The 2010 Rally México was the 23rd

Rally Mexico Rally Mexico, formerly known as Rally America is a round of the FIA World Rally Championship. The rally entered the championship schedule in the 2004 season. The event's itinerary is based in the state of Guanajuato. The stages take place in t ...

and the second round of the

2010 World Rally Championship season The 2010 World Rally Championship was the 38th season of the FIA World Rally Championship. The season consisted of 13 rallies, beginning with Rally Sweden on 11 February and ended with Wales Rally GB on 14 November. France's Sébastien Loeb wo ...

. The rally took place over March 5–7, and was based in León, in the

Guanajuato Guanajuato (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Guanajuato ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Guanajuato), is one of the 32 states that make up the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 46 municipalities and its capital city i ...

region of the country. The event was part of the celebrations of the 100th anniversary of the

Mexican Revolution The Mexican Revolution ( es, Revolución Mexicana) was an extended sequence of armed regional conflicts in Mexico from approximately 1910 to 1920. It has been called "the defining event of modern Mexican history". It resulted in the destruction ...

and the 200th anniversary of its

independence Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the statu ...

. The rally was also the second round of both the

Production Car World Rally Championship The FIA Production World Rally Championship, or PWRC, was a companion rally series to the World Rally Championship, contested by Group N rally cars. History The series started in 1987 as ''FIA Cup for Production Rally Drivers'' and obtained the ...

and the

Super 2000 World Rally Championship The FIA WRC2 (previously also known as World Rally Championship 2 and WRC 2), is a support championship of the World Rally Championship. The calendar consists of the same rallies and stages as the main class and crews usually compete immediately ...

. The

stages Stage or stages may refer to: Acting * Stage (theatre), a space for the performance of theatrical productions * Theatre, a branch of the performing arts, often referred to as "the stage" * ''The Stage'', a weekly British theatre newspaper * S ...

of the rally mixed mountain peaks with flat open valleys. Due to the high altitude, engines struggle to breathe in the thin air, causing a twenty percent reduction in their output. Stage 20 of the rally — Sauz Seco — was cancelled prior to the event, on safety grounds.

Sébastien Loeb Sébastien Loeb (; born 26 February 1974) is a French professional rally, racing and rallycross driver. He is the most successful driver in the World Rally Championship (WRC), having won the world championship a record nine times in a row. He h ...

took his 55th career rally victory, leading from the end of the eleventh stage onwards. Loeb won by just over 24 seconds from another Citroën driver,

Petter Solberg Petter Solberg (born 18 November 1974) is a Norwegian former professional rally and rallycross driver. Solberg debuted in the World Rally Championship in 1998 and was signed by the Ford factory team in 1999. The following year, Solberg started ...

. Solberg had led the rally throughout the first leg, and only took second position on the final stage through the super special stage. Solberg's gain was

Sébastien Ogier Sébastien Ogier (born 17 December 1983) is a French rally driver, competing for the Toyota Gazoo Racing Team in the World Rally Championship (WRC), who is teamed with the co-driver Julien Ingrassia. He has won the World Rally Drivers' Champions ...

's loss, as the Citroën junior driver just missed out on equalling his best career result in the World Rally Championship. Solberg overturned a 0.6-second gap over the final , taking Ogier by 1.1 seconds. In the SWRC event,

Xavier Pons Xavier "Xevi" Pons Puigdillers (born 21 January 1980) is a Spanish rally driver who competed in the World Rally Championship from 2003 to 2014. Career Pons started his racing career on motorcycles and won the Spanish enduro national championship ...

took the victory after battling

Martin Prokop Martin Prokop (born 4 October 1982) is a Czech rally driver. He won the Junior World Rally Championship in the 2009 season. Career After competing in the Czech Rally Championship for four years, Prokop debuted in the World Rally Championsh ...

throughout the event. In the end, the Spanish driver took victory by just seventeen seconds, as both finished inside the overall top ten, in eighth and ninth places respectively. Prokop moved into the championship lead with a second to go with his third in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. Michał Kościuszko was third, but over half an hour behind Pons and Prokop, with Eyvind Brynildsen and Albert Llovera rounding out the class finishers. In the PWRC,

Armindo Araújo Armindo Araújo (born 1 September 1977) is a Portugal, Portuguese Rallying, rally driver. He won the Production World Rally Championship in the 2009 World Rally Championship, 2009 season, repeating the accomplishment in the next year (2010 World R ...

took victory by over three minutes from

Toshi Arai is a Japanese rally driver and team owner. He is the first Japanese FIA world champion. Arai was born in Isesaki, Gunma. He made his debut in 1987 and drove for the Subaru World Rally Team in the Group N World Rally Championship from 1997–20 ...

. Miguel Baldoni, Benito Guerra and Gianluca Linari were the only other finishers. With

Patrik Flodin Patrik Flodin (born 16 August 1984) is a rally driver from Sweden. Flodin won the Swedish Championship in 2006. In 2009, Flodin contests in the Production World Rally Championship The FIA Production World Rally Championship, or PWRC, was a c ...

absent, Araújo moved into a 15-point championship lead. The rally also ran an event/class named "Rally America" which allowed cars legal in the similarly named but unrelated

Rally America The Rally America National Championship was the national championship of rallying events in the United States. The inaugural season was in 2005. Rally America was also the name given to the organization that sanctioned the championship, was brie ...

series to run on the same stages as the WRC cars. The 2010 event was notable for the participation of amateur driver Bill Caswell who drove a 1991 BMW 318i he bought for $500 over

Craigslist Craigslist (stylized as craigslist) is an American classified advertisements website with sections devoted to jobs, housing, for sale, items wanted, services, community service, Gig worker, gigs, résumés, and discussion forums. Craig Newmark ...

alongside co-driver Ben Slocum to 3rd place in the class, much to the amusement of the other drivers.

Results

Event standings

Special stages

Standings after the rally

;Drivers' Championship standings ;Manufacturers' Championship standings

References

External links

Results
at official page
Results
a
eWRC-results.com
{{2010 World Rally Championship season

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

Rally Mexico

Rally Rally or rallye may refer to: Gatherings * Demonstration (political), a political rally, a political demonstration of support or protest, march, or parade * Pep rally, an event held at a United States school or college sporting event Sports ...

March 2010 sports events in Mexico