"I’m so disappointed with this result. After the test in France, everything felt really good for this event. The C4 is easier to drive than the Xsara I’d used for the last three rallies, so straight away I was more comfortable in the car. David [Senior – my co-driver] and I had a good recce, and we had a plan to be sensible here and try to take a [drivers’ championship] point from this event. That was exactly what I had done this morning – no risks, just driving in the middle of the road. We hadn’t had any moments. We came towards the end of the third stage and I turned into a corner, we touched the bank on the outside with the front-right wheel on full lock and that was the end of that. The TCA had broken. I tried to carry on to try and get out of the stage, but we just couldn’t make it through the next corner. I can’t believe it.
"The times were good this morning and then the splits in the third stage were also encouraging - particularly when you think about what our plan had been and the fact that we hadn’t taken any chances. Looking at the leaderboard now, at the end of day one, I know that we could have been in seventh place. That just makes the whole thing even worse. The positive from this is that I’m comfortable and confident in the car. And now I’m going to push on tomorrow and see what kind of times we can set. I don’t know if this was bad luck, my mistake or just one of those things that can happen in rallying. One thing is for sure, though, tomorrow is another day and we’ll be out there to see what we can do in the C4 WRC."
Per-Gunnar Andersson [Suzuki WRT]: [retired from event in service A - engine]
"The fact that we were sixth when we stopped just goes to show the potential of the whole SX4 WRC package. We had a very good run through the morning's stages, although the suspension set-up was a little too hard. Considering that we had no testing before the event, I think it was really good. Unfortunately we then had an engine problem, and this is something that we need to sort out. Once that is done though, we will be in a good position. I'm quite confident that we could have taken points here."
Toni Gardemeister [Suzuki WRT]: [retired from event in SS4 - engine]
"Unfortunately my 100th rally has been memorable for the wrong reasons! We didn't really get a chance to show what we were capable of today as from the first stage the engine was down on power and we just had to try and get through the opening loop. It was a strange problem as sometimes there was power and other times there wasn't. I've got every confidence that the team will find out what the problem is; we have to remember that the car is still very new, and we have a lot of work to do."
Gigi Galli [Stobart VK M-Sport Ford WRT]: [retired from event in SS4 - suspension/rollcage damage]
"I am very disappointed with what happened on stage 4 today and the fact we have retired from the event. It was the first corner and I came flat in third gear and the car slid too wide and we banged into a rock. We tried to fix the problem on the stage but ended up losing too much time and had to retire. It was just so silly because everything was feeling good and it was so unlucky that we hit the rock because I felt like I was set up well for the fast left-hand corner. The first two stages today were very good and I actually didn’t really expect to get such good times because we were taking no risks and just driving sensibly and everything, the car, tyres and setup, was all perfect. I had a slight problem with a pacenote on stage 3 and we spun into a ditch and were stuck for a while as there were only four spectators to help us out there. It is a shame I only got to drive about 60 kilometres on gravel and with the new tyres but the experience will help me when we go to Argentina for the next round."
![Sebastien Loeb (FRA). Citroen Total WRT C4 WRC. Corona Rally Mexico. February 29-March 2 2008. [PIC CREDIT: Citroen Sport / McKlein]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/411981.jpg)
