Picture of the Rally – Mexico 2010
I’m actually quite upset because I have spent ages trawling the internet looking for my ‘Picture of the Rally’ knowing exactly what I wanted to find but being unable to locate it!
The picture I wanted to show you was Henning Solberg running the Sport Relief mile in his crocs and socks – lets be honest the mental image alone is enough to make you chuckle!
So as I’m looking desperately for Henning’s funny footwear choice (which by the way if you do find it please, please send it my way – it would make my day!) I found this little gem.
Do I need to explain why I love it so much? I think not. Come on, it’s Seb in the most INCREDIBLE boots, gorgeous hat and sunglasses!
What’s not to love?!
Although the one thing I REALLY want to know is where can I get a patio like that from?
-edit… It seems @sackrebleu has this picture as her fave from the rally on her twitpic too! Sorry hun, I didn’t realise you’d posted it. WRC people, you need follow her on twitter for great rally musings! 🙂
Rally Mexico Press Conference
I hate to do this (copy and paste) however I just came back from a party and figured I’d post this and maybe analyse anything interesting tomorrow!
Present:
Jari-Matti Latvala, BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team
Sébastien Ogier, Citroën Junior Team
Dani Sordo, Citroën Total World Rally Team
Ken Block, Monster World Rally Team
Welcome to the pre-event FIA press conference.
Shakedown timings for Rally Mexico
If you haven’t already seen the timings for the ‘top’ drivers (I hesitated to use that word) here they are…
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
Many drivers encountered front end damage including Petter Solberg, Dani Sordo, Mikko Hirvonen and Jari-Matti Latvala.
Hirvonen encounters Mexican Police
Reports have emerged from Mexico that Mikko Hirvonen had his car temporarily towed away today!
From what I’ve read it seems to be his recce car that caused the problem (although I can’t be sure because google translate isn’t really helping me on this one!) after he parked it in an area that it shouldn’t be. Luckily his mechanics managed to retrieve it from the police and Mikko was then able to carry on.
All in all it seems like a bit of a misunderstanding!
If you know anymore – or I have got the completely wrong end of the stick with the translations let me know!
Press conference info for Rally Mexico
The drivers attending tomorrow’s (Thursdays) press conference are as follows…
Dani Sordo
Jari-Matti Latvala
Sébastien Ogier
Ken Block
As with Kimi Räikkönen in Sweden I think we can expect the majority of questions to come Ken’s way. Hopefully h’ell have left that lightsaber thing in his hotel room…
If there are any quotes that particularly stand out for me I’ll post them here!
Rally Mexico Preview
Rally Mexico. A world away from the opening round of the 2010 WRC season. The drivers and teams will be swapping sub-zero temperatures for heat and altitude.
Sharing a border with the United States this rally first appeared on the calendar in 2004 and has become a firm favourite among the fans.
Since then it has been won by three different drivers with two competing this coming weekend (Petter Solberg and Sébastien Loeb) both of whom will be hoping for the win for different reasons.
Rally Sweden was an utter disaster for Solberg from start to finish – the exact opposite to what he was telling the media he was going to produce.
As for Loeb, he resigned himself to second place something that is pretty much unheard of from him. He’ll be determined to put everyone in their places this weekend, and having won here three times in a row previously you’d certainly tip him as favourite.
After a ceremonial start Thursday night in Guanajuato City (to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the Mexican revoultion) the crews will be tackling 354.60 competitive kilometres over 22 stages many of which are at a height of over 2000m above sea level – a tall order for cars a personnel alike to overcome.
Saturday will see the Ibaarrilla stage, the longest of the weekend, totalling 29.90km – this will be run as ss10/14. A short blast through a Super Special stage will be run twice an evening. Almost all the stages are the same as 2008 with the exception of a few including one brand new one and another which will be run back to front.
But the talk of the town is the arrival of American rally superstar Ken Block who, unlike Kimi Räikkönen and his disiasterous Arctic Rally, comes off the back of an incredible 100 acre Rally America win. Block has become an internet sensation thanks to his Youtube stunt videos (brought to a mainstream British audience by Top Gear). He certainly has the pace to feature in the top 10 on a regular basis but having little experience in a WRC spec car may hold him back some – although this guy seems to relish challenges so don’t discount him quite yet!
And it’s that time of year again when Sport Relief enters our conscious and asks us to do our sporty best at raising money for charity. The Ford team will be swapping engine power for their own two feet when they charge through the streets of León on Thursday afternoon. The 1.5km Coca Cola stage will be part of the rally on Friday however it will first see the likes of Mikko Hirvonen, Jari-Matti Latvala and Henning Solberg, as well as many other members of the team, as they run in an effort to reduce child poverty at home and around the world.
If you would like to support the team you can donate to their specifically set-up Sport Relief page here
If not, you can always donate on the night of the live show broadcast in the UK.
Selected quotes…
Ken Block
This weekend I’ll be up against the greatest rally drivers on earth and, believe me, I will be truly humbled because I am basically a novice in the WRC…I’m on a good development process to get to the top level and its going to take a while but I’m going to do my best. It’s going to an incredible experience… Success for me would be to finish the event and not embarrass myself too much!
Sébastien Loeb
Is probably the most exotic of the rally championship, with the exception of Japan. The race takes place at an average altitude of 2000m, which means we loose a little horsepower: about 20% less power from the motor. The special stages are interesting and varied. It’s a recent rally and the population are becoming more and more interested. Over there they don’t do things by halves, when they are fans of something, they are real fans! A little like Argentina.
Event Information
Date: March 4-7, 2010
Round: 2 of 13 FIA World Rally Championship
Based: León, Mexico
Stage surface: Gravel
Total stage distance: 354.60kms
Number of stages: 22
Service Park: Poliforum, León
Picture from Monster World Rally Team
Quotes from www.wrc.com and www.sebastienloeb.com
Event breakdown information from www.stobartmotorsport.com
Through Shakedown And Stage 