After a freezing start to the season in Monte Carlo and Sweden, the WRC carousel has finally moved into the warmth. The third rally of the World Rally Championship was hosted in León, Mexico. The Guanajuato México Rally was first run as a WRC event in 2004 and returns this season after a two-year break. This event is a true test of the crews and their specials. The local gravel is challenging, very twisty and full of pitfalls in the form of steep drops around the tracks. Another challenge is the high altitude, which takes the drivers up to 2700 m above sea level. It's also the only rally on the WRC calendar where the winning crew gets cowboy boots.
The first two urban tests in the beautiful setting of ancient Léon were won by the Finnish crew Lindholm/Hämäläinen with Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo, who stayed at the front throughout the whole event. During Friday's leg, Gus Greensmith, driving the new Škoda Fabia RS Rally2, took the lead, initially tussling for provisional first place with the Solberg/Edmondson crew driving the same car. However, Solberg's puncture during SS6 put an end to this duel, with the Swede picking up a deficit of almost two minutes. From then on, Greensmith never let anyone into first position. "From SS6 onwards I was in control of the whole rally. When we needed to accelerate we were able to get away from everyone and then it was just a case of controlling it and not making mistakes. It's the perfect way to start the year," the British driver said at the finish.
Due to Esapekka Lappi's accident on SS11, four stages were cancelled during Saturday for the WRC2 category. Oliver Solberg still managed to close the gap to almost a minute with some very fast times during Saturday and Sunday and at the end of Rally Mexico he was third overall in the WRC2 category. Second place went to the crew of Emil Lindholm, who benefited mainly from a consistent performance throughout the rally. The Finn was particularly pleased with his good points score at the finish: "It was the result we wanted, but we have to be honest - it was more or less because the other drivers had problems. Good points for the championship and a lot of lessons learned." The winner was Gus Greensmith by 32.9 seconds. The Škoda Fabia Rally2 cars took the top three places and won a total of 18 of the 19 stages.
More information about the Rally México can be found in the press release.
