Difficult opening day for Solberg

Petter Solberg had high expectations before the start of Rally Mexico and was right on target after the first loop of stages.

The Norwegian won the opening Super Special Stage, in the streets of Guanajuato, and then set lap times similar to those of the Citroën factory drivers on the long gravel stages. He was lying in third position after regroup and service.

But a faulty wire to the high pressure fuel pump stopped him only one kilometer from the flying finish of SS6 – the first of the afternoon loop. He managed to complete this stage at a very slow speed but lost almost seven minutes in the process and was unsure of making it to the next stage.

Fortunately, he and co-driver Chris Patterson managed to fix the problem and to start SS7 – albeit late. They immediately found their rhythm back and matched the lap times of the leaders. They are now 13th overall.

“This was not the way we planned for this rally. And I’m so disappointed”, commented Solberg. “Up until then the car was working perfectly and everything was exactly as we planned. Now we have to aim for points in the championship and also use the rest of the rally to get to know the car even better.”