Hirvonen annoyed by Latvala’s leadership!

Mikko Hirvonen took the lead in the championship for the first time in his career since the Rally of Sweden, thanks to two second-place finishes in Monte-Carlo and Sweden. The Finnish driver had to open the road yesterday during the first day in Mexico and lost a lot of time sweeping the stages for his competitors.

This morning, before leaving for the second day, the BP Ford driver expressed his annoyance at not being ahead and seeing his teammate Jari-Matti Latvala, winner in Sweden, once again take the lead on the same machine. “It’s frustrating to see your young teammate beat you,” admits Mikko Hirvonen.

Hirvonen was fifth in the first three stages, entering service in fourth place, 18.7 seconds behind his teammate. A puncture caused by a broken wheel in SS5 cost him forty seconds and one place. Hirvonen begins the second day 1:10.6 behind Latvala.

« The difference does not come from the car or the position on the road. He drives very well. The gap between Loeb and me is what I expected, but the one with Jari-Matti is larger than I thought. I will have to improve my performance. The conditions yesterday were as we had predicted. It was difficult on the braking, and the soft dirt offered no grip during acceleration outside of the tracks that I had to make myself most of the time. »