Excellent debut for new Subaru and Pirelli

Petter Solberg 's new Subaru Impreza WRC2004 , running on Pirelli tyres , finished the Rally Mexico in 4 th overall. The reigning World Champion ended up just in front of his young team mate Mikko Hirvonen , who finished a career-best fifth. Solberg won 9 out of 15 stages and had it not been for a five-minute penalty incurred at the end of day one, he would have won the rally by more than two minutes. Solberg can consider himself the moral victor after an action-packed event. On a final day that was hotter than the preceding two, containing nearly 140 kilometres of stages, Solberg chose Pirelli's KM2 tyres Sunday morning and then K2 tyres in the afternoon. Mikko chose the K2 tyres and remained on them all day. Neither driver pushed 100%, as the objective was to finish the rally in a strong position. Solberg said: "The tyres played a very important role in this rally, performing brilliantly over all three days in widely varying conditions. They were consistent , and very easy to look after." Fiorenzo Brivio, Pirelli's rally manager , commented: "It's been a perfect rally with perfect tyre choices throughout. These have allowed Petter to score 5 crucial points towards the World Championship, and we are delighted to have been a part of that effort." The next rally in New Zealand will see the debut of Pirelli's new KP tyre , so the performance on gravel is expected to take a further step forward . RALLY MEXICO - Final Classification 1 Martin-Park Ford Focus WRC 4h06m46.2s 2 Duval-Prevot Ford Focus WRC +42.5 3 Sainz-Marti Citroen Xsara WRC +1m20.9 4 Solberg-Mills Subaru Impreza WRC +3m.14.7 5 Hirvonen-Lehtinen Subaru Impreza WRC +3m.36.2 6 Gronholm-Rautiainen Peug eot 307 WRC +3m58.4 7 Valimaki-Honkanen Hyundai Accent WRC +11m16.9 8 Panizzi-Panizzi Mitsubishi Lancer WRC +11m30.6 9 Warmbold-Price Ford Focus WRC +14m00.4 10 Rovanpera-Pietilainen Peugeot 307 WRC +19m20.3 RALLY WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 2004 - Standings after 3 events Drivers: 1. Loeb e Martin p.20; 3. Gronholm 16; 4. Duval 14; 5. Solberg 13; 6. Sainz 10; . . . Manufacturers: 1. Ford p.40; 2. Citro n 30; 3. Peugeot 21; 4. Subaru 19; . . . NEXT WRC RALLY : New Zealand (gravel), April 16-18