Ford maintains world championship lead after Mexican double

BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team retained the lead of the FIA World Rally Championship after a double points haul in Rally Mexico today. Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen finished fourth on the demanding dirt roads in a Ford Focus RS World Rally Car, with team-mates Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila 27.6 seconds behind in fifth. The results mean Ford leads the manufacturers' standings by six points after two rounds of the 13-rally series.

High altitude and slippery gravel roads in the hills above the rally base of León, 400km north-west of Mexico City , characterised the event, returning to the championship after a year's absence. The speed tests climbed to 2730 metres, and the thin air at that height meant engines 'ran out of breath', losing up to 30 per cent of their power. Loose gravel on the surface was a huge disadvantage to the early starters, who swept away the stones to leave a cleaner and faster line for those behind.

Hirvonen and Latvala were first and third in the start order on Friday's opening leg and Hirvonen endured the worst of the conditions. The 29-year-old Finn, winner of the opening round in Sweden last month, ended the leg in sixth, one place behind Latvala. Better start positions yesterday offered the opportunity to climb the order and Hirvonen and Latvala were second and third fastest respectively in the leg. However, they did not regain as much time as was hoped and moved to fourth and fifth.

Today's final leg was short and consolidating their positions was the sole target for the Finnish pairings. Latvala deliberately slowed on the final countryside special stage to allow team leader Hirvonen, making his 100th WRC start, to move ahead and take extra points to aid his challenge for the drivers' title. They ended 27.6sec apart after 21 tests covering 347.55km.

"It was a difficult weekend and after winning in Sweden I hoped for a better result here," admitted Hirvonen. "I'm happy that we scored good points for the team, but I made too many mistakes with my driving. I never really found a good rhythm and I felt I couldn't push as hard as I wanted to. When I tried, the car ended up sliding wide and I dropped even more time. I tried lots of different things but I never really found the answer.

"I never had the pace to fight for the win, so taking all that into account, I have to be happy with a solid finish. It's important to keep the points ticking over so early in the season and that's what we ended up doing here," he added.

Latvala said he was disappointed not to challenge for a podium, but happy with the eventual outcome. "It's a second good finish for me this season, without mistakes, and that boosts my confidence for the next rally. My speed improved as the weekend went on. My car set-up was too soft initially but when we realised that, it was too late to retain the time we had lost. It was unfortunate we started the weekend with a soft set up after a wet pre-event test.

"I slowed about 500m before the end of the last proper stage to let Mikko move ahead of me. I'm the second driver and that's my job. It made no difference to the team's points tally and I was happy to help him," added Latvala.

BP Ford Abu Dhabi team director Malcolm Wilson said it had been 'one of the most difficult rallies for some time'. "We lost too much time on the first day but we don't know why. We need to find the reasons, and we will, but at the moment it's a bit confusing. There's a lot of work to do but we'll dig deep and come back fighting. Mikko couldn't find his confidence on the opening day when he was first on the road. Jari-Matti did a great job for the team, helping Mikko and finishing ahead of our rivals' second cars. That's exactly what we asked of him at the start of the season," he said.

Ford of Europe motorsport chief Gerard Quinn said: "We came to Mexico as championship leader and we go home still at the top of the standings. It was a tough weekend for us and the results weren't as good as we had hoped. But sometimes you have to scrap hard to earn a result and that's what we did here. To take away good points after a less than perfect weekend is a sign of our determination."

News from other Ford teams

Stobart M-Sport Ford drivers Henning Solberg and Ilka Minor finished sixth in a Focus RS World Rally Car with team-mates Matthew Wilson and Scott Martin in 16th. Wilson restarted under SupeRally rules this morning after retiring yesterday when his car became stuck on rocks. Munchi's Ford duo Federico Villagra and Jorge Perez Companc were seventh while Monster World Rally Team drivers Ken Block and Alex Gelsomino were 18th. Block also restarted under SupeRally rules today after sliding into a ditch and breaking the suspension of his Focus RS WRC yesterday.

Next round

Round three of the series takes the BP Ford Abu Dhabi squad to the Middle East for the Jordan Rally. It is based on the shores of the Dead Sea, near the capital city of Amman , on 31 March - 3 April.

Final positions

1. S Loeb/D Elena FRA Citroen C4 3hr 42min 41.7sec

2. P Solberg/P Mills NOR Citroen C4 3hr 43min 05.9sec

3. S Ogier/J Ingrassia FRA Citroen C4 3hr 43min 07.0sec

4. M Hirvonen/J Lehtinen FIN Ford Focus RS 3hr 44min 29.2sec

5. J-M Latvala/M Anttila FIN Ford Focus RS 3hr 44min 56.8sec

6. H Solberg/I Minor NOR Ford Focus RS 3hr 45min 29.7sec

7. F Villagra/J Perez Companc ARG Ford Focus RS 3hr 52min 55.1sec

8. X Pons/A Haro ESP Ford Fiesta S2000 4hr 01min 26.1sec

9. M Prokop/J Tomanek CZE Ford Fiesta S2000 4hr 01min 43.7sec

10 A Araujo/R Miguel POR Mitsubishi Lancer 4hr 04min 14.2sec

Drivers

1. S Loeb 43pts

2. M Hirvonen 37pts

3= J-M Latvala 25pts

3= S Ogier 25pts

5. P Solberg 20pts

6. H Solberg 16pts

Manufacturers

1. BP Ford Abu Dhabi 67pts

2. Citroen Total 61pts

3. Citroen Junior 32pts

4. Stobart M-Sport Ford 28pts

5. Munchi's Ford 8pts

....

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