Wow, Ogier. Couldnt see that coming

KR is missing and Block is already faster than Wilson

What's with the timing?

Kimi missing? Oh Teh Noes!! Hopefully my lad hasn't taken a liking to Tequila

@paddocknews RÄIKKÖNEN K. / LINDSTRÖM K. Reported stopped on stage, hit the rock

great rally so far, Petter leading is such a great feeling

I see Villagra is on the up. Fnarr fnarr.

MTV3 claims Citroën suspects loss of fuel pressure. Maybe the kind you get when you hit a rock. Or not.

Kimi's S2 splits are finally moving, so they must have fixed the pressure/rock issues.

PS Ken Block putting in a decent shift so far

Petter about to extend his lead.

jinxed... that's why he's drinking

I know why I should be drinking...

This is shaping up nicely... Petter and Ogier up front with Loeb and Hirvonen hunting them down. Kimi 36 mins behind after SS2... not so easy is it now KR?

I think if Kimi didn't go quite so close to the limit he'd be decent. As it is, he's going at 100% before he's ready. He wants to be Colin McRae!

Kimi's doing great. 7th on SS3 with steering problems.

Too bad for his fuel connection problems. Neverthless, the most important thing is to gather kilometres under his belt.

I told you.

Something broken after two jumps. Damn, save back, Kimi, you need it.

a clean road contributed to Raik's quick SS3, seeing as he started alot later than any of the other WRCs

Yeah, which is probably the same reason why Solberg is leading (although he is excellent) and Hirv is 54s down

makes the rally unpredictable so it's all good imo

Kimi: "We couldnt drive with full speed, the steering isnt straight after incident on first stage"

Kimi was 0.9s away from his 1st stage win

Kimi is 4th!

So my boy's back to breaking cars just like in the bad old days at McLaren... Is this a bout of nostalgia I feel washing over me? Nah, must be just indigestion.

Mind you, he's been kinda speedy after he broke the car.

"We bent a steering arm a little on SS1 and that meant we couldn’t go full speed there, but we changed it on the road section to SS3 and it seemed okay. Then suddenly, about 3kms in, the car stopped. We discovered that an electrical connector had come loose on the fuel pump, unfortunately it took a long time for us to find that."

A few crashes are expected, it's all part of the learning experience but you can see he has the natural speed in a rally car. He'll score 1 podium by the halfway stage of the season.

A more realistic target

Respectable start by Ken Block. Seems to be on a par with Matthew Wilson.

Atleast it wasn't Kimi's fault this time, but these things happen.

Kimi was faster then Wilson and Block on the 5th stage.

Good start from Block.

Progress! My unofficial battle of the titans (KR vs. MW) is now 3 - 2 to Räikkönen while the Swedish round went 17 - 3 to Wilson.

Woohoo!

You are way too optimistic. Despite of missing testing for Mexico, Kimi should be outpacing Loeb 2 seconds per kilometre by now. Only Kimi´s sub par skills are making otherwise easy transition to WRC so difficult. You really think Wilson would do THIS badly vs Kimi in F1, if he decided to move there?

Just tell the truth, kismet. Kimi better move on to driving ice cream trucks, since we know eating ice cream was all he did in F1.

Hold ya breath..... I have a nasty feeling Kimi may 'bin it' in a big way tomorrow.....

Ken Block is doing very well, nice start by him... but best of all, is seeing Petter once again back at the head of the field...

But.. watching this Ford/Citroen Rally Championship (FCRC)... as this truly cannot be called the World Rally Championship... is frankly just painful...

It seems like something has happened again, and Kimi was going so fast on the stage.

Kimi rolled the car, while driving very good on SS7.
But they're both ok, which is good news.

As I heard, he won't be driving super specials.

Kimi crashed.

What was the year MW promised to be World Rally Champion? This or next?

Prophetic words, and Kimi was putting together one of his best stages.

Glad their safe but.....

Just as I thought he might get quick enough by tomorrow to have an off... he goes and does it straight away...

I said at the end of the sweden discussons that I suspected he would go off in Mexico in a big way.... and there it is...

Kimi....has GOT to reign it in a bit... He is approaching this completely wrong... he needs good solid miles under his belt and he is trying to run before he can walk...

Yes anyone can set a time that is bloody quick for 3/4 of the stage.... but it takes just one corner to end your event as he found out in Finland last year, as he found out on the Arctic Rally, as he found out in Sweden... and now Mexico..... "hello....tap tap tap.... McFly???"....

Kaj has got to get hold of him a bit..otherwise he could actually wreck at every single event...

You don't know how that happened. Pure speculation from chair expert.

I have a feeling Kimi should say bye to rally and focus on something being his reputation. Fix the back, announce comeback and try TR in Spa.

LOL you have not been around here long clearly...

Lol to you. Tell us what exactly happened?

Here's my best estimate....

Slightly misheard a pacenote or simply made a bad pacenote on the recce...got onto loose gravel/sand on the outside of a fast corner and ran out of road and rolled it....thats my best guess...let's wait and see shall we?

Kimi crashes out of Mexico

Citroen Junior Team driver Kimi Raikkonen has crashed out of Rally Mexico close to the finish of the final gravel stage of day one.

The Finn rolled his C4 WRC off the road a mile from the end of the second run through the El Cubliete test. Initial reports suggest it was a substantial crash, with the car rolling six times. Both Raikkonen and his co-driver Kaj Lintstrom were uninjured in the accident, but the C4 is said to be destroyed.

Raikkonen's first day on gravel in a World Rally Car has been eventful, with a bent steering arm spoiling the first stage and an electrical fault costing him 20 minutes on the second test. He then posted the fifth fastest time, just 0.9 seconds slower than the fastest time on his first ever asphalt WRC test, the Coca-Cola Street Stage.

The first two stages of the afternoon were also better with eighth and ninth quickest times on gravel before his accident.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/81882

He's approaching it how he wants to approach it, what might be "the right way" for you might not neccessarily be "the right way" for everyone else. He's the one driving the car after all.

He ran before walking in F1 also...remember? That is just how he is. Pity they took a tumble near the end and destroyed the car. I know next to nothing about WRC - is it over for the weekend then, or do they try to repair and move on over the next two days?

idealy he would want as much experience and mileage in the car as possible, if he wants to start winning in the future of course...