Pirelli monopolises podium on rally Mexico!

Lon (MEX), March 13th, 2005 - Pirelli drivers have finished first, second and third on the all-gravel Rally Mexico, the first time that Pirelli has monopolized the podium since the 2002 Rally Great Britain. Subaru-Pirelli driver Petter Solberg claimed his second consecutive victory of the year by 34.5 seconds, after taking the lead from the start and winning six out of the 14 stages on round three of the World Rally Championship. The Pirelli-equipped Peugeots of Marcus Gronholm and Markko Martin finished second and third, underlining a dominant performance by Pirelli in the hot and tough conditions. The Italian rubber won all but four of the stages, moving Solberg into the lead of the drivers' championship while Peugeot now heads the constructors' series. The Mitsubishis of Harri Rovanpera and Gilles Panizzi, also running on Pirelli tyres, finished fifth and eighth - making it five Pirelli drivers in the top eight places. Road conditions on the rally were unusually hard and free of loose gravel on the first day of the rally, but softer and more gravelly for the rest of it. Despite these difficult and changeable surfaces, Solberg claimed Pirelli's 137th World Championship victory on the debut of the brand-new Subaru Impreza WRC2005 - highlighting the perfect partnership between car and tyres. Pirelli brought three different types of tyre to Mexico, which the teams had to nominate in advance according to World Rally Championship regulations. Subaru used the latest evolution of the P Zero XR3 tyre on the hard surfaces of the opening day, before switching to the more open pattern of the KP2 tyre in order to disperse the loose gravel which characterized the remaining two days. Peugeot used the KP2 throughout the rally, while Mitsubishi made use of the more closed pattern K2 tyre on the unusually clean surfaces of the opening leg. Fiorenzo Brivio, Pirelli's Rally Manager, commented: " Petter's use of the XR3 tyre on the opening day was instrumental in helping him to a momentous victory. This tyre was traditionally used for rough gravel events, but it has now been developed to be equally effective on medium to fast gravel. The KP2 tyre was used most often on this rally, and the fact that we have five cars in the top eight places is the best testimony to its performance. Congratulations to everybody!" Rally Mexico (round 3 of 16) - Final classification 1 Solberg-Mills Subaru Impreza WRC 3h41m06.2s 2 Gronholm-Rautiainen Peugeot 307 WRC +34.5s 3 Martin-Park Peugeot 307 WRC +1m38.3s 4 Loeb-Elena Citroen Xsara WRC +3m51.1s 5 Rovanpera-Pietilainen Mitsubishi Lancer WRC +3m58.1s 6 Gardemeister-Honkanen Ford Focus WRC +4m05.6s 7 Warmbold-Orr Ford Focus WRC +6m01.0s 8 Panizzi-Panizzi Mitsubishi Lancer WRC +6m01.7s 9 Schwarz-Wicha Skoda Fabia WRC +8m05.3s 10 Duval-Prevot Citroen Xsara WRC +16m14.2s Next round: Rally New Zealand (8-10 April, 2005)