Most liked posts in thread: WRC: Rally Mexico 2013

Steve · Mar 10, 2013

Ogier secures Mexico victory (Racer.com)

March 10, 2013

Sebastien Ogier completed his domination of Rally Mexico as he wrapped up victory and a maximum score on Sunday's final loop of stages.

Ogier had a scare after the morning's opening Guanajuatito stage when he had to spend 20 minutes fixing a sensor issue on his Volkswagen.

With that resolved, Ogier went on to win the following bonus-points power stage and win outright by over three minutes from Mikko Hirvonen's Citroen.

Having won two of this year's three rallies, Ogier already holds a 44-point cushion over nearest title rival Hirvonen. The now part-time Sebastien Loeb is still second in the points, 31 down on Ogier.

Hirvonen started Sunday under pressure from Thierry Neuville. The Belgian went flat-out to try and snatch second place, but a trip off the road on the first stage convinced him to back off and let Hirvonen take the position.

Third was still Neuville's first podium in the World Rally Championship.

That was comfort for his M-Sport Ford team after Mads Ostberg encountered electrical problems when running second on Saturday, having earlier fought Ogier for the lead.

Evgeny Novikov recovered to 10th following an ECU gremlin on day one, while Nasser Al-Attiyah produced one of his best World Rally Car drives yet in the fourth M-Sport entry to take fifth, having matched fourth-placed Dani Sordo's pace for much of the weekend.

On what is currently a one-off in Khalid Al Qassimi's regular Citroen, Chris Atkinson recovered from leg one steering damage to take sixth.

Seventh was still a career-best for Ken Block, while Production champion Benito Guerra must wait to see if eighth is sufficient to secure the full-time top-class drive his sponsors have hinted at.

While one VW driver celebrated 28 points, Ogier's team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala had to settle for one power stage bonus point, having broken his suspension just three corners into Friday's first stage.

Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari dominated WRC2 all weekend.

Results after SS23:

Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap
1. Sebastien Ogier Volkswagen 4h30m27.0s
2. Mikko Hirvonen Citroen + 3m28.9s
3. Thierry Neuville M-Sport Ford + 4m23.8s
4. Dani Sordo Citroen + 6m06.7s
5. Nasser Al-Attiyah M-Sport Ford + 8m34.5s
6. Chris Atkinson Abu Dhabi Citroen + 11m28.0s
7. Ken Block Hoonigan Ford + 11m48.3s
8. Benito Guerra CRT Citroen + 12m49.8s
9. Martin Prokop Czech Ford + 14m29.0s
10. Evgeny Novikov M-Sport Ford + 17m15.3s

Other WRC finishers:

11. Mads Ostberg M-Sport Ford + 26m40.4s
16. Jari-Matti Latvala Volkswagen + 55m03.3s

WRC retirements:

Michal Kosciuszko Italia Mini SS21

Leading power stage results:

Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap
1. Sebastien Ogier Volkswagen 13m00.5s
2. Mads Ostberg M-Sport Ford + 5.9s
3. Jari-Matti Latvala Volkswagen + 8.2s
4. Mikko Hirvonen Citroen + 11.8s
5. Dani Sordo Citroen + 23.8s

This article originally appeared in Autosport.com
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RallyMini370 · Mar 10, 2013

Ken did a good job as did Montalto.....shame the Mini was not so lucky.

Steve · Mar 10, 2013

I think it's the beard. :biggrin5:

Wilson reveals the secret to Blockâ€™s success (MaxRally.com)

by Richard Rodgers / 11th March 2013

Malcolm Wilson reckons heâ€™s discovered the secret to Ken Blockâ€™s success in the WRC following the Gymkhana legend's run to seventh place.

The M-Sport team head, whose firm built and prepared the Hoonigan Racing Division Ford Fiesta Block took to his best WRC finish on Rally Mexico, was making reference to Blockâ€™s late arrival in Mexico following his appearance at Adelaideâ€™s V8 Supercar event the previous weekend where the American was doing demo runs.

â€œHe needs to have a heavy work schedule before every event,â€ Wilson joked. â€œHe didnâ€™t get here until Monday night and he does his best ever result. Itâ€™s great to see him get this but heâ€™s been so relaxed and has driven so well.â€

Block, who has yet to confirm when his next appearance in the WRC will be, said: â€œI just tried to keep it consistent and enjoyed myself. Itâ€™s always a learning process and Iâ€™m a better driverthan I was a year ago.â€
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Steve · Mar 10, 2013

Happy team greets winners - but closed gate a concern (iRallylive.com)

11.03.2013 02:58

SÃ©bastien Ogier took it remarkably lightly at the time, but there's no doubt the closed gate on Saturday's SS18 Otates 2 stage could have been a disaster had he and co-driver Julien Ingrassia come across it unaware.

Footage of the episode is in Videos.

Ogier had started the day running thirteenth on the road, and though Mads Ã˜stberg's exit before the stage made that twelfth, that might have been portent enough.

As it was, they were able to stop safely, the crew losing 40 seconds while Ingrassia leapt out to open the barrier, and they proceeded, with Clerk of the Course Jaime del Palacio later awarding a revised - corrected - time to restore fairness. Thank goodness for modern tracking and timing and onboard cameras which made that task simple.

Ogier was very cool indeed about the affair, both at the stage end and later in Service.

And his win meant the team could smile as well, as they showed when greeting Ogier and Ingrassia on their return to the Poliforum Service Park...

But despite the smiles, there will be concern here.

All the safety cars and 11 drivers had gone through before Ogier found the gate shut. How it came to shut - or to be shut - may never be known, though those responsible for safety will undoubtedly be checking all available onboard and any helicopter footage of the cars running before and after Ogier to see if this can provide any clue.

Last year in Mexico Armindo AraÃºjo and Mads Ã˜stberg both complained of a rock in the road less than a kilometre before the end of Stage 20 Comanjilla 2, with Ã˜stberg observing people standing just before the point. Ogier also reported problems at the same, or nearby point.

Rocks of course can come out on roads as earlier cars pass, as Jari-Matti Latvala discovered to his cost early on Friday.

However, human misconduct can also occur: last year the second running of the rally's Ortega stage was cancelled after a stone-throwing incident during the first running as SS5. Thierry Neuville in his CitroÃ«n was lucky to suffer only a cracked windscreen.

It is not possible to police every metre of a stage. If this was anything other than a gate coming loose by accident, then there is concern. "Fan" indiscipline can wreck a rally: more important it can cause injury or worse.

It's worth stressing this is not a issue unique to Mexico, which is a brilliant rally fully deserving its place in the WRC calendar, nor indeed a recent phenomenon: a police investigation was launched at Monte Carlo in 1968 after vandals put snow and ice on the road ahead of the then rally leaders Larrousse and Callewaert, who crashed out. And in 1995, Carlos Sainz reported logs in the road in the UK during the RAC Rally as he battled Colin McRae for the world title...
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Steve · Mar 12, 2013

I don't know how long these will stay up. Looks like the folks who took on the promotional role and/or broadcast rights for WRC this year are clamping down on YouTube postings and having them pulled. Here's a start anyway, I'll post more when I find them.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eA4-yCM9-s]WRC 2013 Mexico Day 1 - Part 1/2 - YouTube[/ame]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJW4RW_W_Us]WRC 2013 Mexico Day 1 - Part 2/2 - YouTube[/ame]

Steve · Mar 16, 2013

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-ci-w19pkY]Michal Kosciuszko WRC Rally Mexico 2013 MINI JCW WRC "Las Minas 1" - YouTube[/ame]

Steve · Mar 16, 2013

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJDOvN3u8hs"]WRC 2013 Round 3 Mexico Day 2 Highlights [HD] - YouTube[/ame]

Steve · Mar 16, 2013

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EtdrbOPcyQ]WRC 2013 Mexico Day 3 - Part 1/2 - YouTube[/ame]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSUv_JpQ_qc]WRC 2013 Mexico Day 3 - Part 2/2 - YouTube[/ame]

Steve · Mar 16, 2013

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrsQNcZgwuw]WRC Rally Mexico 2013 Day 1 - YouTube[/ame]

Steve · Mar 16, 2013

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=taZSBCRicog]Rally Guanajuato 2013/ Llano Grande - YouTube[/ame]

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