A drama-filled day at Rally Mexico saw a series of changes in the FIA World Rally Championship leaderboard but M-Sport Stobart’s Norwegian contingent of Mads Østberg and Henning Solberg hold sixth and seventh going into the final day.
Solberg struggled with power steering issues for the majority of today’s dusty stages covering 158.82 km. However, a determined Solberg battled on despite blistered hands and aching arms to finish the day seventh overall, 31.8 seconds behind fellow Ford Fiesta RS WRC driver Østberg.
Østberg was the only M-Sport Stobart team-mate to have a relatively trouble-free day. The 23-year-old Rally Sweden runner-up reported difficulties with the car set-up but had no other major dramas. Østberg and co-driver Jonas Andersson started the day 11th overall but gradually climbed the leaderboard to lie sixth overnight.
Britain’s Matthew Wilson was in a career-best fourth position yesterday afternoon but disaster struck when an electrical problem with his Ford Fiesta RS WRC caused the 24-year-old Cumbrian to retire on Stage 7. The car was returned to the service park in Leon early last night where the M-Sport team worked until 4am to repair a damaged main wiring loom.
The team’s incredible efforts enabled Wilson and co-driver Scott Martin to return to the second day of action at Rally Mexico under SupeRally regulations. However, their Fiesta RS WRC suffered from further problems before the day’s opening stage and the British duo were forced to call it a day.
Russia’s Evgeny Novikov was lying fifth overnight but suffered from loss of engine oil pressure on the road section to Stage 13, causing the M-Sport Stobart debutant to retire.
Novikov’s Fiesta RS WRC was returned to the Poliforum service park but the team reported that it would be unable to restart under SupeRally regulations for the final day of action tomorrow.
Mads Østberg said: “I feel like I’ve been fighting the car so much today and it has not been helping my confidence at all. It’s not a problem with the car – it’s just a matter of making the right adjustments and finding a good set-up. We changed the steering rack at the midday service - it’s definitely helped but I still don’t think the car is running as well as it could. On Stage 17, I felt like we had no balance in the car – it was very strange. To be truthful, I’m just very glad to be here. A lot has happened to the other drivers today and the conditions on the roads are tough but hey, we are still here so that is OK.”
Henning Solberg said: “For sure, today has been a nightmare – my arms ache and I am so tired. The power steering problems have made things very hard, I am strong but I am not that strong. The second stage this afternoon [SS16] was very hard to get through – it is the most technical stage of the rally with lots of hairpins and without power steering it was a big, big challenge. Then on the last stage, everything was going well – the split times were looking good and close to [Sebastien] Ogier but then the brake pipe went. My hands are blistered but I am still here - and I’m still smiling - so it is all OK.”
Matthew Wilson said: “It’s just not been my weekend. Everything was going so well for us on Friday – we’d worked our way up to fourth and I was really happy with the car set-up. Then we had electrical problems on Stage 7. I was gutted but the team worked throughout the night to try and get the car back on the road for today. Then on the way to the first stage the engine kept cutting out and we knew there was nothing else that could be done. It’s so disappointing but I’d really like to thank all the team for their efforts to try and get us back in the rally.”