The second day of Corona Rally Mexico has provided more drama, leaving reigning FIA World Rally Champion Sébastien Loeb (Citroën Total) with a healthy one minute lead. Chris Atkinson (Subaru) has moved into second position, benefiting from problems experienced by Jari-Matti Latvala (BP Ford Abu Dhabi), who dropped to third this afternoon.
The day’s 157.32 competitive kilometre route took in two loops of three stages, before returning to Leon for another two runs around the super special stage. Latvala, starting first on the road, had the task of sweeping the loose gravel off the roads and as a consequence dropped time to Loeb in the opening stage. By the next stage he had slipped to second but worse followed when the turbo pipe broke and he lost more than a minute in stage 15. Forced to complete the day down on power, the Finn is now two minutes adrift of Loeb, although he did manage to maintain third position.
Atkinson has enjoyed a relatively trouble-free day, his only woe being a problem with the launch control. Team-mate Petter Solberg was however forced out after the second stage with a broken drive-shaft. Behind the leading trio, Henning Solberg (Munchi’s Ford) has climbed from sixth to fourth, despite brake problems this morning. Mikko Hirvonen (BP Ford) has had a frustrating day and two punctures this afternoon cost him dearly. With nearly three minutes lost he dropped to fifth and needed a cautious approach to the following four stages, being that he had no spare tyres.
Matthew Wilson (Stobart Ford) has moved up to sixth after an uneventful day. Federico Villagra (Munchi’s Ford) and local hero Ricardo Triviño (Peugeot 206 WRC) round off the top eight points-scoring positions.
Corona Rally Mexico - Results after Day 2
| 1. Sébastien Loeb/Daniel Elena | Citroën C4 WRC | 3 hr 08 min 39.8sec |
| 2. Chris Atkinson/Stéphane Prévot | Subaru Impreza WRC | 3 hr 09 min 41.2sec |
| 3. Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila | Ford Focus RS WRC | 3 hr 10 min 46.2sec |
| 4. Henning Solberg/Cato Menkerud | Ford Focus RS WRC | 3 hr 12 min 31.4sec |
| 5. Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen | Ford Focus RS WRC | 3 hr 12 min 47.3sec |
| 6. Matthew Wilson/Scott Martin | Ford Focus RS WRC | 3 hr 14 min 50.4sec |
| 7. Federico Villagra/Jorge Companc | Ford Focus RS WRC | 3 hr 26 min 54.1sec |
| 8. Ricardo Triviño/Checo Salom | Peugeot 206 WRC | 3 hr 28 min 10.9sec |
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