Culture|Garage

First, big thanks to reader, Brian (b dash rian) for cobbiling together this write up. Always appreciated!

Sebastian Loeb and his Citroen wins. After being led by Jari-Matti Latvala’s Abu Dhabi/BP Ford day 1 and part of 2. Jari suffers a broken IC pipe, looses time on last mountain stage of day 2. Chris Atkinson takes 2nd in his soon-to-be-retired Subaru, for a personal best in WRC, second podium of the year also. Latvala ends up in 3rd, after his boost leak issues on day 2. Petter Solberg and his Subaru have had a hard time all weekend, with a spin on day 1, then a transmission problem leaving him with an un-driven front left wheel, forcing him to drop out of the rally on stage 10. Petter’s 4th place is taken by Mikko Hirvonen, who suffers 3 punctures on day 2, two of which are caused by the same rock, on the same stage. Losing 2 minutes to change the front right, he then struggles as the right rear deflates also. Hirvonen’s tire problems allow Petter’s brother Henning Solberg up to 4th in his Munchi’s Ford. A battle of Fords and Fourth ensues for day 3, while 1, 2, and 3 are firmly set where they are. Mikko takes it after Henning suffers more car issues on the final Super Special Stage.

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In less than surprising news, Suzuki makes a crappy rally car, as PG Anderson and Toni Gardemeister join Dani Sordo dropping out the first day. Sordo returns for superrally and finishes 10th. Suzuki does not. Both cars suffered engine failures, and under current WRC rules, motors may not be swapped during or in between rallies. Suzuki is blaming it on a batch of bad head gaskets, causing overheating and engine failures in Monte Carlo, Sweden, and now Mexico.

Sebastian Loeb’s start was under question, as he suffered engine issues during the practice stage, and his team swapped motors. Not wanting to start with a 5 minute time penalty, his service crew fixed the original motor, ans swapped in back in before the start of the rally… I wish i had a service crew. Seb struggles the first day, but surpasses Latvala early on day two, and expands his lead throughout the day, particularly with Latvala’s boost issues.

Rally Argentina is March 27-30, and is expected to be just as exciting as years past, hopefully without the weather delaying the rally start until Saturday, as was the case in 2007.

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