Rally Mexico Shakedown Results & Video – Kimi 5th Fastest

Source: WRC.com

After a frustrating time on the opening round of the World Rally
Championship in Sweden, Citroen privateer Petter Solberg is the early
pace-setter in Mexico, setting the fastest time at today’s pre-rally
Shakedown in his C4 WRC.

But while Solberg was all smiles at the
end of the session, a number of other WRC competitors were left with
damaged cars as a result of an extremely steep water splash.

Today’s
four-hour test took place on the same 5.13km piece of road used in
2008, located in the San Juan de Otates region, 15km from the Service
Park in Leon. Weather conditions were dry and sunny throughout with the
temperature peaking at 26 degrees Celsius.

Solberg, who took his
last WRC rally victory on this event in 2005, made five passes through
the stage in his C4 WRC, setting his best time of 2min 51.7sec on his
final attempt. Returning to the Service Park, the former World Champion
told wrc.com he was happier with the set-up of his car than he had been
before Sweden.

"I still don’t have a clue why things went so
badly for me in Sweden, but the car didn’t feel quite right at
shakedown," he said. "There was so much gravel on the Swedish shakedown
that I didn’t really push the car too much. Today, the feeling was much
better. We tested last week and the set-up we have settled on feels
good."

Solberg’s car was one of many to arrive back at the Service
Park sporting damage to its front end. One of the others was the
similar C4 WRC of Dani Sordo. The Spaniard was the closest to Solberg’s
time, but had to stop his session early after breaking a radiator
package.

"The water splash itself wasn’t especially fast – just
second gear – but it was very steep in and out," he explained. "There’s a
first-gear corner immediately after the water splash, and the fact that
I was braking for that didn’t help the angle of the car. The water
flooded into the ducting and broke everything. This is the worst water
splash we’ve found on the recce, so it shouldn’t be a big issue for the
rally."

Apart from his radiator problem, Sordo felt the
Shakedown had gone well but had underlined the importance of
road-cleaning on the Mexican stages. "The difference between our first
and third pass was 10 seconds. Road position is very important here. I’m
starting Friday third on the road, and as long as I can keep close to
the guys ahead I’ll love to keep that road position right through until
Sunday," he said.

Ford drivers Jari-Matti Latvala and Mikko
Hirvonen also collected front end damage, proving the issue was not just
a Citroen problem. "The water splash was much deeper than it had been
in earlier years," said Latvala. "I went over it normally, as I had done
in the past, but with more water the force broke the cooling package.
Normally the water keeps the front of the car up when you go over it
fast, but it didn’t happen this time. We have never had a problem like
this with the Focus. I’m going to have to take it more carefully on the
rally."

After a ceremonial start this evening in Guanajuato, the
opening stage of the rally, the 22.91km Alfaro, gets underway on Friday
at 0728hrs. Stage and split times will be streamed LIVE and FREE here on
wrc.com.

Here are the Shakedown times of the leading WRC
drivers:

1. P. SOLBERG. Citroen C4 WRC. 2:51.7
2.
SORDO. Citroen C4 WRC. 2:51.8
3. OGIER.
Citroen C4 WRC. 2:51.9
4. LOEB. Citroen C4 WRC.
2:52.5
5. RAIKKONEN. Citroen C4 WRC. 2:54.2
6.
HIRVONEN. Ford Focus RS WRC 09. 2:55.3
7. H.SOLBERG.
Ford Focus RS WRC 08. 2:56.2
8. VILLAGRA. Ford
Focus RS WRC 08. 2:56.4
9. WILSON. Ford Focus RS WRC
08. 2:59.9
10. LATVALA. Ford Focus RS WRC 09.
3:00.1
11. BLOCK. Ford Focus RS WRC 08. 3:04.6

 

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Kimi Overcomes Back Problems
Source: MaxRally.com

Kimi Raikkonen’s back problems – which forced him
to skip a planned test before the Rally Mexico – will not affect him on
the event, according to the 2007 Formula One World Champion.

“My back feels OK now,” said Raikkonen. “I’m going to wear a kidney belt
– a type of back brace – during the rally just to keep everything in
place but I am sure I won’t have any further problems. If I was going to
experience some pain I would have had it during the recce, but it was
fine. I’m actually not too worried about having missed the test: the
team has some very good data for this rally anyway.”

The Finn aggravated an old injury he picked up in a Formula One crash at
the French circuit of Magny Cours by competing on Rally Sweden. On the
advice of his doctors, he decided to rest his back rather than drive on
the pre-Mexico test: the right decision according to his personal
trainer Mark Arnall.

“Kimi’s feeling fine,” said Arnall. “We’re confident that these issues
won’t affect him in Mexico. He’s reported no problems on the recce, and
he’s just looking forward to the rally now.”

Having missed the pre-event test, Raikkonen’s aim for the rally
shakedown is to complete as many runs as possible with his Citroen C4
WRC.

“Most of the speed to come is from me learning more about the car, so
that’s going to be the main focus here,” he concluded. “We’re going to
just build on everything we’ve learned so far at our own pace, and
hopefully a few good stage times will come out of it too.”