In the Manufacturers' championship the
BP Ford Abu Dhabi WRT went top after picking up the maximum haul on round 2 and taking its tally to 26 points.
Citroen drops to fourth, 1 point behind the
Subaru WRT and the
Stobart Ford team, which have both scored 16 points thus far.
News from the Manufacturers' teams:
Citroen Total WRT:
[
Sebastien Loeb, car #1 and
Daniel Sordo, car #2]
Loeb: I can’t afford a Sweden repeat.
Sebastien Loeb has admitted that he will feel under a certain amount of pressure this weekend in Mexico.
Loeb made an uncharacteristic mistake on the last round in the championship and as a result of his off on day one in Sweden he failed to finish and add to the ten points he notched up after winning the season opening, Rallye Monte Carlo.
As such Seb slipped six points behind BP Ford Abu Dhabi's
Mikko Hirvonen and he knows he cannot afford to let the gap get any bigger.
Furthermore while he won the Leon-based event last year, he is aware it will be tough to repeat that feat, especially as this will be the first gravel event of the year with Pirelli's new Scorpion tyres.
"When you make a mistake and drop points, you’re bound to feel a certain amount of pressure at the start of the following event. That will probably be the case for me in Mexico which isn’t a simple event," he explained.
"The stages are quite varied, with a mix of wide, smooth roads and slower, twistier portions. The tyre factor will be important, too. The hard packed surface generally gives good grip, but it remains to be seen how it goes with our new Pirelli tyres. There is also a question mark concerning whether the dropping of mousse run-flat systems will lead to more punctures.
