Rovanpera blitzes Mexican rally

The Finn was the only WRC driver to take part in the rally as the factory Peugeot team gained experience of the gravel event. Unsurprisingly, he won - by a massive 58 minutes!

"One of Sunday's stages was quite rough with a lot of loose stones, quite bumpy and twisty - a bit like in Cyprus and Greece," Rovanpera said. "By comparison, there was seven kilometres flat-out at 200kph which was good.

"Overall, the rally has been great, [co-driver] Risto [Pietilainen] and I have really enjoyed it. The scenery is quite special and there's a good mixture of stages which makes it interesting for us."

Peuegot boss Corrado Provera was also full of praise for the event. "Our victory was never assumed," he said, after Rovenpera had won all 22 stages. "We were not here to smash the opposition, not at all. The organising team has a passion and we have felt that very strongly, it is their insurance for the future and we feel they derserve recognistion.

"The scenery here is fantastic and the stages are very good - demanding but fast and not excessively rough. The organisation has been good, there is huge enthusiasm and an incredible commitment to the WRC."

Rally manager Patrick Suberville said: "We now fully understand the needs and expectations of a world championship team and happily many things worked out perfectly for them. Having learned a lot from Peugeot, we are confident we can do everything correctly should we have all the other works teams in the event."

Local driver Carlos Izquierdo was the best of the rest in his Mitsubishi Evolution V despite suspension and fuel pressure problems. He inherited second place when Costa Rican national champion Andres Montaldo retired after an accident on a road section.