MEXICO CITY -- France's Sebastien Loeb won
Rally Mexico for the third year in a row on Sunday to cut Mikko
Hirvonen's championship lead to a single point.
The 34-year-old Citroen driver, chasing his fifth straight
world title this season, beat Australian Chris Atkinson by 1
minute, 6.1 seconds.
Second place was a career-best finish for Subaru's Atkinson,
who finished 33.6 seconds ahead of Ford's third-placed
Jari-Matti Latvala.
Hirvonen was fourth. The Finn now has 21 points to Loeb's 20
with Latvala at 16 after three rounds of the championship.
Champions Ford have 37 points to Citroen and Subaru's 25.
Sunday's 18th Guanajuatito stage, the longest of
the final leg on the high-altitude gravel roads around Leon, was
cancelled for safety reasons due to the large number of roadside
spectators.
With only one full stage remaining after that before the
closing sprint, Loeb knew his lead was safe and was able to take
it easy.
"There's always a bit more pressure when you are some points
behind," said the Frenchman, who had crashed out in Sweden. "But
okay, I always expected to do a good job here in Mexico.
"This rally has not been so easy, I had a big battle with
Jari-Matti but we got the result we came for finally," he told
the official wrc.com Web site.
"Latvala and the Ford have been very strong though. I
remember last year we were a bit faster here than the Ford but
now we are very similar. I hope we will not be behind on the
future gravel rallies."
Latvala, the 22-year-old whose victory in the previous round
in Sweden made him the youngest winner of a world championship
event, had led for the first day before Loeb took over on
Saturday.
The Finn then fell further back when his car suffered turbo
boost problems, with Atkinson moving up to second.
"It's awesome for all the guys in the team who are working
hard on the new car," said the Australian. "The car was
faultless."
Norway's Henning Solberg finished fifth for Munchi's Ford
after picking up a right front puncture four kilometers from the end of
stage 19 and losing the time needed by Hirvonen to snatch fourth
place.
"Henning was certainly unlucky," said Hirvonen. "But it
looks like at least one time in this rally I've had some good
luck."
Britain's Matthew Wilson was sixth for Stobart Ford with
Argentina's Federico Villagra seventh for Munchi's Ford and
Mexico's Ricardo Trivino taking the final point in a privately
entered Peugeot.
The next rally is in Argentina on March 28-30.