The Frenchman tried very hard to get closer to his Ford rival on Sunday, but after a few stages admitted defeat. With 3 stages to go in the event, the Frenchman admitted that his rival is just too strong for him and settled his pace, eventually finishing 42 seconds behind Hirvonen.
“And I'm really happy it's over after those last few stages; you can't imagine how nervous I was in there. It’s a perfect start to my year, I've never won the first round before, but after last season I've got one more year of experience. Now I plan to carry on like this. It’s a new game in Mexico and I can't wait to get started again,” said Hirvonen, winner of his 12th round in the WRC.
“It’s been a tough weekend, and Mikko has done a perfect rally. We made a little mistake yesterday, but even without it I don't know if I would have been able to beat him in the stages. He was strong and he deserves his victory. I did my best. There's nothing more to say,” added Loeb, after losing plenty of time to Hirvonen due to tire gamble on Day 2.
Third overall was Jari-Matti Latvala, who arrived at the finish line almost one and a half minute ahead of Dani Sordo, therefore giving Ford a 10-point lead in the manufacturers’ classification (with the new point format).
Sebastien Ogier had to settle for 5th place, ahead of Henning Solberg, Matthew Wilson and Mads Ostberg. Thanks to the new points system that now awards points to the Top 10 classified drivers, making the scoreboard after Rally Sweden were also Petter Solberg and Per-Gunnar Andersson.
After the problems they encountered during Day 1 of the rally, Marcus Gronholm and Kimi Raikkonen finished 21st and 30th respectively.
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