Fri March 19, 2004

 Starting order Rally NZ 2004

Thu March 18, 2004

NEWS JUST IN

 Rally New Zealand Tips @ 09:30 AM - You may now enter your rally of New Zealand tips. Good luck.

Sun March 14, 2004

 Mitsu Comes Away with two points Mitsubishi Motors Motor Sport crew Gilles and Hervé Panizzi scored two points on the third day of Latin American sunshine and 28 degree temperatures, to boost Mitsubishi’s points total on the inaugural Corona Rally México, the Mitsubishi Lancer WRC04s first true gravel event sinc...

 Petter Makes an Incredible Comeback Continuing his remarkable recovery after losing five minutes 40 seconds at the end of Leg one, Petter Solberg delivered another commanding performance in his new Subaru Impreza WRC2004 today to make up another place on the leaderboard and finish the rally fourth overall. The Norw...

 Tougher Times for Citroen in Mexico After their outstanding start to the season with wins in the first two rounds of the 2004 World Rally Championship season in Monte Carlo and Sweden, the Championship's debut round in Mexico has reminded Citroën just how unforgiving rallying can be, but a third place for Carlos...

 And the Inmarsat Award goes to... ...the Rally itself - extraordinary! In a quite unprecedented situation, the organisation of Corona Rally México has been awarded the “Inmarsat Star of the Rally” award after its debut event in the FIA World Rally Championship. The award is presented to an individual or ...

 Mixed Mexican Mission Once again the Peugeot 307 WRC has proven its superb performance. Marcus Grönholm ended day1 in the 307 WRC’s gravel rally career in 2nd place, less than 10s off the lead. In leg3 Grönholm was clearly a front runner, scoring 2 fastest stage times in 5 stages and missing a 3rd sta...

 Ford dominates Rally Mexico Ford BP Rallye Sport claimed a superb 1-2 finish on the gruelling Corona Rally Mexico today and now heads both the drivers' and manufacturers' standings in the FIA World Rally Championship. Markko Märtin and Michael Park secured their third world rally victory, their Ford ...

 Ford's Corona-tion Rally Mexico The first edition of Corona Rally Mexico as a WRC event was also M-Sport’s 100th WRC event as a works team. And to make sure there was enough reason to celebrate, Ford managed a 1-2 result on the event today. It was the first time since Cyprus 2000 (M-Sport event #51) that Ford m...

 Unofficial results Mexico 04

NEWS JUST IN

 Makes title battle @ 01:03 PM - provisional, unofficial standings after Mexico: 1st Ford 40points // 2nd Citroen 30 // 3rd Peugeot 21 // 4th Subaru 19 // 5th Mitsubishi 5 //

 Drivers title battle @ 01:02 PM - provisional, unofficial standings after Mexico: 1st Loeb 20points // 2nd Märtin 20 // 3rd Grönholm 16 // 4th Duval 14 // 5th Solberg 13 // 6th Sainz 10 // 7th Tuohino 5 // 8th Hirvonen 4 // 9th Loix 4 // 10th Panizzi 4

 MEX end: Märtin wins @ 01:00 PM - Grönholm takes another stage win, Märtin wins 1st Rally Mexico and M-Sport's 100th WRC event as a works team, Duval making it a 1-2, a perfect reason for Ford to have a wild party involving some Corona! Unofficial, provisional end positions: 1. Märtin 4:06:46.2, 2. Duval +46.5 3. Sainz +1:20.9 4. Solberg +3:14.7 5. Hirvonen +3:36.2 6. Grönholm +3:58.4 7. Valimäki +11:06.9 8. Panizzi +11:30.6 9. Warmbold +14:00.4 10. Rovanperä +19:20.3

 MEX SS14: Grönholm flies @ 12:58 AM - Grönholm wins stage 14.2s faster than anybody and half a minute faster than the previous winning time on this stage. Solberg and Hirvonen expectedly swap positions. Unofficial, provisional positions after SS14: 1. Märtin 3:50:20.4, 2. Duval +40.3 3. Sainz +1:29.3 4. Solberg +3:35.2 5. Hirvonen +3:35.3 6. Grönholm +4:24.0 7. Valimäki +10:29.4 8. Panizzi +10:47.9 9. Warmbold +13:17.4 10. Sola +18:23.3

 Now Sainz in trouble @ 10:23 AM - He is clearly slowing in SS13, but we don't know why just yet. so far he has lost around a minute.

 MEX SS13: Now Sainz in trouble @ 10:21 AM - Nearly a 3-way tie on the stage as the fastest, Solberg, Märtin & Grönholm were all within 0.1s. Sainz rolled. He dropped over a minute and behind Duval. Beforehand Sainz was only 11.9s off the lead, but now it looks like a certain Ford win. Unofficial, provisional positions after SS13: 1. Märtin 3:31:51.8, 2. Duval +35.8 3. Sainz +1:25.3 4. Hirvonen +3:20.6 5. Solberg +3:44.7 6. Grönholm +4:47.7 7. Valimäki +9:45.8 8. Panizzi +10:16.5 9. Warmbold +12:16.9 10. Sola +16:34.9

 MEX SS12: Sainz makes move @ 09:51 AM - Carlos Sainz wins the stage and reduces Markko Märtin's lead to 11.9s with 3 stages to go. Unofficial, provisional positions after SS12: 1. Märtin 3:23:05.5, 2. Sainz +11.9 3. Duval +35.0 4. Hirvonen +3:13.1 5. Solberg +3:44.8 6. Grönholm +4:47.7 7. Valimäki +9:11.6 8. Panizzi +10:03.3 9. Warmbold +11:42.3 10. Sola +15:32.3

 MEX SS11: Märtin in charge @ 08:56 AM - Märtin is in charge as he not only leads the rally, he wins a stage for the first time for this event. But Sainz followed only 0.2s behind and such opened himself a nice cushion over Duval. Peugeot's stage times were disappointing, but then, they have nothing to fight for any more. Unofficial, provisional positions after SS11: 1. Märtin 3:06:44.0, 2. Sainz +14.7 3. Duval +27.9 4. Hirvonen +2:53.3 5. Solberg +3:43.2 6. Grönholm +4:44.0 7. Valimäki +8:15.1 8. Panizzi +9:42.6 9. Warmbold +10:48.0 10. Sola +13:53.0

Sat March 13, 2004

 unofficial leg2 results and leg3 order

 Incident packed leg2 There was havoc applenty during the 2nd leg of the Corona Rally Mexico. About everyone had moments to celebrate followed by heart break and vice versa. Subaru’s Petter Solberg was leading after leg1, only be dropped to 13th place with a 5m40s time penalty. But such was the action...

 Peter Dominates Leg 2 Petter Solberg and the new Subaru Impreza WRC2004 dominated the action on today's second Leg of Corona Rally Mexico. Solberg was fastest on each of the day's six stages, to close the gap on the leader by more than 1min 31sec and move up the leaderboard from 13th to fifth pl...

 Peugeot Drivers Fight on Both Marcus Gronholm and Harri Rovanpera have hit problems on the second leg of Rally Mexico – but neither driver is giving up the fight. Marcus ends the day sixth after suffering a power steering failure in the morning, while Harri is 16th as a result of a broken steering arm on...

 Gearbox Woes Hit a Rock in Mexico Mitsubishi Motors Motor Sport experienced a difficult second leg of Corona Rally México under bright sunshine and 27° C but Gilles and Hervé Panizzi ended the day in eighth position despite battling with transmission and engine complaints. Team-mates "Gigi" Galli and Guido D’Amor...

 Martin Leads at Leg 2 End Ford BP Rallye Sport drivers Markko Märtin and Michael Park led the Corona Rally Mexico after today's dramatic second leg through the tough mountain roads of central Mexico. Their Ford Focus RS World Rally Car headed Carlos Sainz by 14.5 seconds with Ford BP team-mates Franço...

 What happened in SS5, 6 & 7?

NEWS JUST IN

 MEX leg2: Strange error for Sainz @ 05:43 PM - Leg2 ends with a strong position for Ford. The last stage of the day, SS10, seemed to be another rough affair where strangely everybody bar Solberg seemed to drop considerable time on the Ford duo. Sainz was hampered on the last loop of leg2 when his team transmitted the wrong tyre bar code before service. As a result Sainz competed all day on the same set of tyres. However there seems to be a question mark over Sainz's time on the last stage, so check back. Unofficial, provisional positions after leg2: 1. Märtin 2:47:59.4, 2. Sainz +24.5 3. Duval +28.1 4. Hirvonen +1:50.8 5. Solberg +3:51.7 6. Grönholm +4:34.5 7. Valimäki +7:02.9 8. Panizzi +9:15.1 9. Warmbold +9:29.2 10. Sola +12:22.0

 MEX SS9: Duval vs Sainz @ 03:48 PM - Sainz posted a good stage time but it wasn't good enough for impressing Duval, who now moves past him by 0.1s. Solberg manages his 5th stage win in a row, not that it matters much as he is over 4min off the pace and Märtin without stage wins continues to lead. Incredibly Grönholm was only 0.5s off Solberg's time, both being far off the lead, but both having their private battle. Unofficial, provisional positions after SS9: 1. Märtin 2:28:36.6, 2. Duval +26.6 3. Sainz +26.7 4. Hirvonen +2:20.4 5. Solberg +4:01.9 6. Grönholm +4:07.9 7. Valimäki +6:09.3 8. Panizzi +8:14.4 9. Warmbold +8:30.4 10. Sola +10:48.8

 MEX SS8: Things stay rough @ 03:47 PM - olberg and Grönholm seem in a charge, although way down the order. Sainz looses touch to Märtin, Panizzi trying to stay ahead of Warmbold. Unofficial, provisional positions after SS8: 1. Märtin 2:14:39.5, 2. Sainz +30.5 3. Duval +32.1 4. Hirvonen +2:12.7 5. Solberg +4:11.5 6. Grönholm +4:17.0 7. Valimäki +5:36.9 8. Panizzi +7:26.3 9. Warmbold +7:48.3 10. Sola +9:39.6

 MEX SS7: HAVOC!!!! @ 12:55 AM - Either this stage is extremely rough or our info is wrong, it all looks very different right now. Loeb: out, broken sump. Rovanperä: dropped 16min, broken steering arm. Grönholm: dropped altogether now near 6 minutes with his power steering problem. Incredibly such is the attrition rate and the low entry that Solberg and Grönholm are in 5th and 6th places! Unofficial, provisional positions after SS7: 1. Märtin 1:55:58.3, 2. Sainz +9.8 3. Duval +26.7 4. Hirvonen +1:54.0 5. Solberg +4:19.9 6. Grönholm +4:21.6 7. Valimäki +4:49.3 8. Panizzi +5:31.2 9. Warmbold +6:43.6 10. Sola +8:22.8

 Loeb out!!!! @ 12:21 AM - Loeb did not take the start of SS7, broken oil sump, retired!!!!

 MEX SS6: Grönholm power steering @ 11:24 AM - Gröholm drops once more 1 1/2 minutes with his power steering problem and he still has a 3rd, even longer stage to go like this! This will leave him with Solberg to fight for odd makes points. Otherwise good stage for the Fords, Märtin passes Sainz for 2nd, Duval passes Rovanperä for 4th. Unofficial, provisional positions after SS6: 1. Loeb 1:35:50.8, 2. Märtin +36.1 3. Sainz +43.4 4. Duval +56.6 5. Rovanperä +1:10.7 6. Hirvonen +1:38.8 7. Grönholm +2:35.2 8. Panizzi +4:18.1 9. Valimäki +4:30.1 10. Solberg +5:04.6

 MEX SS5: Now Citroen in control @ 10:55 AM - SS5 might well have helped towards Citroen having the championship under control. Grönholm dropped 1m30 with a power steering problem, leaving a Citroen 1-2 in the rally and Loeb with a lead of over half a minute. Both works Mitsubishi are having mechanical problems, Galli seems out. Unofficial, provisional positions after SS5: 1. Loeb 1:21:50.7, 2. Sainz +34.6 3. Märtin +36.2 4. Rovanperä +57.9 5. Duval +59.8 6. Grönholm +1:15.6 7. Hirvonen +1:35.1 8. Panizzi +3:10.5 9. Valimäki +3:53.1 10. Solberg +5:12.9

Fri March 12, 2004

 Flat Battery Ruins Petters Lead

 Loeb Leads, Carlos Third - Leg 1

 Marcus Claims Provisional Podium