue during the last stage.

Wilson takes 6th place, ahead of Villagra in Munch’s Ford. Trivino, Ogier, and Mulder finish the top 10 thanks to numerous retirements.

Dani Sordo (Citroen) is in the top 20, just like Peter Solberg (Subaru), while the Suzukis do not even make it into the top 20 after engine problems on the first day.

In the championship, Loeb closes in to just one point behind the leader, Mikko Hirvonen. Latvala maintains third place, ahead of the Solberg brothers and Atkinson.

Rally of Mexico – Day 3 – TOP 10