Ott Tanak accident was the main episode of the second day of the Rally Mexico. The situation was so complicated that organizers had to stop the race and change the schedule of the event. As a result WRC2 crews have not started on the first and second special stages of the day.
Unfortunately this decision have had bad influence on the Eurolamp WRT crew.
Thursday, the first of four days of Rally Mexico, started with morning shakedown for the crew of Eurolamp WRT and other participants.
Valery Gorban and Vladimir Korsia took third place on this section. But main goal for Ukrainian team was rather to test the effectiveness of the settings selected during the training in Portugal than position in the official results list.
During entire shakedown session the crew worked with Portugal setting of their MINI John Cooper Works S2000 and was pleased by behavior of the car. So the team has decided to start the race without any change of settings. But some changes may be made after the first section – just before the second pass of Friday’s special stages.
The official start of the third round of the World Rally Championship was the next part of Thursday’s program. In the evening the crews faced with two short-speed sections – on the streets of Guanajuato and on the track on the outskirts of Leon on which they cracked less than six kilometers. It is almost nothing to the forthcoming distance of 390 kilometers but it could set tone throughout the race. So Eurolamp WRT choose considered approach to this part of the Rally Mexico.
Valery Gorban, Eurolamp WRT driver:
“We were aware that this was only the beginning of the long and tough race. Our today’s task was, on one hand, to drive gently and without too much risk, and on the other – to show pace that shows our opponents and fans and ourselves that we have spirit to fight. I think we did it!”
On the 1 km SS1 Street Stage Guanajuato the crew of Valery Gorban and Vladimir Korsia was the fifth in WRC2. On 4,6 km SS2 Super Special 1 Ukrainians were fourth. After two special stages Eurolamp WRT’s duo is fifth in the intermediate results list of the race.
Ott Tanak accident was the main episode of the second day of the Rally Mexico. The situation was so complicated that organizers had to stop the race and change the schedule of the event. As a result WRC2 crews have not started on the first and second special stages of the day.
Unfortunately this decision have had bad influence on the Eurolamp WRT crew.