| Corona Rally México Rally Guanajuato Bicentenario | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Round 2 of the2010 World Rally Championship
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| Host country |  Mexico | ||
| Rally base | León, Mexico | ||
| Dates run | March 5 – 7, 2010 | ||
| Stages | 22 (354.60 km; 220.34 miles) | ||
| Stage surface | Gravel | ||
| Overall distance | 884.58 km (549.65 miles)[1] | ||
| Statistics | |||
| Crews | 30 at start, 25 at finish | ||
| Overall results | |||
| Overall winner |  Sébastien LoebCitroën Total World Rally Team | ||
The2010 Rally México was the 23rdRally Mexico and the second round of the2010 World Rally Championship season. The rally took place over March 5–7, and was based inLeón, in theGuanajuato region of the country. The event was part of the celebrations of the 100th anniversary of theMexican Revolution and the 200th anniversary of itsindependence. The rally was also the second round of both theProduction Car World Rally Championship and theSuper 2000 World Rally Championship.
Thestages of the rally mixed mountain peaks with flat open valleys. Due to the high altitude, engines struggle to breathe in the thin air, causing a twenty percent reduction in their output. Stage 20 of the rally — Sauz Seco — was cancelled prior to the event, on safety grounds.[2]
Sébastien Loeb took his 55th career rally victory, leading from the end of the eleventh stage onwards.[3] Loeb won by just over 24 seconds from another Citroën driver,Petter Solberg. Solberg had led the rally throughout the first leg, and only took second position on the final stage through the super special stage. Solberg's gain wasSébastien Ogier's loss, as the Citroën junior driver just missed out on equalling his best career result in the World Rally Championship. Solberg overturned a 0.6-second gap over the final 4.42 km (2.75 mi), taking Ogier by 1.1 seconds.
In the SWRC event,Xavier Pons took the victory after battlingMartin Prokop throughout the event. In the end, the Spanish driver took victory by just seventeen seconds, as both finished inside the overall top ten, in eighth and ninth places respectively. Prokop moved into the championship lead with a second to go with his third inSweden. Michał Kościuszko was third, but over half an hour behind Pons and Prokop, with Eyvind Brynildsen and Albert Llovera rounding out the class finishers.
In the PWRC,Armindo Araújo took victory by over three minutes fromToshi Arai. Miguel Baldoni, Benito Guerra and Gianluca Linari were the only other finishers. WithPatrik Flodin absent, Araújo moved into a 15-point championship lead.
The rally also ran an event/class named "Rally America" which allowed cars legal in the similarly named but unrelatedRally America series to run on the same stages as the WRC cars. The 2010 event was notable for the participation of amateur driver Bill Caswell who drove a1991 BMW 318i he bought for $500 overCraigslist alongside co-driver Ben Slocum to 3rd place in the class, much to the amusement of the other drivers.[4][5]
All dates and times areCST (UTC−6).
| Day | Stage | Time | Name | Length | Winner | Time | Avg. spd. | Rally leader |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 (5 Mar) | SS1 | 07:28 | Alfaro 1 | 22.96 km |  Petter Solberg[6] | 13:51.4 | 97.77 km/h | Petter Solberg |
| SS2 | 09:01 | Ortega 1 | 23.83 km | Petter Solberg | 13:51.4 | 103.18 km/h | ||
| SS3 | 10:39 | El Cubilete 1 | 18.87 km | Petter Solberg | 11:49.9 | 95.69 km/h | ||
| SS4 | 10:57 | Coca-Cola Street Stage 1 | 1.50 km | Sébastien Ogier | 1:16.6 | 70.50 km/h | ||
| SS5 | 12:17 | Alfaro 2 | 22.96 km | Petter Solberg | 13:56.1 | 98.86 km/h | ||
| SS6 | 13:50 | Ortega 2 | 23.83 km | Petter Solberg | 13:41.2 | 104.47 km/h | ||
| SS7 | 14:38 | El Cubilete 2 | 18.87 km | Sébastien Ogier | 11:38.9 | 97.20 km/h | ||
| SS8 | 15:53 | Super Special 1 | 2.21 km | Sébastien Ogier | 1:37.5 | 81.60 km/h | ||
| SS9 | 15:58 | Super Special 2 | 2.21 km | Sébastien Ogier | 1:36.9 | 82.11 km/h | ||
| 2 (6 Mar) | SS10 | 07:54 | Ibarilla 1 | 29.90 km | Sébastien Loeb | 18:18.3 | 98.01 km/h | |
| SS11 | 09:17 | Duarte 1 | 23.27 km | Sébastien Loeb | 18:10.2 | 76.84 km/h | Sébastien Loeb | |
| SS12 | 10:08 | Derramadero 1 | 23.28 km | Sébastien Loeb | 14:03.7 | 99.33 km/h | ||
| SS13 | 13:12 | Coca-Cola Street Stage 2 | 1.50 km | Sébastien Loeb | 1:15.3 | 71.71 km/h | ||
| SS14 | 12:52 | Ibarrilla 2 | 29.90 km | Sébastien Loeb | 18:01.6 | 99.52 km/h | ||
| SS15 | 14:55 | Duarte 2 | 23.27 km | Sébastien Loeb | 17:44.9 | 78.67 km/h | ||
| SS16 | 15:06 | Derramadero 2 | 23.28 km | Sébastien Loeb | 13:50.4 | 100.92 km/h | ||
| SS17 | 16:21 | Super Special 3 | 2.21 km | Sébastien Loeb | 1:39.1 | 80.28 km/h | ||
| SS18 | 16:26 | Super Special 4 | 2.21 km | Sébastien Ogier | 1:38.1 | 81.10 km/h | ||
| 3 (7 Mar) | SS19 | 08:43 | Guanajuatito | 29.13 km | Sébastien Ogier | 19:47.8 | 88.29 km/h | |
| SS20 | 09:34 | Sauz Seco | 7.05 km | stage cancelled[2] | ||||
| SS21 | 10:12 | Comanjilla | 17.88 km | Petter Solberg | 10:16.2 | 104.46 km/h | ||
| SS22 | 11:27 | Super Special 5 | 4.42 km | Petter Solberg | 3:12.7 | 82.57 km/h | ||
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