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Rally Mexico attracts bumper World Rally Car entry

The stars line up for the first dirt encounter

By Franck Drui

23 February 2012 - 21:30

Rally Mexico - the first long-haul round of the 2012 FIA World Rally Championship powered by Nokia - has attracted an incredible 16 World Rally Car entries.

Eight-time world rally champion, Sebastien Loeb, will head the Citroen factory team entry on the March 8-12 event and is the bookmaker’s favourite after dominating the Leon-based rally since 2005. Joining Loeb in the formidable force is Finland’s Mikko Hirvonen and former Dakar winner Nasser Al-Attiyah, while Thierry Neuville drives a semi-works DS3 WRC.

Jari-Matti Latvala heads the Ford entry with Norway’s Petter Solberg piloting the factory team’s other Ford Fiesta RS WRC. Rising stars Ott Tanak and Evgeny Novikov will represent the M-Sport Ford World Rally Team.

Flying the flag for the Monster World Rally Team in Mexico will be Ken Block. The popular American will contest the first of his three-round 2012 WRC campaign next week in a Fiesta RS WRC.

Returning to the WRC for the first time since 2009, Australia’s Chris Atkinson will join Block in the Monster line-up. After finishing runner-up at 2008’s Rally Mexico, Atkinson will be aiming for a competitive debut in a new generation Ford World Rally Car next week.

Britain’s Matthew Wilson will miss his second consecutive WRC event after breaking his ankle while training earlier this month, leaving Henning Solberg as the sole representative for the new-for-2012 Go Fast Energy World Rally Team. Mads Ostberg be privately entered in an Adapta-run Fiesta RS WRC.

Completing the Fiesta runners in Mexico will be local driver and firm favourite with the home fans, Ricardo Trivino.

Portugal’s Armindo Araujo and Brazil’s Paulo Nobre will represent MINI their WRC Team MINI Portugal John Cooper Works WRCs.

Other notable entries include Sebastien Ogier who will continue his preparation for his 2013 Volkswagen works drive with a Skoda Fabia S2000. Kevin Abbring drives the German firm’s second car.

Michal Kosciuszko leads the runners away on the second round of the Production Car World Rally Championship in his Mitsubishi.