The overall classification in the last weekend's rally was not much the result of driving mistakes or difficult road conditions – as these were the same for all the contenders – but of his Focus WRC's poor setup through the duration of the entire 3 days of action. Both him and his teammate Jari-Matti Latvala suffered from lack of pace in the North American event, settling for the 4th and 5th place respectively on Sunday.
While admitting this was not the best imaginable result he would have wanted to walk away with the past weekend, Hirvonen revealed he is much more confident about the upcoming round of Rally Jordan, where the starting position (2nd) will provide him with a slight advantage over Loeb in the early stages of the event.
“I'm really disappointed but I'm not worried. I'm sure we can still get back in the fight. No problems. For sure it’s not going to be straightforward in Jordan either, but I'm sure we'll have more pace over there, and it's not going to be as bad as it was in Mexico,” said the Finnish driver in an interview with WRC.com.
“(Road position) did (help me) last time, so we'll see. Maybe there will be a small benefit. Last time we were there it looked bad on the recce but some of the stages were cleaning even after that. And unlike Mexico there's no traffic on the stages after the recce,” added the Ford driver.
Additionally, in order to better prepare for the upcoming event, Hirvonen admitted he will undergo a testing session with the Focus WRC in Sardinia, in order to find a good setup for the similar conditions in Jordan.
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