2007 Rally México

2007 Rally México 21º Corona Rally México
Round 4 of the 2007 World Rally Championship ← Previous event Next event →
Host country	Mexico
Rally base	León, Mexico
Dates run	March 9 – 11 2007
Stages	20 (366.06 km; 227.46 mi)
Stage surface	Gravel
Overall distance	849.55 km (527.89 mi)
Results
Overall winner	Sébastien Loeb Citroën Total World Rally Team
Crews	47 at start, 36 at finish

The 21º Corona Rally México, the fourth round of the 2007 World Rally Championship season, took place between March 9–11 2007. The rally consisted of 20 special stages, of which five were super specials. The event was won by Citroën's Sébastien Loeb, followed by Ford drivers Marcus Grönholm and Mikko Hirvonen.

The drivers' championship leaders, Grönholm and Hirvonen, were the first drivers on road and lost time as they had to sweep the loose gravel. They were followed by Loeb, who was able to keep close to Subaru's Petter Solberg, who benefited from his better starting position during the first three stages. However, Solberg, in the new Subaru Impreza WRC 07, had to retire at the start of SS6 giving the lead to Loeb.^[1] After the first day, Ford identified and fixed a sensory fault in Grönholm's car.^[2] The problem had caused lack of engine power and troubled the Finn: "In the morning, I was sweeping. In the afternoon, I was sleeping".^[3] The second leg saw Grönholm quickly climb to second place, but Loeb continued setting top times and extended his lead to Grönholm from 43 to 60 seconds. Hirvonen, Chris Atkinson and Dani Sordo battled for the third place. Hirvonen was the fastest driver on the final day and secured the last podium position, ahead of Sordo, Atkinson, Manfred Stohl, Jari-Matti Latvala and Matthew Wilson. Loeb took the win 55.8 seconds clear of Grönholm.^[4]

Results

Pos.	Driver	Co-driver	Car	Time	Difference	Points
WRC
1.	Sébastien Loeb	Daniel Elena	Citroën C4 WRC	3:48:13.3	0.0	10
2.	Marcus Grönholm	Timo Rautiainen	Ford Focus RS WRC 06	3:49:09.1	55.8	8
3.	Mikko Hirvonen	Jarmo Lehtinen	Ford Focus RS WRC 06	3:49:41.0	1:27.7	6
4.	Daniel Sordo	Marc Marti	Citroën C4 WRC	3:49:57.0	1:43.7	5
5.	Chris Atkinson	Glenn McNeall	Subaru Impreza WRC 07	3:50:37.4	2:24.1	4
6.	Manfred Stohl	Ilka Minor	Citroën Xsara WRC	3:51:58.8	3:45.5	3
7.	Jari-Matti Latvala	Miikka Anttila	Ford Focus RS WRC 06	3:52:24.1	4:10.8	2
8.	Matthew Wilson	Michael Orr	Ford Focus RS WRC 06	4:00:35.9	12:22.6	1
PCWRC
1. (10.)	Mark Higgins	Scott Martin	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9	4:08:44.5	0.0	10
2. (11.)	Toshi Arai	Tony Sircombe	Subaru Impreza WRX STI	4:10:05.4	1:20.9	8
3. (13.)	Kristian Sohlberg	Risto Pietiläinen	Subaru Impreza WRX STI	4:11:15.2	2:30.7	6
4. (14.)	Mirco Baldacci	Giovanni Agnese	Subaru Impreza WRX STI	4:12:51.9	4:07.4	5
5. (15.)	Travis Pastrana	Christian Edstrom	Subaru Impreza WRX STI	4:16:53.2	8:08.7	4
6. (16.)	Štěpán Vojtěch	Michal Ernst	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9	4:25:43.3 ^[1]	16:58.8	3
7. (18.)	Fumio Nutahara	Daniel Barritt	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9	4:26:02.5	17:18.0	2
8. (20.)	Spyros Pavlides	Denis Giraudet	Subaru Impreza WRX STI	4:34:23.7	25:39.2	1
				^[1] — Drivers using SupeRally

Retirements

• Nasser Al-Attiyah - mechanical (SS2/3);
• Petter Solberg - no oil pressure (SS5/6);
• Francisco Name - retired between leg 1 and 2 (before SS8);
• Martin Rauam - gearbox failure (SS9);
• Gareth MacHale - damaged suspension (SS13);
• Leszek Kuzaj - mechanical (SS13);

Special Stages

Leg	Stage	Time	Name	Length	Winner	Time	Avg. spd.	Rally leader
1 (9 Mar)	SS1	08:28	Alfaro 1	23.50 km	P. Solberg	14:03.5	100.3 km/h	P. Solberg
	SS2	09:51	Ortega 1	29.65 km	P. Solberg	17:28.7	101.78 km/h
	SS3	10:34	El Cubilete 1	17.87 km	P. Solberg	9:45.6	109.86 km/h
	SS4	13:02	Alfaro 2	23.50 km	S. Loeb	13:47.0	102.3 km/h
	SS5	14:25	Ortega 2	29.65 km	M. Stohl	16:58.2	104.83 km/h
	SS6	15:08	El Cubilete 2	17.87 km	S. Loeb	9:37.5	111.4 km/h	S. Loeb
	SS7	16:29	Super Special 1	2.21 km	M. Grönholm	1:42.6	77.54 km/h
	SS8	16:33	Super Special 2	2.21 km	C. Atkinson	1:42.0	78.0 km/h
2 (10 Mar)	SS9	08:19	Ibarilla 1	30.20 km	S. Loeb	18:17.3	99.08 km/h
	SS10	09:42	Duarte 1	23.51 km	S. Loeb	17:55.0	78.73 km/h
	SS11	10:33	Derramadero 1	23.27 km	M. Grönholm	14:01.6	99.54 km/h
	SS12	13:07	Ibarilla 2	30.20 km	S. Loeb	18:02.6	100.42 km/h
	SS13	14:30	Duarte 2	23.51 km	M. Grönholm	17:32.2	80.48 km/h
	SS14	15:21	Derramadero 2	23.27 km	S. Loeb	13:49.4	101.0 km/h
	SS15	16:35	Super Special 3	2.21 km	D. Sordo	1:44.6	76.06 km/h
	SS16	16:39	Super Special 4	2.21 km	M. Grönholm	1:43.6	76.8 km/h
3 (11 Mar)	SS17	08:23	Leon	16.29 km	M. Hirvonen	10:35.8	92.24 km/h
	SS18	08:54	Guanajuatito	23.34 km	M. Grönholm	15:12.3	92.1 km/h
	SS19	10:17	Comanjilla	18.10 km	M. Hirvonen	10:17.6	105.51 km/h
	SS20	11:28	Super Special 5	4.42 km	M. Grönholm	3:23.6	78.15 km/h

Championship standings after the event

Drivers' championship

Pos Driver MON SWE NOR MEX POR ARG ITA GRC FIN GER NZL ESP FRA JPN IRL GBR  Pts  1 Marcus Grönholm 3 1 2 2 32 2 Sébastien Loeb 1 2 14 1 28 3 Mikko Hirvonen 5 3 1 3 26 4 Dani Sordo 2 12 25 4 13 5 Henning Solberg 14 4 3 9 11 6 Chris Atkinson 4 8 19 5 10 7 Petter Solberg 6 Ret 4 Ret 8 8 Daniel Carlsson 5 7 6 Jari-Matti Latvala Ret Ret 5 7 6 10 Toni Gardemeister 7 6 Ret 5 Manfred Stohl 10 7 12 6 5 12 Gigi Galli 13 6 3 13 Jan Kopecký 8 10 8 2 14 Matthew Wilson 12 Ret 26 8 1 Pos Driver MON SWE NOR MEX POR ARG ITA GRC FIN GER NZL ESP FRA JPN IRL GBR  Pts

Colour Result Gold Winner Silver 2nd place Bronze 3rd place Green Points finish Blue Non-points finish Non-classified finish (NC) Purple Retired (Ret) Black Excluded (EX) Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Blank Withdrew entry before the event (WD)

Manufacturers' championship

Rank	Manufacturer	Event																Total points
		MON	SWE	NOR	MEX	POR	ARG	ITA	GRC	FIN	GER	NZL	ESP	FRA	JPN	IRL	GBR
1	BP Ford World Rally Team	10	16	18	14	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	58
2	Citroën Total World Rally Team	18	9	1	15	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	43
3	Stobart VK M-Sport Ford	1	5	10	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	19
	Subaru World Rally Team	8	2	5	4	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	19
5	OMV Kronos	2	7	5	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	17
6	Munchi's Ford World Rally Team		0		0	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	0

References

1. "Solberg loses lead in Mexico". Autosport. Archived from the original on 28 March 2007. Retrieved 2007-03-11.
2. "Ford identify sensor fault". Autosport. Retrieved 2007-03-11.
3. "Loeb makes most of Solberg slip". RTÉ. Retrieved 2007-03-11.
4. "Loeb wins in Mexico". Eurosport. Archived from the original on 13 March 2007. Retrieved 2007-03-12.

External links

• Results on official site - WRC.com
• Results on RallyBase.nl
• Results on eWRC-results.com