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Corona Rally Mexico |
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Production Car World Rally Championship Rd.2 12 to 14 March 2004 |
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Itinerary | |
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Leg1 Report | ||
| Leg2 Report | |||
| Leg3 Report | |||
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WRC |
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Production Car World Rally Championship (PCWRC) Rd.2 Infomation
Arai Holds 2nd Place in Group N
Leg1
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Event News 12 March 2004 |
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Weather conditions overnight gave the stages a good soaking and have made the event very tricky. Tyre choice was the big issue in the morning as tyre cars to survey the route are now forbidden. Therefore the event is becoming a bit of a guess, and thus a gamble, with respect to this issue. The roads were drying fast so a conservative cut on the tyres was the best choice. Most of the SUBARU drivers have followed this tyre cut choice.The weather in the morning was quite sunny, with temperatures rising considerably by lunchtime. Overall, it was a pretty calm day. The afternoon rain was not entirely unexpected; though the intensity of the downpour was remarked on by a number of the competitors. More unsettled weather is predicted for tomorrow with a much harder day for competitors as the competitive distance is so much longer than today's stages. Toshi Arai was the top of the SUBARU runners, though he lost quite a bit of time in the rain on the last stage. He's presently 27 seconds behind the overall Group N leader. Arai was running ten minutes behind rival Jani Paasonen on the road. With the weather advancing all the time, this caused him to lose some of his advantage over the Finn. He was however, able to maintain his position, staying ahead by 7.1 seconds over the Mitsubishi driver at the end of the day. Alister McRae had an unfortunate time in the morning, losing almost a minute due to a puncture on SS1. Had it not been for this bad luck, he would have been in the battle for the lead. His afternoon running was relatively event-free, and the Scot now stands in fourth place, 1:23.9 behind today's top finisher. Fifth on the results board is Niall McShea, 51.2 seconds behind McRae. After experiencing a few teething problems with the gearbox, and considering this is his first competitive run in the car, he's happy overall. Marcos Ligato, running right at the back of the Group N pack got terrible rain. As a result, he lost a great deal of time but is otherwise happy with the car. He's presently in 7th position, 2:33.5 behind the leader. Bringing up the rear among the SUBARU drivers still running is Joakim Roman, sitting in 12th place, 6:30.9 in arrears. Of the other SUBARU runners, Nasser Al Attiyah has retired with an unspecified transmission failure. And Mark Higgins retired in the morning's first stage with gear linkage failure. 
On SS4, the gradually worsening rain affected all of the Group N runners, with the later cars being hit harder than the earlier entrants on the road. This was especially bad for Joakim Roman, Toshi Arai and Marcos Ligato who were running close to the back of the pack.We can expect a tougher day tomorrow, with more twisty sections. Hopefully this will potentially suit the SUBARU a little bit more. Being very twisty and technical stages, the four front-running SUBARU drivers; Marcus, Niall, Alister and Toshi have got it all to do - and they're up for the fight! Driver Comments:
Toshi Arai - Car #31"Everything's okay with the car, but I'm suffering from an upset stomach so am experiencing a little discomfort because of that. Otherwise I'm happy. The car and tyres are working well." Niall McShea - Car #34 "Throughout the morning I experienced some gearshift problems which will be with us for the day as the box can only be changed at the main evening service tonight. I'm still learning the car's habits and am not certain exactly how hard to push this early on in the event. I'm still erring on the side of caution. In any case, I'm going well and keeping in touch with the leading pack of drivers. For all of Stage 4 my run was affected by rain, but considering it's my first time out in the car and the fact that there were a few teething problems, I'm happy overall." Marcos Ligato - Car #35 "I had some overheating brake pads in the two morning stages but, like Toshi, changed them for the afternoon stages. On stage4, I experienced terribly heavy rain and lost a lot of time as a result. Otherwise, I'm happy with the car and am concentrating on building myself up nicely throughout the event. Hopefully I'll be able to get more on the pace tomorrow." Joakim Roman - Car #37 "We started the event very quickly and had a huge spin halfway through SS1 while in 4th gear running flat out on a fast corner. Later I stalled the engine and had to turn around which took a little longer than it should have.... I feeling lucky to still be here after that! In SS2, I took it a little easier and let myself settle in to the rhythm of the roads. In the last stage of the day, SS4, I got very bad misting as soon as the rain started. It was like driving up underneath a waterfall!" Alister McRae - Car #39 "I had a puncture five kilometres before the end of SS1, so continued carefully to the end of the stage, losing about 50 seconds as a result. I'm a little disappointed about that, but then maintained a good pace, driving carefully throughout SS2. The car seems good and undamaged by the puncture. I came through the last two stages with absolutely no problems, a fairly event-free run over stages 3 and 4." Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah - Car #44 "The car is great! I have no problems to report and reckon the roads and the event are stunning and great to drive. I'm taking a fairly cautious approach to the event and am determined to reach the finish without any major problems." |
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