WRC 2010 - Rally Mexico, by KM-TV

Rally Mexico 2010

Terrain :

 

Back after it's enforced year out, and making up the WRC's only visit to the other side of the big pond this year, it's the Rally of Mexico. And we enter with a rather interesting prospect.

You see, in Sweden, things didn't go according to reigning champion Sebastien Loeb's game plan. Put simply, he lost. But that loss is about to put him into the box seats. WRC rules say that the start list for day 1 of a rally is the championship order. So in Sweden that meant Loeb went first. In Mexico it's all a bit different :

Position	No.	Driver	Co-Driver	Team	Sweden	Points
1st	3	Mikko Hirvonen	Jarmo Lehtenen	Ford works		25
2nd	1	Sebastien Loeb	Daniel Elena	Citroen Works		18
3rd	4	Jari – Matti Latvala	Mikka Antilla	Ford works		15
4th	2	Dani Sordo	Marc Marti	Citroen Works	4th	12
5th	7	Sebastien Ogier	Julien Ingrassia	Citroen Junior	5th	10
6th	5	Henning Solberg	Ilka Minor	Stobart	6th	8
7th	6	Matthew Wilson	Scott Martin	Stobart	7th	6
8th	11	Mads Ostberg		Private	8th	4
9th	12	Petter Solberg	Phil Mills	Private	9th	2
10th	49	Per Gunnar Andersson		Private	10th	1
11th	14	Khalid Al Qassami		Ford works	13th	0
12th	8	Kimi Raikkonen	Kaj Lindstrom	Citroen Junior	30th	0
14th	9	Federico Villagra		Munchis
13th	10	Ken Block		Monster

Hirvonen enters Mexico's notoriously high altitude dusty gravel roads first, which plays into the hands of Loeb and his team mate Latvala. Once the loose gravel has been pushed off the surface by the first cars, the following car will have a smoother ride to contend with, and will almost certainly be faster. This also plays to Dani Sordo's advantage. That means we could see some team tactics come into play with who comes in first.

Further down the start list sits Kimi Raikkonen. He may well be a F1 world champion, but that didn't help him in Sweden where he unceremoniously stuck his Citroen into a very deep snow bank, which is where it stayed for 26 minutes. Almost certainly the point where any chance of a decent finish ran away. Prehaps he'll do better on Gravel?

Not if the spectators have anything to do with it. They are notoriously badly behaved and anything the organisers have tried seems to have any effect on that. Throwing rocks, changing the route, putting obstacles on the stage, they seem to do anything. Hopefully they are going to be a little friendlier this time around. The stages themselves are high up, very dusty, and feature some jumps and some water splashes just to keep the drivers on their toes. Knowing your car inside out on the loose gravel is a distinct advantage.

Which Ken Block does not have. He has had one test in his Ford Focus WRC, and has now had less seat time than Valentino Rossi has had in a Ferrari F1 car. Not a good situation to be in, but it's the first time we will see the American driver take on the rest of the world. He could very well spring a surprise on the more established names and will almost certainly show Raikkonen a thing or two. Also watch out for Petter Solberg, currently annoyed at his performance in Sweden and desperate to show the world he still means business.

Action starts tomorrow morning (Friday) and it should be a good show. Already a PWRC car (Toshi Arai) has rolled over on shakedown, so anything can happen. And it probably will

But never discount Loeb.

Stig's tip : Sebastien Loeb (1)

The Dark Horse : Jari-Matti Latvala (4)

Biggest Disappointment : Sebastien Ogier (7)

Comments

[flood1]

I read this elsewhere:

"Thrown in among the regular stages, for the first time in this WRC round, will be the Coca-Cola Leon stage, a mile-long dash through the streets of the host city. An asphalt test using tyres still recovering from a punishing loop on the dirt is certain to further endear the WRC to the locals."

What are your thoughts on this KM?

Also, I'll certainly be watching for Ken Block's first run with the big boys, and I wish him well.

He does need more seat time, though.

[Koray]

... and HD Theater coverage begins on March 18th.

WRC needs to do something about the stage running order advantage. It's just ugly to watch a rally car stop and wait at the end of a stage.

[KM-TV]

Flood : The WRC often throw in a spectator stage which is nothing really more than a say of showing off to the fans. a superspecial is the most used one or a short stage through a town or city. This was done in Ireland, where it worked, and Cyprus, where it didn't. The reason it didn't work was because Dani Sordo discovered why gravel tyres do not work very well on tarmac... He understeered straight into and demolished a ornamental roundabout. It is however a great way of showing off to spectators who can find it hard to get out into the stages to see the cars at their best. If only they'd drop the stupid "one tyre" rule and allow the drivers to make a choice of which pattern to use at the very least (so they could change to more suitable rubber) it would make much more sense.

Koray : You are right... but what can you replace it with? If you run in reverse championship/Day 1/ Day 2 order the fastest car is going to have it easy all the way through. At least with this system the driver who is fastest on the first day gets the disadvantage of going first on the second which negates the effect.

Prehaps they could try and ban team orders! They have blighted the sport for a long time!

[sportsman]

I am really looking forward to this one.The two rallies couldn't be more different terrain wise.

Loeb will be smarting after losing in Sweden.

It's a good point that he will get the advantage of a swept road, so I would expect to see him very well placed after day one.
I will keep a very close eye on Dani Sordo.
He appears to have really got to grips with the Citroen.
Should be great to watch

[KM-TV]

Stig's tips for biggest disappointments are a bit off... Anyway, here is the standings after day 1
Position Driver Time
1st Petter SOLBERG 1:23:39.9
2nd Sébastien OGIER 1:23:54.9
3rd Sébastien LOEB 1:24:07.3
4th Dani SORDO 1:24:20.7
5th Jari-Matti LATVALA 1:24:41.2
6th Mikko HIRVONEN 1:25:11.4
7th Henning SOLBERG 1:25:17.5
8th Matthew WILSON 1:26:26.9
9th Federico VILLAGRA 1:27:59.8
10th Ken BLOCK 1:28:13.1
Block is reportedly "stoked" to be tenth. What does that mean? Kimi Raikkonen has rolled his Citroen and managed to damage it badly enough to force him out of the competition. Both him and Kaj Lindstrom are ok. He was not having much luck having lost 30 minutes to a mechanical problem earlier in the day.

[flood1]

Stoked - To be in a state of happiness, excitement, anticipation, pride, and optimism. Word used often in Southern California by most surfers and skateboarders.