P-WRC: Araujo cruises to production win in Mexico

Portugal’s Armindo Araujo cruised through the final stages of Rally Mexico on Sunday to claim a comfortable win in the P-WRC category and the final place in the overall top 10.

Once his closest rival, Japan’s Toshi Arai, had lost considerable time changing a damaged wheel on Saturday, it was plain sailing for the defending champion, who snatched the series lead in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX.

Having started his title defence with a third place on the first round in Sweden, Araujo now leads the P-WRC, with a 15 point lead over Patrik Flodin in second.

"A fantastic event," said Araujo. "A bit fight with Arai, no mistakes all weekend and the car was always perfect. The team worked very well. Yesterday we were on exactly the same time as Arai and we were both pushing on the limit. Something was going to happen. In the end I’m lucky it was Toshi that made a mistake and I won. Today it was boring, only saving the car, no pushing, but in the end, victory!"

Subaru Impreza driver Arai completed the rally 3min 16sec behind Araujo to collect 18 championship points. "Second place is not so bad but we had many, many problems," he said. "But it’s not all bad news; the car is much, much better than last year’s, and I’m very comfortable in it, so I hope to get some better results later in the season."

Argentina’s Miguel Angel Baldoni took the final podium place in the P-WRC category, completing the rally almost six minutes behind Arai.