Yes, Citroen did score the best time in 19 of the 22 special stages of the North American event, but at the end of the day Ford increased its lead to Citroen in the constructors classification, while Hirvonen also put some extra points between him and his nearest rival in the drivers' standings. And that's because Sebastien Ogier's late crash in the rally promoted Hirvonen and Latvala to 2nd and 3rd place respectively.
Additionally, Ford's efforts this past weekend had been hampered by punctures, electrical issues and cooling problems – experienced by both its works drivers and the Stobart Ford competitors – which makes its 2-3 finish even more valuable.
“Mikko’s done a great job: he’s back to how he was when we won the championship in 2006 and 2007. We did have a few issues on the opening day, which were impact-related and in turn affected the cooling, but we’ve resolved them now,” said Wilson, according to the WRC official website.
“Mikko and Jari-Matti’s cars showed a good level of reliability, and we’ve got a test coming up in Portugal next week where we’re going to concentrate on set-up work for the rally. Our result here is a huge boost of confidence,” he added.
Ford's tally at the end of Rally Mexico also included a 1-2 finish in the S2000 classification, although later on Barwa Ford's Nasser Al-Attiyah was disqualified by the rally organizers due to some technical irregularities to his car. However, Ford retained the lead in the S2000 class thanks to Martin Prokop.
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