A number of setbacks for the Spanish drivers who lead the overall scoreboard at the end of the first half of the day, produced unexpected results at the end of the five remaining stages of Corona Rally Mexico, Rally of Nations, which took place after the first service at Poliforum.
Dani Sola had a flat, while Xevi Pons was leaking oil after a crash in stage 5 in Comanjilla, which held them back in 5th and 8th places respectively. However, Spain remains the leading country on points.
Austrian Andreas Aigner took advantage of the Spanish team’s problems and took advantage of his driving skills to take the overall lead, followed by his fellow countrymen, Manfred Stohl, 31.1 seconds behind. Stohl had problems during the Scotiabank Super Special stage celebrated at León's race circuit, the Autódromo, allowing Aigner to take the lead at the end of the day. This places Austria in third place overall.
Frenchmen Didier Auriol and Brice Tirabassi also leapt ahead after the morning stages, reaching third and fourth positions respectively, although a distant 55.7 seconds and 1:16.3 behind leader Aigner. After today’s performances, France Team is the second-placed nation overall.
Toni Gardemeister had a problem with the steering, which prevented him from continuing, which meant a terrible day for Team Finland after Rovanperä had to withdraw from the competition before starting the first stage.
The German Mark Wallenwein has been quietly but steadily climbing up the scoreboard and is now in sixth place, ahead of Swede Per Gunnar Andersson, who was penalized 30 seconds for arriving 3 minutes late to the start of stage 4.
Rodrigo Salgado, now in ninth position, has become the best Mexican driver in the Rally of Nations, 3:31.7 minutes behind the leader Aigner. The current Mexican champion in this category, Rodrigo Ordoñez, completes the list of first ten places after recovering from his morning problems. Ricardo Triviño, who at one point was in the sixth position overall, broke his radiator and the turbo cooler after leaping into the air on the famous Corona Rally jump and abandoned the race, but he was in the process of getting back into the event thanks to the Super Rally system.
Spain remains in the lead in the nation competition with 448.5 points, 23 points ahead of France and 57.5 ahead of Austria. Trailing a distant 224.5 points behind is Germany and, Sweden, is 233.5 points behind. Mexico 2, represented by Rodrigo Salgado and Rodrigo Ordoñez, is in sixth position, 277.5 points behind the leader. The drivers enjoyed the Coca-Cola Street Stage, a city road stage, which took place just a few blocks from Poliforum. They also praised the Super Special Stage at León’s race circuit, the Autódromo.
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