Solberg still aiming for title

Solberg led the rally early on, but lost ground to eventual winner Sebastien Loeb in the penultimate stage of the second day when his power steering failed. However, he still managed to finish second.

The Norwegian had had a disastrous start to the season, retiring early in the Monte Carlo Rally before being disqualified from 17th in the Swedish Rally and claiming that his Subaru team 'had a lot of work to do.'

Meanwhile, title rivals Marcus Gronholm and Loeb finished 1-2 on both events to move away from Solberg in the championship race.

After Mexico, Solberg vaulted to fourth in the standings with the eight points he scored. Loeb now leads the standings with 26 points from Gronholm on 21.

Solberg is now more optimistic about the season ahead following the event and believes that a new specification of Pirelli tyres could give his Subaru Impreza the edge on asphalt - the surface used on the next two rallies in Spain and in Corsica.

Both Gronholm and Loeb use BFGoodrich tyres.

"We have to be positive," Solberg told his official website. "We're going to have some testing next week and we'll try very hard to do well on the next two events. Pirelli has some new tyres, if they come with some big improvements - as we hope - then we have a good chance of winning on asphalt.

"We're not far away. If we work as a team then I think it is possible. We want more points. If we can come a little closer now, then we can take more risks, but points are the important thing now."

The 2003 champion said he was very happy with second in Mexico, and that his pace showed that the new Impreza is quick enough to be a title contender.

"Of course we set out to win but when that wasn't possible we kept pushing for second," he added.

"I went flat out on leg one to get a gap and it was unlucky to pick up the problem on the second day, but I tried hard to keep the time loss to a minimum.

"It was always going to be difficult to make up the time, but the car was very fast with everything working well. We showed that there is definitely more to come. It's good to finally get some points - and now I want more.

"It will be close and I'm going to give it everything."