Atkinson second in Mexico
- 21 May 2013
Chris Atkinson scored his best ever finish in a WRC event to finish a comfortable second to Sebastien Loeb on the Rally Mexico.Atkinson in his Subaru had stayed in touch with Loeb until launch control and clutch issues slowed his pace on Saturday. He then drove carefully to the finish and collected a career-best result.
"It's awesome for all the guys in the team who are working hard on the new car," said Atkinson. "It's my best ever result and that's really cool. The car was faultless, thanks to everyone. Let's see if we can keep improving this car and the results."
Loeb had looked extremely unlikely to win when his Citroen developed engine problems before the rally even started. He was briefly handed a five-minute penalty for changing the engine before Citroen managed to repair the fault on the original unit without affecting the FIA seals.
Jari-Matti Latvala's Ford led early on but he lost turbo boost on day two and Loeb was able to dominate the second half of the rally. Latvala finally finished in third place, half a minute behind Atkinson. "It was a great start to the rally, but unfortunately we hit a problem on Saturday," he said. "But we got the feeling back today. I really want to fight with Sebastien for the rest of the season."
Latvala's teammate Mikko Hirvonen managed to retain his championship lead, just one point ahead of Loeb, after snatching fourth from Munchi's Ford driver Henning Solberg when the Norweigan had a puncture in the penultimate stage. Hirvonen had himself suffered three punctures earlier in the event.Having recovered strongly from a puncture on Friday morning, Solberg was gutted to fall from fourth to fifth so close to the finish. He lost more time when a shock absorber broke in the superspecial.
The rough Mexican roads took their toll on the WRC machinery from the start. Dani Sordo (Citroen) and Gigi Galli (Stobart Ford) both retired from leg one with broken suspension, while Subaru's Petter Solberg suffered a driveshaft failure on day two while on course for fourth. Both Suzukis also fell by the wayside early on as their engine gremlins continued.
Despite being unhappy with many of his pace notes, and having his windscreen damaged by a rock thrown by a spectator on Saturday, Stobart Ford's Matthew Wilson drove a measured rally to take sixth place.The high rate of attrition allowed Munchi's Ford driver Federico Villagra and local privateer Ricardo Trivino to collect the final points, even though they were 20 minutes behind the leaders, while ninth and a dominant class win went to impressive Junior series debutant, Frenchman Sebastien Ogier, whose name in Polish apparently means “sex god”, something that many of his competitors have been ribbing him about.
Leading results:
Pos Driver Car Time
1. Loeb Citroen 3h33:29.9
2. Atkinson Subaru + 1:06.1
3. Latvala Ford + 1:39.7
4. Hirvonen Ford + 3:38.7
5. H Solberg Ford + 4:57.9
6. Wilson Ford + 6:28.9
7. Villagra Ford + 19:03.0
8. Trivino Ford + 21:17.3
9. Ogier Citroen + 25:24.9
10. Molder Suzuki + 26:56.8