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León, Mexico — The Citroën Total World Rally Team crew of Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena today won Rally Mexico, the second round of the FIA World Rally Championship. After their dominant performance on the second day, the reigning World Champions were able to cruise to the finish while the battle for second raged behind them. Petter Solberg and Phil Mills clinched the position on the final super special stage, heading Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia by just 1.1 seconds at the end of the rally.

In the FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers, Loeb has snatched the lead from Mikko Hirvonen, the Finn now six points adrift in second position. Jari-Matti Latvala and Ogier follow, equal on 25 points. In the Manufacturers’ Championship, the BP Ford Abu Dhabi team has however retained its lead and heads Citroën Total, also by six points.

The final day of Rally Mexico took in just two mountain stages before returning to the city for the closing and decisive super special stage in León. With a 55.5 second lead going into the day, Loeb was able to ease the pace and the Frenchman arrived at the finish with a 24.2 second advantage. This is his fourth victory in Mexico. Ogier and Solberg headed into the final stage split by 0.6 seconds but it was Solberg who claimed victory in the 4.42 kilometre stage to take second overall.

Ford’s Mikko Hirvonen and Jari-Matti Latvala finished fourth and fifth respectively, after a frustrating and uncharacteristically disappointing event.

The FIA World Rally Championship crews now heads to the Middle East for Jordan Rally (1-3 April).

Final Positions

1. S Loeb/D Elena FRA Citroen C4 3hr 42min 41.7sec
2. P Solberg/P Mills NOR Citroen C4 3hr 43min 05.9sec
3. S Ogier/J Ingrassia FRA Citroen C4 3hr 43min 07.0sec
4. M Hirvonen/J Lehtinen FIN Ford Focus RS 3hr 44min 29.2sec
5. J-M Latvala/M Anttila FIN Ford Focus RS 3hr 44min 56.8sec
6. H Solberg/I Minor NOR Ford Focus RS 3hr 45min 29.7sec
7. F Villagra/J Perez Companc ARG Ford Focus RS 3hr 52min 55.1sec
8. X Pons/A Haro ESP Ford Fiesta S2000 4hr 01min 26.1sec
9. M Prokop/J Tomanek CZE Ford Fiesta S2000 4hr 01min 43.7sec
10. A Araujo/R Miguel POR Mitsubishi Lancer 4hr 04min 14.2sec

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Image Copyrights: Citroen Racing, Credit: McKlein
Photo: Sebastien Loeb takes a dominant win on 2010 WRC Rally Mexico

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