2006 Rally México

The 20º Corona Rally México, the third round of the 2006 World Rally Championship season took place from March 3–5, 2006.

2006 Rally México 20º Corona Rally México
Round 3 of the 2006 World Rally Championship ← Previous event Next event →
A view of Guanajuato, home to two stages of Rally Mexico
Host country	Mexico
Rally base	Leon
Dates run	March 3 – 5 2006
Stages	17 (359.54 km; 223.41 miles)
Stage surface	Gravel
Overall distance	1,002.47 km (622.91 miles)
Statistics
Crews	39 at start, 34 at finish
Overall results
Overall winner	Sébastien Loeb Kronos Total Citroën World Rally Team

Event

The event saw the first win of the season for Sébastien Loeb. After a spirited battle with Petter Solberg over the first two days - that saw both drivers suffering problems(Loeb losing power steering on stage 13 and Solberg's Subaru colliding with a dog)^[1] - Loeb eventually pulled clear to give the Belgian Kronos team their first WRC victory. Marcus Grönholm had a less successful event, suffering a crash on day one^[2] and having to rejoin the rally on day two under Superally rules. Despite a twenty-minute penalty, he managed to pick up a point for eighth place. Manfred Stohl collected the final podium place with his Peugeot 307.^[3]

Results

Pos.	Driver	Co-driver	Car	Time	Difference	Points
WRC
1.	Sébastien Loeb	Daniel Elena	Citroën Xsara WRC	3:47:08.8	0.0	10
2.	Petter Solberg	Phil Mills	Subaru Impreza WRC 2006	3:47:57.7	48.9	8
3.	Manfred Stohl	Ilka Minor	Peugeot 307 WRC	3:51:47.9	4:39.1	6
4.	Dani Sordo	Marc Martí	Citroën Xsara WRC	3:52:36.5	5:27.7	5
5.	Henning Solberg	Cato Menkerud	Peugeot 307 WRC	3:59:44.2	12:35.4	4
6.	Gareth MacHale	Paul Nagle	Ford Focus RS WRC 04	4:03:11.1	16:02.3	3
7.	Chris Atkinson	Glenn MacNeall	Subaru Impreza WRC2006	4:07:48.3	20:39.5	2
8.	Marcus Grönholm	Timo Rautiainen	Ford Focus RS WRC 06	4:08:53.0	21:44.2	1
PCWRC
1.(9.)	Toshi Arai	Tony Sircombe	Subaru Impreza WRX STI	4:09:43.4	0.0	10
2.(10.)	Nasser Al-Attiyah	Chris Patterson	Subaru Impreza WRX STI	4:10:32.3	48.9	8
3.(11.)	Mirco Baldacci	Giovanni Agnese	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX	4:15:32.6	5:49.2	6
4.(13.)	Leszek Kuzaj	Maciej Szczepaniak	Subaru Impreza WRX STI	4:19:29.6	9:46.2	5
5.(15.)	Sergey Uspenski	Dmitri Yeremeyev	Subaru Impreza WRX STI	4:24:30.6	14:47.2	4
6.(17.)	Marcos Ligato	Rubén García	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX	4:32:38.1	22:54.7	3
7.(18.)	Štěpán Vojtěch	Michal Ernst	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII	4:35:30.2	25:46.8	2
8.(21.)	Francisco Name	Armando Zapata	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VII	4:56:54.7	47:11.3	1

Retirements

• Xavier Pons - engine (SS8)
• Fumio Nutahara - excluded (SS7)
• Sebastián Beltrán - accident (SS8)
• Gabriel Pozzo - differential (SS8)

Special stages

All dates and times are CST (UTC-6).

Day	Stage	Time	Name	Length	Winner	Time	Avg. spd.	Rally leader
1 (3 MAR)	SS1	09:37	Ibarrilla 1	22.40 km	P. Solberg	13:17.3	101.2 km/h	P. Solberg
	SS2	11:00	Guanajuato 1	28.87 km	P. Solberg	16:56.4	102.3 km/h
	SS3	11:51	El Cubilete 1	21.61 km	P. Solberg	12:06.8	107.0 km/h
	SS4	14:28	Ibarrilla 2	22.40 km	P. Solberg	13:17.0	101.2 km/h
	SS5	15:51	Guanajuato 2	28.87 km	S. Loeb	16:33.9	104.6 km/h
	SS6	16:42	El Cubilete 2	21.61 km	S. Loeb	11:45.4	110.3 km/h
	SS7	19:17	Nextel Superspecial 1	4.42 km	M. Stohl	3:21.6	78.9 km/h
2 (4 MAR)	SS8	10:08	El Zauco 1	25.22 km	S. Loeb	16:30.4	91.7 km/h	S. Loeb
	SS9	11:26	Duarte 1	23.75 km	P. Solberg	18:07.4	78.6 km/h	P. Solberg
	SS10	12:17	Derramadero 1	23.27 km	S. Loeb	14:03.6	99.3 km/h
	SS11	15:10	El Zauco 2	25.22 km	S. Loeb	16:21.4	92.6 km/h
	SS12	16:28	Duarte 2	23.75 km	S. Loeb	17:44.0	80.4 km/h	S. Loeb
	SS13	17:19	Derramadero 2	23.27 km	S. Loeb	13:50.1	100.9 km/h
	SS14	19:49	Nextel Superspecial 2	4.42 km	S. Loeb	3:21.7	78.9 km/h
3 (5 MAR)	SS15	08:28	Leon	37.99 km	S. Loeb	25:32.1	89.3 km/h
	SS16	10:11	Silao	18.01 km	P. Solberg	10:20.8	104.4 km/h
	SS17	11:26	Nextel Superspecial 3	4.42 km	M. Stohl	3:17.0	80.8 km/h

Championship standings after the event

Drivers' championship

Pos Driver MON SWE MEX ESP FRA ARG ITA GRC GER FIN JPN CYP TUR AUS NZL GBR  Pts  1 Sébastien Loeb 2 2 1 26 2 Marcus Grönholm 1 1 8 21 3 Manfred Stohl 4 18 3 11 4 Petter Solberg Ret Ret 2 8 5 Toni Gardemeister 3 6 Daniel Carlsson 3 6 Dani Sordo 8 16 4 6 8 Gigi Galli Ret 4 5 Henning Solberg Ret 8 5 5 Chris Atkinson 6 11 7 5 11 Stéphane Sarrazin 5 4 Thomas Rådström 5 4 13 Kosti Katajamäki 6 3 Gareth MacHale 16 6 3 15 Mikko Hirvonen 7 12 14 2 Xavier Pons 9 7 Ret 2 Pos Driver MON SWE MEX ESP FRA ARG ITA GRC GER FIN JPN CYP TUR AUS NZL GBR  Pts

Key Colour Result Gold Winner Silver 2nd place Bronze 3rd place Green Points finish Blue Non-points finish Non-classified finish (NC) Purple Did not finish (Ret) Black Excluded (EX) Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Cancelled (C) Blank Withdrew entry from the event (WD)

Manufacturers' championship

Rank	Manufacturer	Event																Total points
		MON	SWE	MEX	ESP	FRA	ARG	ITA	GRC	GER	FIN	JPN	CYP	TUR	AUS	NZL	GBR
1	Kronos Total Citroën World Rally Team	11	13	10														34
2	BP Ford World Rally Team	14	12	4														30
3	OMV-Peugeot Norway	6	4	11														21
4	Subaru World Rally Team	5	3	12														20
5	Stobart VK M-Sport Ford Rally Team	0	7	2														9
6	Red Bull Škoda Team	3	0															3