# 2007 Rally México

The 21º Corona Rally México, the fourth round of the 2007 World Rally Championship season, took place between March 9–11 2007. The rally consisted of 20 special stages, of which five were super specials. The event was won by Citroën's Sébastien Loeb, followed by Ford drivers Marcus Grönholm and Mikko Hirvonen.
The drivers' championship leaders, Grönholm and Hirvonen, were the first drivers on road and lost time as they had to sweep the loose gravel. They were followed by Loeb, who was able to keep close to Subaru's Petter Solberg, who benefited from his better starting position during the first three stages. However, Solberg, in the new Subaru Impreza WRC 07, had to retire at the start of SS6 giving the lead to Loeb. After the first day, Ford identified and fixed a sensory fault in Grönholm's car. The problem had caused lack of engine power and troubled the Finn: "In the morning, I was sweeping. In the afternoon, I was sleeping". The second leg saw Grönholm quickly climb to second place, but Loeb continued setting top times and extended his lead to Grönholm from 43 to 60 seconds. Hirvonen, Chris Atkinson and Dani Sordo battled for the third place. Hirvonen was the fastest driver on the final day and secured the last podium position, ahead of Sordo, Atkinson, Manfred Stohl, Jari-Matti Latvala and Matthew Wilson. Loeb took the win 55.8 seconds clear of Grönholm.

## Results

| Pos. | Driver | Co-driver | Car | Time | Difference | Points |
| WRC |||||||
| 1. | Sébastien Loeb | Daniel Elena | Citroën C4 WRC | 3:48:13.3 | 0.0 | 10 |
| 2. | Marcus Grönholm | Timo Rautiainen | Ford Focus RS WRC 06 | 3:49:09.1 | 55.8 | 8 |
| 3. | Mikko Hirvonen | Jarmo Lehtinen | Ford Focus RS WRC 06 | 3:49:41.0 | 1:27.7 | 6 |
| 4. | Daniel Sordo | Marc Marti | Citroën C4 WRC | 3:49:57.0 | 1:43.7 | 5 |
| 5. | Chris Atkinson | Glenn MacNeall | Subaru Impreza WRC 07 | 3:50:37.4 | 2:24.1 | 4 |
| 6. | Manfred Stohl | Ilka Minor | Citroën Xsara WRC | 3:51:58.8 | 3:45.5 | 3 |
| 7. | Jari-Matti Latvala | Miikka Anttila | Ford Focus RS WRC 06 | 3:52:24.1 | 4:10.8 | 2 |
| 8. | Matthew Wilson | Michael Orr | Ford Focus RS WRC 06 | 4:00:35.9 | 12:22.6 | 1 |
| PCWRC |||||||
| 1. (10.) | Mark Higgins | Scott Martin | Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 | 4:08:44.5 | 0.0 | 10 |
| 2. (11.) | Toshi Arai | Tony Sircombe | Subaru Impreza WRX STI | 4:10:05.4 | 1:20.9 | 8 |
| 3. (13.) | Kristian Sohlberg | Risto Pietiläinen | Subaru Impreza WRX STI | 4:11:15.2 | 2:30.7 | 6 |
| 4. (14.) | Mirco Baldacci | Giovanni Agnese | Subaru Impreza WRX STI | 4:12:51.9 | 4:07.4 | 5 |
| 5. (15.) | Travis Pastrana | Christian Edstrom | Subaru Impreza WRX STI | 4:16:53.2 | 8:08.7 | 4 |
| 6. (16.) | Štěpán Vojtěch | Michal Ernst | Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 | 4:25:43.3 $^{[1]}$ | 16:58.8 | 3 |
| 7. (18.) | Fumio Nutahara | Daniel Barritt | Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 | 4:26:02.5 | 17:18.0 | 2 |
| 8. (20.) | Spyros Pavlides | Denis Giraudet | Subaru Impreza WRX STI | 4:34:23.7 | 25:39.2 | 1 |
| | | | | $^{[1]}$ — Drivers using SupeRally | $^{[1]}$ — Drivers using SupeRally | |

## Retirements

* Nasser Al-Attiyah - mechanical (SS2/3);
* Petter Solberg - no oil pressure (SS5/6);
* Francisco Name - retired between leg 1 and 2 (before SS8);
* Martin Rauam - gearbox failure (SS9);
* Gareth MacHale - damaged suspension (SS13);
* Leszek Kuzaj - mechanical (SS13);

## Special Stages

All dates and times are CST (UTC-6).
| Leg | Stage | Time | Name | Length | Winner | Time | Avg. spd. | Rally leader |
| 1 (9 Mar) | SS1 | 08:28 | Alfaro 1 | 23.50 km | P. Solberg | 14:03.5 | 100.3 km/h | P. Solberg |
| 1 (9 Mar) | SS2 | 09:51 | Ortega 1 | 29.65 km | P. Solberg | 17:28.7 | 101.78 km/h | P. Solberg |
| 1 (9 Mar) | SS3 | 10:34 | El Cubilete 1 | 17.87 km | P. Solberg | 9:45.6 | 109.86 km/h | P. Solberg |
| 1 (9 Mar) | SS4 | 13:02 | Alfaro 2 | 23.50 km | S. Loeb | 13:47.0 | 102.3 km/h | P. Solberg |
| 1 (9 Mar) | SS5 | 14:25 | Ortega 2 | 29.65 km | M. Stohl | 16:58.2 | 104.83 km/h | P. Solberg |
| 1 (9 Mar) | SS6 | 15:08 | El Cubilete 2 | 17.87 km | S. Loeb | 9:37.5 | 111.4 km/h | S. Loeb |
| 1 (9 Mar) | SS7 | 16:29 | Super Special 1 | 2.21 km | M. Grönholm | 1:42.6 | 77.54 km/h | S. Loeb |
| 1 (9 Mar) | SS8 | 16:33 | Super Special 2 | 2.21 km | C. Atkinson | 1:42.0 | 78.0 km/h | S. Loeb |
| 2 (10 Mar) | SS9 | 08:19 | Ibarilla 1 | 30.20 km | S. Loeb | 18:17.3 | 99.08 km/h | S. Loeb |
| 2 (10 Mar) | SS10 | 09:42 | Duarte 1 | 23.51 km | S. Loeb | 17:55.0 | 78.73 km/h | S. Loeb |
| 2 (10 Mar) | SS11 | 10:33 | Derramadero 1 | 23.27 km | M. Grönholm | 14:01.6 | 99.54 km/h | S. Loeb |
| 2 (10 Mar) | SS12 | 13:07 | Ibarilla 2 | 30.20 km | S. Loeb | 18:02.6 | 100.42 km/h | S. Loeb |
| 2 (10 Mar) | SS13 | 14:30 | Duarte 2 | 23.51 km | M. Grönholm | 17:32.2 | 80.48 km/h | S. Loeb |
| 2 (10 Mar) | SS14 | 15:21 | Derramadero 2 | 23.27 km | S. Loeb | 13:49.4 | 101.0 km/h | S. Loeb |
| 2 (10 Mar) | SS15 | 16:35 | Super Special 3 | 2.21 km | D. Sordo | 1:44.6 | 76.06 km/h | S. Loeb |
| 2 (10 Mar) | SS16 | 16:39 | Super Special 4 | 2.21 km | M. Grönholm | 1:43.6 | 76.8 km/h | S. Loeb |
| 3 (11 Mar) | SS17 | 08:23 | Leon | 16.29 km | M. Hirvonen | 10:35.8 | 92.24 km/h | S. Loeb |
| 3 (11 Mar) | SS18 | 08:54 | Guanajuatito | 23.34 km | M. Grönholm | 15:12.3 | 92.1 km/h | S. Loeb |
| 3 (11 Mar) | SS19 | 10:17 | Comanjilla | 18.10 km | M. Hirvonen | 10:17.6 | 105.51 km/h | S. Loeb |
| 3 (11 Mar) | SS20 | 11:28 | Super Special 5 | 4.42 km | M. Grönholm | 3:23.6 | 78.15 km/h | S. Loeb |

## Championship standings after the event
### Drivers' championship

| Pos | Driver | MON | SWE | NOR | MEX | POR | ARG | ITA | GRC | FIN | GER | NZL | ESP | FRA | JPN | IRL | GBR | Pts |
| 1 | Marcus Grönholm | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | | | | | | | | | | | | | 32 |
| 2 | Sébastien Loeb | 1 | 2 | 14 | 1 | | | | | | | | | | | | | 28 |
| 3 | Mikko Hirvonen | 5 | 3 | 1 | 3 | | | | | | | | | | | | | 26 |
| 4 | Dani Sordo | 2 | 12 | 25 | 4 | | | | | | | | | | | | | 13 |
| 5 | Henning Solberg | 14 | 4 | 3 | 9 | | | | | | | | | | | | | 11 |
| 6 | Chris Atkinson | 4 | 8 | 19 | 5 | | | | | | | | | | | | | 10 |
| 7 | Petter Solberg | 6 | Ret | 4 | Ret | | | | | | | | | | | | | 8 |
| 8 | Daniel Carlsson | | 5 | 7 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 6 |
| 8 | Jari-Matti Latvala | Ret | Ret | 5 | 7 | | | | | | | | | | | | | 6 |
| 10 | Toni Gardemeister | 7 | 6 | Ret | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 5 |
| 10 | Manfred Stohl | 10 | 7 | 12 | 6 | | | | | | | | | | | | | 5 |
| 12 | Gigi Galli | | 13 | 6 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 3 |
| 13 | Jan Kopecký | 8 | 10 | 8 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 2 |
| 14 | Matthew Wilson | 12 | Ret | 26 | 8 | | | | | | | | | | | | | 1 |
| Pos | Driver | MON | SWE | NOR | MEX | POR | ARG | ITA | GRC | FIN | GER | NZL | ESP | FRA | JPN | IRL | GBR | Pts |
Key :
| Colour | Result |
| Gold | Winner |
| Silver | 2nd place |
| Bronze | 3rd place |
| Green | Points finish |
| Blue | Non-points finish |
| Blue | Non-classified finish (NC) |
| Purple | Did not finish (Ret) |
| Black | Excluded (EX) |
| Black | Disqualified (DSQ) |
| White | Did not start (DNS) |
| White | Cancelled (C) |
| Blank | Withdrew entry from the event (WD) |

### Manufacturers' championship

| Rank | Manufacturer | Event | Event | Event | Event | Event | Event | Event | Event | Event | Event | Event | Event | Event | Event | Event | Event | Total points |
| Rank | Manufacturer | MON | SWE | NOR | MEX | POR | ARG | ITA | GRC | FIN | GER | NZL | ESP | FRA | JPN | IRL | GBR | Total points |
| 1 | BP Ford World Rally Team | 10 | 16 | 18 | 14 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 58 |
| 2 | Citroën Total World Rally Team | 18 | 9 | 1 | 15 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 43 |
| 3 | Stobart VK M-Sport Ford | 1 | 5 | 10 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 19 |
| 3 | Subaru World Rally Team | 8 | 2 | 5 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 19 |
| 5 | OMV Kronos | 2 | 7 | 5 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 17 |
| 6 | Munchi's Ford World Rally Team | | 0 | | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 0 |