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Mikko Hirvonen's Rally Mexico preparations hit by snow in Spanish test

Citroen driver Mikko Hirvonen's preparations for Rally Mexico were hindered by snow earlier this week

The Finn, who finished second on Rally Sweden, was testing his Citroen DS3 WRC for two days in Spain, north-west of Barcelona in preparation for the first gravel round of the World Rally Championship in Mexico next month.

"I thought we'd done all that with Monte Carlo and Sweden!" said Hirvonen.

With temperatures expected to be around 20 degrees C on the high-altitude stages around Leon, starting day one of his test in temperatures of minus four was not ideal for the Finn.

Hirvonen, who is second behind his team-mate Sebastien Loeb in the WRC standings, said: "When the sun came up the temperatures improved quite a bit, but it wasn't Mexico weather; that's for sure. The roads that the team selected for us were in really good condition.

"[The] First day was a fast one, second day was slow. It's only the second time I've driven the Citroen DS3 WRC on gravel and it feels really good.

"We've pretty much spent two days putting mileage on the car and fine-tuning it - really small things just to make us feel more comfortable. The test team worked hard with us and we did two 12-hour days. The atmosphere is great and everything ran smoothly [during the test]."

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