Tyre choices at Rally MexicoAs
Sebastien Loeb swept to victory in Rally Mexico, BFGoodrich look at the front running teams and their tyre selections.
BP-Ford WRT - Marcus Grönholm was one of the few drivers to stay on narrow tyres on Friday afternoon. The Finn had
nominated just one set of the wider g-Force Gravel H1 tyres (compared with two for his rivals) and he ended up not using them at all.
Citroën-Total WRT - Loeb and Sordo chose hard compound narrow tyres for Friday morning before switching to the wider option on Friday afternoon. They were the only drivers to choose medium compound narrow tyres on Saturday morning as their rivals all opted for the harder compound.
Subaru WRT - Petter Solberg matched Loeb's speed early on and the two Subaru drivers were pleased with the performance of their wide BFGoodrich tyres on Friday afternoon which saw Solberg and Atkinson post some top times.
Stobart M-Sport Ford WRT - The Stobart drivers globally chose the same tyres as the works Ford drivers, despite somewhat different nominated lists.
OMV Kronos Citroën WRT - Manfred Stohl based his choices on those of the works Citroën drivers, with the exception of Friday afternoon when the Austrian stayed on narrow tyres (hard compound). This choice helped him post the fastest time on SS5.
Sebastien Loeb (Citroën/BFGoodrich)
"We were keen to see where he stood on the loose and the car turned out to be perfect. I felt comfortable with the C4 WRC from start to finish. When Petter retired, there were still two days to go so I tried to keep up a good pace in order to stay concentrated.
I think the fight will be very close this year between six drivers and three manufacturers."
Patrick Letort, Chief Technician, BFGoodrich
"The Citroën C4 WRC is clearly competitive and the Subaru Impreza WRC2007 seems to be a well-sorted car. I think the way this year's Rally Mexico unfolded promises some great competition between the three manufacturers registered for the World Championship on the coming gravel rallies. This weekend, the BFGoodrich runners used two types of tyre: the familiar g-Force Gravel (medium and hard compound) and the wider g-Force Gravel H1."
"For three of the four long-haul rounds, the regulations allow drivers to choose 12 'joker' tyres. That is to say they can trade 12 of their originally nominated tyres for an alternative choice a week before the start. In Mexico and New Zealand, these 'joker' tyres can have a different tread pattern. The BFGoodrich drivers profited from this rule to choose the wider g-Force Gravel H1 for this weekend's rally because of the anticipated high temperatures and the long loops. The H1 was used on Friday afternoon as ground temperatures reached 47°C. Saturday's dirtier stages and cooler temperatures (30°C) did not necessitate use of the H1 tyre."
Source BFGoodrich
