 Loeb kept his nerve to emerge victorious in Mexico |
World champion Sebastien Loeb of France claimed his first victory of the season with a win in the Rally of Mexico. The Citroen Xsara driver took the lead on the second day from Norway's Petter Solberg and won Sunday's three stages to claim success.
Solberg finished second, 48.9 seconds behind Loeb, with Austrian Manfred Stohl third, nearly five minutes back.
The win sent Loeb to the top of the standings after three rounds with 26 points, five ahead of Marcus Gronholm.
The Finn, who had won the first two rallies of the season, crashed out on day one but was allowed to rejoin the race with a 20-minute penalty, five for each stage he missed, and he fought back to claim a point for eighth.
 |  It was important to put an end to Gronholm's run of victories |
Loeb's new team Kronos also took over at the top of the constructors championship with 34 points, three ahead of Gronholm's Ford. "This is a great win because it's the first for the Kronos team," said Loeb, who was WRC champion in 2004 and 2005.
"I'm really happy. For Kronos, it's a big moment. This is a difficult rally and I lost a lot of time on the first day.
"It was also important to put an end to Gronholm's run of victories."
Daniel Sordo, a protege of former world champion Carlos Sainz, scored an impressive fourth place in his Citroen, while Henning Solberg was fifth in a Peugeot.
Irishman Gareth MacHale put in his best performance in a world championship rally to claim points for sixth place in his Ford, one ahead of Subaru's Chris Atkinson.
Rally of Mexico result
1 Sebastien Loeb (Fra) Citro�n Xsara 3hr 47min 08.8sec
2 Petter Solberg (Nor) Subaru Impreza at 48.9
3 Manfred Stohl (Aut) Peugeot 307 4:39.1
4 Daniel Sordo (Sp) Citro�n Xsara 5:27.7
5 Henning Solberg (Nor) Peugeot 307 12:35.4
6 Gareth McHale (Irl) Ford Focus RS 16:02.3
7 Chris Atkinson (Aus) Subaru Impreza 20:39.5
8 Marcus Gronholm (Fin) Ford Focus RS 21:44.2
9 Toshi Arai (Jpn) Subaru Impreza 22:34.6
10 Ricardo Trivino (Mex) Peugeot 206 22:47.7
Drivers standings (after three rounds)
1 Sebastien Loeb (Fra) Citroen 26pts
2 Marcus Gronholm (Fin) Ford 21
3 Manfred Stohl (Aut) Peugeot 11
4 Petter Solberg (Nor) Subaru 8
5=Toni Gardemeister (Fin) Peugeot 6
5=Dani Sordo (Spa) Citroen 6
5=Daniel Carlsson (Swe) Mitsubishi 6
8=Henning Solberg (Nor) Peugeot 5
8=Chris Atkinson (Aus) Subaru 5
8=Gian-Luigi Galli (Ita) Mitsubishi 5
Manufacturers standings
1 Ford 39pts
2 Citroen 34
3 Peugeot 21
4 Subaru 20
5 Skoda 3
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