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Mexican Cheer For Al Qassimi En Route To Rally Action In Kuwait, Portugal
Encouraging results from Rally Mexico have been well received by Sheikh Khalid Al Qassimi as he prepares for a return to action in Kuwait next week ahead of his second World Championship outing of the season in Portugal.
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Mikko Hirvonen’s runner’s up finish in Mexico combined with a fourth place for Dani Sordo means the Citroën Total Abu Dhabi World Rally Team has increased its lead at the top of the Manufacturers’ World Championship.
Adding to good news from South America was the recovery of Australian Chris Atkinson from a major setback on the opening day to take the Abu Dhabi Citroën Total WRT’s DS3 WRC to sixth place.
With Al Qassimi not competing in Mexico, he had selected 2008 Rally Mexico runner-up Atkinson to compete for the second of the teams created by the new partnership this season between Abu Dhabi Racing and Citroën, and the Australian responded with a gritty performance.
“Chris showed a lot of character to climb back up the field after his bad luck on the first day, and we have to be pleased overall to finish with three drivers in the top six,” said Al Qassimi, who heads into Round Two of the Middle East Rally Championship in Kuwait next week before contesting the WRC Rally De Portugal on 10-12 April.
Atkinson said: “It was a good comeback. We were 15th at one stage, so to get sixth is fantastic. Obviously, it could have been better, but I’m happy. I’d like to thank Khalid Al Qassimi for letting me have this opportunity. Hopefully, I can have another chance, so that I can build on this experience.”
While he was unable to prevent Sebastien Ogier from securing a second consecutive WRC win, Hirvonen made sure of runner’s up spot in Mexico by winning the longest stage of the rally as the event headed to its finish on Sunday.
Holding a slim 7.5s lead over Thierry Neuville at the start of the final day, the Finn was forced to push hard to hold off the Belgian, and a great drive to set the fastest time on the 54.85km-long Guanajuatito stage proved decisive.
“We only really had one mission today and that was to keep our second place, so I’m pleased we managed to do that,” said Hirvonen at the finish. “Both our cars have finished in the points. That’s in line with the target we had set ourselves and that we’ll be looking to achieve throughout the season.”
Sordo completed the rally to say: “It’s a good result because it means that we increased our lead in the overall standings. Although we have made progress this weekend, I was unable to challenge the other guys because I was struggling to adapt to the car.”
PaddockTalk Perspective
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Also in WRC Rally News 2010: |
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