Petter looking forward to Mexico
Three weeks after Rally Sweden, on which Petter Solberg claimed Subaru’s 45th WRC victory, the 2005 FIA World Rally Championship moves to North America next week for the first gravel round of the series, Corona Rally Mexico.
The World Championship's only American event was new to the series last year, but was such a resounding success that it won a prestigious award at the first attempt. Based in Mexico's leather capital of Leon, the route is one of the highest of the season, peaking at more than 2,700 metres above sea level, and takes in medium to fast gravel roads that are classics in the making.
The stages are quite varied in speed and character, calling for a good all-round compromise set-up. Conditions are normally warm, and as Mexico is the first gravel rally after two highly specialised events, it is an invaluable opportunity to assess the performance of every team and driver on a level playing field.
With none of the stages further than 50km from rally HQ, Rally Mexico features one of the most compact routes of the whole of the 16-event series. Commencing on Thursday 10 March with a ceremonial start in the picturesque Mexican town of Guanajuato, the route will cover eight special stages, 14 in total and 356.17 competitive kilometres. The stages for 2005 remain largely unchanged from 2004, although small modifications have been made, including two brand new stages, which will provide a thrilling finale to the event on Sunday.
Entries
The Subaru World Rally Team will be entering two cars on the Corona Rally Mexico driven by Petter Solberg (co-driven by Phil Mills) and Chris Atkinson (co-driven by Glenn Macneall). Stéphane Sarrazin and co-driver Denis Giraudet will complete the recce to gain experience of the event.
After suffering some cruel luck in Mexico last year, when a time penalty cost him the chance of a maiden victory (although he battled back to finish fourth), Solberg is hoping to put the record straight with a podium finish this time. His colleague Chris Atkinson has never driven the Mexican event before and is looking to get experience of the route as well as the car, on only his second WRC class outing.
Petter Solberg:
"Although I was a bit unlucky on Rally Mexico last year, it's a great event to take part in and I'm really looking forward to getting back next month. It's a very well run rally, last year the organisers did a very professional job considering it was their first year in the WRC, and I'd say it's one of the best events of the season. Mexico is an interesting place for us to visit too, and as a destination in the WRC it's somewhere I'd like to spend more time; the people, food, scenery and the whole atmosphere make it unique. The stages seem to suit the Subaru Impreza pretty well. We've got a new evolution of the car to launch this time and hopefully, if we have a clean run with no problems, we've got a good chance of winning. Well, that's the plan anyway. It's all about achieving perfection at every stage in the process, from Phil and me, to the guys building the cars and the ones working in service too. It's going to be a tough battle out there I can promise you."
The Car / The Challenge
The latest evolution of the Subaru Impreza World Rally Car, the Impreza WRC2005, will make its competitive debut at Rally Mexico. The eagerly anticipated new model replaces the Impreza WRC2004, the car that propelled Petter Solberg to five WRC victories in the 2004 season and a sixth on its final event, Rally Sweden, last month. Featuring a wider track, revised styling, composite body panels and a host of engine and suspension enhancements, the Impreza WRC2005 is the latest development of the car that has claimed 44 WRC rally wins over the past 12 seasons. Further information can be found at
www.swrt.com
Subaru World Rally Team Principal, David Lapworth:
“One of the main challenges of Rally Mexico is the high altitude of the stages, which can mean that engines have 25 per cent less horsepower. This puts a greater emphasis on the car's set-up, it's tyres and the driver. While plenty of horsepower allows you to recover from small mistakes, less power means the car's not as forgiving if you make them. If you lose speed, it's difficult to get it back and there's a lot of time to be lost or gained through driver error and set-up.
Looking to the stages in Mexico, they're very tricky. Some parts are fast and some slow, while there are lots of rhythm changes and corners, meaning it's not an easy event for a driver to read. On rallies such as Cyprus, drivers can build up a natural rhythm and almost drive without pace notes. One corner tends to lead to another in a fairly predictable way, but in Mexico it's not like that at all. You may have a long tightening corner over a crest that suddenly goes into a hairpin corner. There's no flowing rhythm. Overall, the stages are quite sandy and reminiscent of the northern stages of Rally Portugal. They're also a little like those seen in Sardinia, as they include sections that are quite narrow and twisty.
Last year the event was very well run and showed that new rallies can come into the Championship at a high level. I think that's opened the door for further calendar adaptations to be made in the future and perhaps new countries such as India and China may be included, which is encouraging.
New FIA regulations mean that WRC engines are now used for two events. Mexico is the first of a pair and that should be interesting as Mexico is high altitude, while the next rally, New Zealand, is low altitude. In the past a different mechanical specification and a different compression ratio of engine may have been used for high events such as Mexico and Argentina. But, as they're now run in pairs, you can no longer do that. This is also the first rally where we'll be running the car track to the new maximum width that's been allowed by the 2005 FIA regulations.
Obviously, this is the first event with the new car and you'll always have concerns, but from what we've seen in testing there's no reason for worry. There's no question that the objective for Petter is to win this event, while, for Chris, it's his first gravel rally in a World Rally Car and his first time as a nominated driver in a Manufacturer team, so we're not really talking about results for him. This is all part of his training programme."
Between the Rallies
After attending a test in Sardinia, Petter took some time out to go skiing with his family in Norway. Both he and wife Pernilla are very enthusiastic skiers, but after joining the pair on a couple of runs down the slope, their three-year old son Oliver has yet to make up his mind. "Mummy and daddy like skiing, but Oliver doesn't." the three-year-old said. Petter joined 400 guests at a prestigious motoring awards ceremony in Geneva on Wednesday 2 March, where he went on stage to give some tips about professional rally driving. He travelled out to Mexico on Thursday last week, in order to complete his training before the start of the event.
RALLY MEXICO
ROUND 3 FIA WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP
10 - 13 MARCH 2005
Thursday 10 March: Ceremonial Start
Start Guanajuato 21.00
Friday 11 March: Leg 1 León - León
Start León 08.30
SS1 Ibarrilla - El Zauco 1 22.56km 09.07
SS2 Ortega - La Esperanza 1 29.06km 10.25
SS3 Santana - Cubilete 1 21.80km 11.16
Serv A León (30 mins) 13.01
SS4 Ibarrilla - El Zauco 2 22.56km 14.08
SS5 Ortega - La Esperanza 2 29.06km 15.26
SS6 Santana - Cubilete 2 21.80km 16.17
Serv B León (flexi 45 mins) 17.37
Finish Karlstad 18.22
Total 146.84km
Saturday 12 March: Leg 2 León - León
Serv C León (10 mins) 08.30
SS7 El Zauco - Mesa 1 25.45km 09.43
SS8 Duarte - Otates 1 24.23km 11.06
SS9 Derramadero - Chichimequillas 1 23.56km 11.57
Serv D León (30 mins) 13.37
SS10 El Zauco - Mesa 2 25.45km 15.10
SS11 Duarte - Otates 2 24.23km 16.33
SS12 Derramadero - Chichimequillas 2 23.56km 17.24
Serv E León (flexi 45 mins) 18.39
Finish León 19.24
Total 146.48km
Sunday 13 March: Leg 3 León - León
Serv F León (10 mins) 08.30
SS13 Comanjilla - Chichimequillas 1 18.26km 09.17
SS14 Alfaro - El Establo 44.39km 10.25
Serv G León (20 mins) 11.45
Finish León 12.30
Total 62.65km
Rally Total 355.97km
FIA World Rally Championship (after round 2 of 16)
Drivers
1. T Gardemeister 14pts
2. M Märtin 13pts
3= S Loeb 10pts
3= P Solberg 10pts
5. H Rovanperä 7pts
6. G Panizzi 6pts
7= H Solberg 4pts
Manufacturers
1. Ford 20pts
2= Peugeot 17pts
2= Mitsubishi 17pts
4. Citroen 11pts
5. Subaru 10pts
6. Skoda 3pts
Linear Mode
