Rally Mexico Day Two

Rally Mexico Day Two

2012 FIA WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP
RALLY GUANAJUATO MEXICO
(8 – 11 MARCH 2012)

10.03.2012

Sébastien Loeb has extended his advantage in Rally Mexico today, reacting to the speed of his rivals as they battled for honours in the third round of the FIA World Rally Championship. Team-mate Mikko Hirvonen remains second, although now 36.2 seconds adrift, and Jari-Matti Latvala has climbed one place into third overall.
 
Today’s route took in seven stages and 183.80 competitive kilometres – the longest day of the rally – and also included two runs through the 41.88 kilometre Otates stage. Heavy rain last night dampened the gravel roads, however as temperatures rose to more than 30 degrees through the day, conditions dried as the crews headed into the second loop of stages. After losing a bit of time in the first stage, Loeb upped the pace and the Frenchman has pulled out a cushion over Hirvonen after a trouble-free run. Hirvonen struggled to find good rhythm this morning and, as Loeb started to pull ahead, and with a comfortable advantage over third-place Latvala, he was able to adopt a risk-free strategy. Latvala continues to find bad luck in Mexico but his fighting spirit has rewarded him with third overnight. He hit a rock in stage 15 and while the impact broke the front left wheel, Latvala managed to run nearly 25 kilometres on a puncture and lose a relatively little 50 seconds, dropping him back to fourth. Team-mate Petter Solberg had a small problem with the brakes this morning, and he too climbs one position up tonight’s leaderboard.
 
Blinded by the early morning sun, Mads Østberg lost time and position in the opening stage of the morning, the Norwegian 30 seconds slower than his rivals in this stage alone. He is now driving at his own pace, being that he has nearly two minutes in hand to Ott Tänak. The Estonian suffered a puncture this morning, but he too can ease the pace with nearly two minutes in hand to Nasser Al-Attiyah. Leading retirements of the day include Brazilian Paulo Nobre, who went off the road, Chris Atkinson who also went off the road but with a brake problem, and Evgeny Novikov who ripped a wheel off.
 
Rally Mexico – Unofficial Results after Day 2