First time win for the new Subaru Impreza WRCar brought Petter Solberg to the top of the world championship tables after the third round in Mexico. Reliability brought more championship points for Peugeot, with Marcus Gronholm and Markko Martin finishing second and third respectively, who are now well ahead of Mitsubishi and Ford. In a superbly run event which was unfortunately ridden with debates about the meaning of new FIA rules, notably the engine-pairing system, there were endless braking troubles for every team except Citroen, so that by the finish the top three drivers were forced to drive cautiously to the finish. Mexico was the first orthodox event in the championship and brought a 1-2-3 win for Pirelli tyres. Solberg dedicated the win to the memory of Ryuichiro Kuze, the founder of the Subaru World Rally Team who died two days before the start of the rally. Poor entry levels did nothing to lessen the excitement of the event, and in the JWRC category only one driver finished the whole route.

For the third round of the 2005 World Rally Championship there were a lot of new things to notice. To accommodate the media, on account of Corona Rally Mexico being located the furthest west in the championship, the third leg (Sunday) was designed to be a half-day, so that the official finish was at 1230. In keeping with the current FIA policies, this was to be easily the shortest world championship rally ever. It was 40km shorter in overall length than the previous shortest, which was held two years ago in Corsica. Also in pursuance with general trends, there were new tyre demands. The minimum stage distance between permitted tyre changing points was up to 63km, the organisers no doubt encouraged by Citroen’s experiences last year when, on account of an administrative error, Sainz had to cover 144km of stages on the same set of tyres, which he accomplished without a deflation. And there were to be only five places where tyre choices could be made all event. This event was the second round of the Junior championship, the first time the JWRC had ventured outside Europe, and indeed the first time a Super 1600 car had been run on a major event in the New World. Only five of the 13 registered drivers opted to enter here, so everyone who finished would score points.

The character of the event remained, nevertheless, basically unchanged from last year’s event, which was the first time Central America had been in the championship. This was the third event in which flexi service system had been abandoned, which freed up good rallying hours in the middle of the day, but the SupeRally system had been replaced by the “Five Minute Rule” regulations, which was just as bad... Tyre technicians found last year the stages were softer than expected, and most important, the effect of loss of power, on account of this being a rally run generally at higher altitudes than any other world rally, was greater than expected. This meant that tyre wear was not as severe as expected. For the teams there was one particular complication, and that concerned the fact that New Zealand, the following event, another “long-haul” rally, had to bring forward its calendar date to accommodate a F1 race. This meant that the usual “self-contained” service kit could not be sent to both events. For some teams it meant they had to make up a second kit of parts, for others it meant that a lot more equipment had to be air-freighted to New Zealand. A big surprise to competitors when they started their recce was the quality of the roads. Clerk of the Course Jose Gallo explained: “This year the state took over the maintenance of the roads, which was a great encouragement for us.” It created another dimension in the mystery of the tyres. Cleaner and harder roads meant more abrasive surfaces than expected.

News from the teams: Citroen’s new chief engineer Xavier Mestelan took technical command of the team. Although in Sweden Loeb was the first victim of rally’s new ”two-rally engine” rule, this was in fact the team’s first retirement through mechanical failure since Germany 2003. Ford played their musical chairs, this time it was Daniel Sola who was their number two driver, the guest second driver this year for the team, while regular driver Roman Kresta had a new codriver, Jan Mozny, after medical tests on Jan Tomanek showed a neck injury which made active competition medically hazardous for him. Privateer Tobias Johansson changed codriver to Kaj Lindstrom, while Xavier Pons had Lucas Cruz with him, both changes made less than a week before the start. Mitsubishi took one further step forward in their technical progress, their cars being fitted with active central differential transmission systems for the first time, while at Peugeot, Jean-Pierre Nicolas assumed the position of Director of Peugeot Sport on the retirement of Corrado Provera. Skoda finally had the definitive version of their 2005 car, featuring new bodywork panels and some engine changes on this event, while Jani Paasonen was nominated as number two driver for this event. Excitement and sadness came to Subaru. This event saw the debut of 2005 model Impreza WRC, the final new World Rally Car expected this season, but on the day the car was first seen in public came news of the death of Ryuichiro Kuze, the former director of STI who personally pushed Subaru in world championship sport, and who in his lifetime witnessed the Impreza become the world’s most successful model of rally car. Suzuki were present with their Super 1600 cars, making their return to the New World! It was at the Olympus Rally (WA, USA) in 1986 where Suzuki were first represented on a world championship rally.

The big surprise to other organisers was that locally run 1600cc Peugeot 206 cars were admitted on this event into the Class A6, under a rule allowing cars which comply with a “Manufacturers’ Cup” formula to contest a world championship event even though it also qualifies for the JWRC. Normally when an event also qualifies for JWRC, the A6 class can only be entered by Super 1600 cars. Without these cars, the entry list would have totalled 28. A total of only 44 entries were accepted. The new engine pairing rule required that engines used here must also be used at Rally New Zealand.

Ford came to Mexico with a three point lead over Peugeot and Mitsubishi in the Manufacturers’ championship while Toni Gardemeister held a one point lead in the Drivers’ series over Markko Martin. The number of top drivers who had rally experience of Mexico was very limited. Rovanpera had his victory here in 2002 but this was such a walkover (his winning margin was almost one hour!) that technical feedback benefit for Peugeot, for whom he then drove, and for Michelin whose tyres he used, was virtually nil!

When the times from the long (7.6km) Shakedown test came through, French cars held the top three times with Peugeot driver Markko Martin 1.4 seconds ahead of teammate Marcus Gronholm, and Sebastien Loeb another 0.6 seconds behind. There was a big surprise when Antony Warmbold made equal fifth best time, best Ford and equal with Francois Duval’s Citroen. Petter Solberg’s new Subaru was the best non-French car, fourth overall, while Chris Atkinson was seventh. With the specialist events at Monte Carlo and Sweden behind them, this was, as Peugeot’s technical chief Michel Nandan commented, the “real start” to the season. The first orthodox event of the year. The big story about Shakedown, however, was a rock lying in a fast right hand bend which struck the underneath of some of the cars very hard. Loeb (for the second year running), Paasonen and the JWRC driver Rautenbach all incurred broken sumps and the cars were brought straight back to the service park at Leon in the Expo centre. Mechanics set about changing the Skoda and the Citroen Saxo engines for all to see and shrouds were placed round Loeb’s wounded Citroen as engineers worked out what they should do. The big problem was not so much mechanical as legal. The new two-rally rule (which had already claimed Loeb as its first victim, in Sweden!), meant the WRCar engines used here had also to be used in New Zealand. The engines were already sealed, as Shakedown counts as part of an event for this purpose, and seals must be intact until the end of New Zealand Rally. Would the cars be allowed to start the rally? (Engine changes are traditionally forbidden during an event). What was to be the penalty? And would it be applied on this event - or at New Zealand? At the FIA’s pre-event press conference, Citroen team chief Guy Frequelin said his team had not had enough time to adjust their cars to take account of the two-rally rule. Unfortunately the only people at the FIA who had masterminded the endless queries about the engine rules were not in Mexico and were out of contact. In due course one could guess what Citroen’s tactics were. They gave notice that Loeb would again be absent from the Ceremonial start (like last year), and it looked like they delayed a decision on what to do until the Stewards had decided how to handle the Paasonen affair. Skoda were bemused to note that the second FIA Steward was Radovan Novak, a fellow Czech, but realised that the leadership in decision making would come from the experienced Chairman, Jonathan Ashman, who was noted for his wider interpretations.

After two hours decisions had been taken by the Stewards, who recognised that the rules were far from definite but that before the next event, New Zealand, the current World Rally Championship regulations were likely to be amended to allow engine changes before the start of leg 1under a fixed penalty for breaking a seal (which would be increased from 20 to 60 seconds). As the penalty was likely to be changed after this event, the Stewards decided not to issue a penalty for breaking the seals, but would convict Skoda under the basic clause Article 7.5, which demands engine blocks and bodyshells remain the same from the start of Administrative formalities until Prize Giving, on pain of receiving a penalty which was discretionary. So, Paasonen’s team were fined USD10,000 but had no time penalty, Conrad Rautenbach was given only a reprimand (it wasn’t compulsory for JWRC cars to attend Shakedown) , and it only remained to hear what Citroen would decide to do.

There were many other matters to discuss at the Press Conference. Malcolm Wilson explained that it was rash to presume that Gardemeister would continue to lead the series as this was his first time here, and he had a fever which caused him to cancel interviews with the press. The Stewards started their meeting at 1500 and as the Skoda and Citroen mechanics slaved away, all the teams were curious to know how the unsettled two-rally rule would be handled.

As dawn broke before the official start of the rally, the extent of the carnage suffered at the Shakedown became apparent. Frequelin explained: “It is not true we waited to hear how the Stewards would penalise Paasonen. We carefully examined the engine (which had a crack in the block) and contacted our base at Satory (in France) and asked whether it was safe to run with the engine as it was, or whether it was better to take the risk and change the engine. In the end they advised us to change the engine which is what we then did.” Ford had to change a cross member on Toni Gardemeister’s car, and three of their four cars had sump guards which were so damaged they needed repairs. Mitsubishi had both the engine sumps changed, which does not lead to a broken seal penalty so long as this is official observed by Scrutineers, Subaru had to change the front cross member on both cars, and rear suspension damaged had to be repaired after Petter Solberg hit a bridge. Peugeot changed the steering rack on Marcus Gronholm’s car for safety. New rules stated that steering racks and cross members have to be sealed, but one spare is permitted per car. And the financial damage? Citroen were then also given a USD10,000 fine.

Leg 1

In the end 38 out of the 44 entries started the rally. Mexican driver Ricardo Trivino changed his Group N Mitsubishi for an old Peugeot 206WRC from Bozian, which was painted bright yellow. Four of the one-make Peugeot 206XSs failed to appear, Guerlain Chicherit never appeared with his Fiat Punto and neither did the American Gubelmann with a Group N Subaru. It was a disappointing entry. One of the organisers explained: “It seems that most of the competitive drivers in the Central American and Caribbean region have Group N cars, and when they heard the rally would be a JWRC, rather than a PCWRC event, they lost interest. They hankered after the chance of seeing how they shaped up against international drivers.”

Leg 1 consisted of two runs of a group of three stages, each with 73km of stages, each on the same set of tyres, on roads which are the highest of the event - with descents which tax the stopping power of cars. Solberg jumped into the lead, finishing the first stage 2.2 seconds in front of Loeb. Loeb then stopped to pressure his tyres before the next stage, and Elena noticed with horror the right rear shock absorber had broken. As he tackled two stages and road sections progressively the suspension collapsed and the wheel came off and he lost a lot of time, eventually arriving at service in 18th place, nearly four minutes behind the leader. Gaining a remarkable third place on the opening stage was Chris Atkinson, running seventh on the road, but he then slipped back on the next two stages as cars ahead of him cut corners and showered dirt on top of an otherwise clean and clear road surface. Up came Gronholm (despite constant brake problems, and on the road section into service, the loss of the clutch as well) and Francois Duval. Championship leader Gardemeister was running first car on the road but went off on the second stage, however, he was able to reverse back again. Then he lost his brakes as well, arriving ninth at service. Both Mitsubishi drivers reported good performance of their semi-automatic gearshifts and their new active differentials, though Rovanpera lost his brakes and Panizzi punctured. At the end of the first loop Solberg, despite his own brake problems, was 9.3 seconds ahead of Gronholm and Duval, who both reported lack of traction. Best Ford driver was Warmbold (7th), ahead of Gardemeister, Kresta who had two punctures and Sola who was unhappy with the set-up of the car. Missing was Paasonen, off the road, the front of his car smashed. He took a penalty of 5 minutes per missing stage to restart the following day.

Two of the three drivers involved in pre-event engine-swop problems were out of the event, the third was running on three wheels! The repair work on Loeb’s car took 32 minutes, meaning that he clocked out of service two minutes late, a further penalty of 20 seconds but the work was done and the car was competitive again. Solberg made best time on the next two stages with Loeb second fastest. By now Solberg was 25.8 seconds ahead, and he eased his pace on the ultra fast stage six, where his gear ratios were not ideal, and ended the day 20.5 seconds in front of Gronholm. Loeb meanwhile had climbed up from 18th to 14th, 4m21s behind Solberg. Duval was suffering launch control problems and lost time of stage six for undefined reasons, dropping three seconds behind Martin. Both Peugeot drivers were complaining of brake problems, especially Gronholm. In the race in the Ford camp, Kresta held the lead for five of the six stages, one stage being led by Warmbold: at no time had either of Ford’s nominated drivers been in front! Warmbold felt he was being slowed during the afternoon by differential troubles. In the Skoda camp Armin Schwarz had his car mysteriously stop on stage four, then twice he nearly went off the road on stage six. On stage five Johansson stopped when he missed his braking point and damaged his front suspension. Trivino was enjoying his first rally with a World Rally Car, but had tyre pressure problems in the afternoon.

In JWRC Wilks and Andersson arrived at service, already nearly three minutes ahead of Luca Cecchittini who was now the only other runner. Pavel Valousek disappeared off the road on the first stage and Conrad Rautenbach reached the end of stage one but then retired as a result of a water leak from a loose water hose not connected properly as a result of the freak engine change the night before. But neither of them had given up hope of continuing. Their cars were retrieved and their mechanics set about making the cars ready to restart, under the “5-minute rule” the following day. In Rautenbach’s case, it was necessary to cannibalise the old engine, taking a piston from the discarded engine and putting it into the replacement one, all permitted changes... Then Cecchittini stopped with suspension damage so now only two JWRC cars were still running, though the others all hoped to make the restart in the morning.

Leg 2

The day encompassed six stages, in two identical loops of three, each loop containing virtually the same stage distance as the day before. 35 crews lined up at the restart, including five who were still active because of the “five-minute rule”. The day started badly for Rovanpera with his Mitsubishi misfiring when it was about to leave service, so the crew urgently changed the injectors which led to them leaving service 80 seconds late and then on the road section to the first stage the crew had to change the ECU as well. Rovanpera’s teammate Gilles Panizzi, however, was losing time everywhere. “I do not know what is the problem at all. It is getting worse and worse to drive.” One of the “five-minute” drivers was Tobias Johansson, who was given the job of opening the road, in conditions which were expected to clean up with the passage of cars. Right behind him, facing the same hazard, was Loeb who was hoping to climb well up the field during the day from his 14th position, though the only driver he actually overtook in the first three stages was Xavier Pons’ Peugeot. The day was sunny, and the main question was how much Gronholm would expect to fall back on account of his brake problems. “We lost brakes before halfway through every stage, and after each stage I changed the brake pads. My codriver then poured water over the rear brakes between each stage.” His nearest challenger was teammate Martin, who was also nursing his brakes. Duval had slipped down to fourth, reporting he was losing traction everywhere, unable to keep up with Martin. Now in fifth place, the highest the team had been all rally, was Gardemeister in the best placed Ford.

The misfortunes of the Ford drivers were never ending! Gardemeister still suffered badly from his ‘flu, but there was more. Codriver Jakke Honkanen explained: “The engineers spent millions when they designed this car to make the central tunnel narrower so the crews could sit closer to each other, to give the driver better handling. It was a bad idea. I have now caught Gardemeister’s ‘flu!” Sola had more problems. He spun and had two punctures on stage eight, then on stage nine he punctured again and lost the mousse, having to drive 9km on a rim. Warmbold had tried to make his driving more smooth but found it did not work. “I found I lost speed into the corners and this lost time. I then changed my style back again.” It worked, so with the retirements of Atkinson and Kresta, he was now up to sixth. Both the Australian and the Czech had to abandon after hitting the scenery. Atkinson hit a rock which damaged the power steering, then hit a hole on a slow corner which took off the wheel. Kresta retired with damaged suspension. Solberg lost ten seconds or so on the second stage of the day when the water temperature went very high, but this did not stop him making fastest time on stage nine. At service the Norwegian now led Gronholm by 16.0 seconds.

The midday service saw dramas. Rovanpera arrived with an oil leak and the team discovered a cracked sump, which they changed, and then they discovered the same problem for Panizzi as well. Four sump changes so far for Mitsubishi... On Panizzi’s car they also fitted shock absorbers with different settings and this made his car easier to drive. Then Citroen people looked at the effect of a heavy landing on Duval’s car and discovered that his engine had also been damaged. Broken pieces were repaired, but on the road section to the next stage the oil temperature began to rise. Frequelin considered carefully whether the Belgian should restart on the following day on account of the risk that an engine failure here would be a 20 second penalty in New Zealand.

Solberg meanwhile marched on and his lead at the end of the day was almost a half minute. After the morning temperatures which had been around 30 degrees, his brakes were working better in the cooler air of the afternoon. Gronholm and Martin had little to report. Up to fourth now was Gardemeister, despite the driver feeling like death and the car snaking down straight roads. Rovanpera in fifth found his car was getting better all the time. Loeb was up to sixth, having passed Warmbold, and happily running with no brake troubles. Fourth place by the end of the rally was now surely within his grasp. There were more dramas elsewhere. Missing were Pons who had broken the radiator and Trivino who stopped on a stage with an electronic problem, while Johansson was stuck upside down in the stage for a long while. Warmbold had a bad afternoon, spinning in a narrow section road on stage ten, a heavy landing on 11 and hitting a wall on 12. Dani Sola had a big accident, out of sight from the rally road but happily without injury. Down to two Fords, now!

In JWRC Wilks was pulling away all the time from his teammate Andersson, but all the other three JWRC drivers restarted again. Cecchittini found his car was turning-in badly as a result of the damage from the day before, while Rautenbach’s hybrid Saxo (parts from one engine with parts from the other!) began to lose oil pressure, so it was again withdrawn from the event. Andersson hit a stone which broke a radiator, and the team set about making the car able to run again in the morning. Under the “5 minute rule”, he would not even lose a place in his category! Wilks’ now had the only car in the category which had run the whole distance, though not without worries. Radiator fans stopped working, and at one point the engine temperature went to over 105 degrees.

Leg 3

Eventually decisions were made. There were 11 manufacturers’ cars still able to carry on (Sola’s being the only car too badly damaged) and something might happen to make a restart worthwhile for points. Thus Duval (9th makes’ eligible car) would start even though his engine had a cracked cylinder block, so did Atkinson and Paasonen, who admitted being under severe orders after his first day accident, to be sure to reach the finish. The mania for keeping cars in an event continued. JWRC driver PG Andersson was allowed to restart even after an overnight engine change. “The engine mounting punched a hole in the engine and the officials allowed us overnight to change the complete engine.” How much will it cost? Maybe USD10,000? “No, we were told the rules were confusing so we should go ahead.” What was for sure, there is now a major pressure on the World Council to specify changes in the rules in time for New Zealand... Meanwhile the driver missing the rest of the party was Sola. Codriver Amigo said they slid into a bank on the side of the road which upended the car. “We rolled down the road for about 70 metres, then the car went over the edge of the road and we continued rolling 20 metres more before it came to a stop.” Stiff and bruised the crew were then flown back to Leon. Also taking the restart was Pons. “The radiator was broken after we hit a stone on the inside of a corner.” His Bozian teammate Trivino whose car had stopped with electronic problems. The all-yellow 206WRC had really looked nice. When the team was congratulated on the paint scheme, the enquirer was given a blank look. “It isn’t paint at all, it’s all adhesive plastic...” On closer inspection, yes it was!

There were only to be two stages on leg 3, 62km of stages. Loeb started in sixth place, 36 seconds behind Rovanpera and another 1.4 seconds behind Gardemeister. While Solberg, Gronholm and Martin cruised to the finish at the head of the event, the big race was on for fourth place. At the end of stage 13 Rovanpera had passed Gardemeister in fourth, with Loeb still 24.5 seconds behind. Loeb was not worried. “We had a hard compound tyre because the final stage (at 44km) was very long”. And so it was, Loeb’s final stage time was over a half minute faster than anyone else’s, and he sailed into fourth place overtaking both the others. Duval withdrew from the rally voluntarily after the end of the last stage, assuming that the rules in this case would allow the team to replace the damaged engine before New Zealand, and when the oil pressure on Atkinson’s car started to fluctuate he withdrew as well.

It had been a strange rally because of these new rules. Pons came tenth overall but did not contest two of the 14 stages, Paasonen was classified came 13th overall (9th best makes’ entry) and missed five. Wilks came home winning the JWRC category, the only driver to complete the whole route, running on his maximum allowed lateness after a long service delay on Sunday morning, when the Ignis’ chassis was so badly bent it was very hard to refix the sump guard. And the winner of the non-championship Group N category was the Mitsubishi of Michael Kahlfuss, the German enthusiast who originally commanded respect from the motorsport community for his efforts driving a Trabant in the Safari Rally. For such a fine rally it was tragic for the event to have been plagued by such bad championship rules. In relation to the engine changing rules, teams like Citroen and Subaru had to make decisions here in Mexico not knowing what the World Council (end of March) will decide that they should have done in order to avoid incurring penalties when they arrive with unsealed engines on the next round of the championship.

Martin Holmes 13 March 2005