"We already had a pretty good grip on the car in Sweden, and then we won Rally Norway, where we gained further experience," he explained, "I'm really looking forward to this rally, despite having never yet competed in Mexico, as gravel is among my favourite surfaces. Everything is highly professional here. I can focus solely on driving, which makes each kilometre almost count double. The Peugeot performs admirably on gravel, which will be a great advantage in Mexico."



Stobart VK Ford:

[Matthew Wilson, car #9 and Luis Perez Companc, car #10]

Stobart VK driver, Matthew Wilson faces yet another new challenge this weekend, however a small test prior to the event alongside former works Ford driver Roman Kresta has given him a boost.

"I did a two-day test before this event, with both my rally engineer and Roman Kresta," he said. "Both of them were fantastic, so much help. I worked on all sorts of settings for the car through the two days, and then on each afternoon, Roman got in the car with me and helped me with my driving. We were doing the kind of stuff you just can't do on a rally – things like going through corners on totally different lines to see which was the quickest, it was really interesting and tremendously helpful to be able to compare the data."

Wilson Jr. will be joined on the event by Luis Perez Companc, who also did the Swedish Rally with the team three weeks ago in a third Stobart VK backed Ford. This time though he will be nominated to score points.

"I'm really looking forward to getting back in the car after Sweden. My first snow rally was really tough. I had a small accident, which didn't help, but apart from that it was a really enjoyable event. I've never contested Rally Mexico before, either, but at least I've driven on gravel plenty of times – so I know a bit more about what to expect. It's such an experience driving the Focus on these rallies," he added.



Red Bull Skoda:

The Red Bull Skoda team are not contesting this event - as allowed by the Manufacturer 2 regulations. They will return for the next event in Spain, fielding two cars - one for Andreas Aigner and another for Gilles Panizzi.



Production Car WRC:

In the Production Car WRC all 13 drivers have opted to contest this event.

Amongst the front runners and those likely to fight it out for the class victory will be reigning PCWRC champion, Toshi Arai (Subaru Impreza STI), who returns to defend his crown, as well as Marcos Ligato (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX), Nasser Al-Attiyah (Subaru Imprez STI) and Fumio Nutahara (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX) – the latter having won the PCWRC round in Monte Carlo.



Other significant entries:

Around 41 crews have entered the Corona Rally Mexico. Amongst the other significant runners Kronos Racing will enter an additional car for Junior World Rally champion Daniel Sordo, while other entrants at the wheel of a WRC car include: Gareth MacHale (Ford Focus RS WRC 05), Ricardo Trivino (Peugeot 206 WRC) and Carlos Tejada (Peugeot 307 WRC) – the latter two likely to lead the way for the 'locals'.



Schedule:

The route is virtually identical to 2005. At 1002.47km it is one of the most compact rallies of the year, with 36 per cent of the route competitive, and it never strays more than 50km from rally headquarters in León, 400km north of Mexico City.

It is the highest round in the series, with the opening day's Guanajuato stage climbing through cacti-filled mountains to a breathtaking 2737 metres.