"It wasn't so bad last year so I'm not worried about it. In fact I'm happy because to start first means I'm leading the championship and that's the best place to be! In some places it was tricky but generally it wasn't a big problem,” said the 39-year-old. “It will only have an effect on Friday morning because the afternoon stages are repeats.”
Gronholm has finished on all three of his previous visits to Mexico, and while he was only eighth last year, he was second in 2005 and sixth in 2004. All-in-all he regards it as a relatively simple event.
"There is nothing unusual about the rally, it is quite a normal gravel event," he added. "The surface is quite smooth and there are good combinations of fast and slower sections.”
Rally Norway winner
Mikko Hirvonen meanwhile has admitted that he is unlikely to get a second win of the season this weekend.
The Finn has an unblemished finish record from two previous starts in Mexico, and is full of confidence after recording a dominant start-to-finish victory in Norway, but is wise enough to realise that his experience still falls short of that of team-mate Gronholm and multiple WRC champion
Sebastien Loeb.
"Despite beating Marcus and Sébastien in a straight fight in Norway, I'm unsure what will happen in Mexico," Hirvonen said, "I'm not expecting to challenge them both on gravel immediately. I think it will take a few more rallies to get onto their pace - but, there again, you never know."
The M-Sport-run team completed a five-day development test on gravel in northern Spain last weekend, focusing on the evaluation of new parts for the evolution version of the Focus RS WRC 06 - which is due to debut on Rally Finland in August - while also giving both Hirvonen and Gronholm the chance to reacclimatise to gravel ahead of Rally Mexico. Eager to get the feel of the loose again after a three-month break since Rally GB in December, Hirvonen drove for the opening three days.
