WRC: Hirvonen frustrated after ‘difficult’ weekend

Mikko Hirvonen admitted he made too many mistakes to challenge for victory on last weekend’s Rally Mexico.

The BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team driver finished fourth on the Leon-based event after a frustrating rally which saw six-time champion Sebastien Loeb take over at the head of the championship standings.

Leading the points standings after his win on Rally Sweden, Hirvonen headed into day 1 as the first starter and therefore endured the worst of the conditions, with loose gravel on the surface proving to be a huge disadvantage.

However he refused to make excuses for his performance, which only saw the Finn promoted to fourth place overall on the final day when team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala deliberately slowed on the last countryside special stage to allow his team leader to move ahead and take extra points.

“I never had the pace to fight for the win,” admitted Hirvonen. “It was a difficult weekend and after winning in Sweden I hoped for a better result here.

"I'm happy that we scored good points for the team, but I made too many mistakes with my driving. I never really found a good rhythm and I felt I couldn't push as hard as I wanted to. When I tried, the car ended up sliding wide and I dropped even more time. I tried lots of different things but I never really found the answer.

“Taking all that into account, I have to be happy with a solid finish. It's important to keep the points ticking over so early in the season and that's what we ended up doing here.”

Latvala also admitted he was disappointed not to be in a position to challenge Citroen drivers Loeb, Petter Solberg and Sebastien Ogier for a podium spot, but was satisfied with a solid points haul to keep Ford leading the manufacturers’ standings.

"It's a second good finish for me this season, without mistakes, and that boosts my confidence for the next rally,” he said. “My speed improved as the weekend went on. My car set-up was too soft initially but when we realised that, it was too late to retain the time we had lost. It was unfortunate we started the weekend with a soft set up after a wet pre-event test.

"I slowed about 500m before the end of the last proper stage to let Mikko move ahead of me. I'm the second driver and that's my job. It made no difference to the team's points tally and I was happy to help him.”

Watch the World Rally Championship on Motors TV (Sky Channel 413, Virgin Media 545) in 2010.


Andy Wilkinson