The 18th Corona Rally Mexico takes place this coming weekend - the third round out of sixteen in the 2004 FIA World Rally Championship.
Mexico will also play host to the second round in the 2004 FIA Production Car WRC.
The event marks the return of the WRC to North America after an absence of more than 15 years - and it is also the very first time Mexico has hosted a round of the WRC.
With FIA regulations preventing teams from testing outside Europe, the event's mountainous gravel stages, run near to the host town of Leon, remain unfamiliar to almost all the FIA WRC competitors - except
Sebastien Loeb, who completed the recce in 2003, and Harri Rovanpera, who contested the entire event in 2002.
Presenting crews with a series of smooth, wide, sweeping gravel roads interspersed with more abrasive, twisty sections, the Mexican stages will take crews to altitudes of more than 2,700 metres above sea level making it the highest event in the championship. As a result, average speeds are expected to be lower than on other smooth gravel surface events, such as New Zealand or Finland.
Special notes:
Corona Rally Mexico will be one of the first events to incorporate a host of new 2004 FIA regulations.
Adopting the new five-day format, which allows two days for administration, reconnaissance, shakedown and scrutineering and three for the actual event, the rally will also be the first to feel the full effect of the
FIA's new tyre regulations.
Crews will have a limited number of tyres available to them (ten times the number of scheduled tyre changes making a total of 60 tyres per car for the entire event), and will have to make their choice for the forthcoming group of stages during a three-minute period before each service.
With all teams only having limited data about the nature of the event's stages and climate, such regulations will provide an extra challenge.
FIA World Rally Championship news:
Sebastien Loeb leads the World Rally drivers' championship following his two consecutive wins in Monte Carlo and Sweden.
Citroen meanwhile lead the constructors' – two points ahead of Ford.
News from the Manufacturers' teams:
555 Subaru World Rally Team:
[
Petter Solberg, car #1 and
Mikko Hirvonen, car #2.]
![The ceremonial start on the Corona Rally Mexico [2003], which is bidding for inclusion in the FIA World Rally Championship [Copyright: Enrique Gijon]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/51207.jpg )
