Irish driver Gareth MacHale returns to familiar ground when the World Rally Championship roadshow pulls into Mexico this week.
MacHale scored Ireland’s first World Championship points in over twenty years with a stunning sixth place finish last year, and will be aiming to better that performance this year with a new car and his father, Austin MacHale, as his team-mate.
Elsewhere, the driver’s championship is heating up with one win apiece for reigning Wold Champion Sébastian Loeb from France, and the Finnish pair of Marcus Gronholm and Mikko Hirvonen, all of whom will be aiming to take top points from Mexico.
The event covering a total distance of 850km, is based in León, 400km north of Mexico City. It is the highest round in the series, with the opening day's Ortega test climbing through cacti-filled mountains to a breathtaking 2737 metres.
Racing gets underway on Thursday evening with a fiesta-like ceremonial start in Guanajuato, a UNESCO-designated World Heritage Site, which last year drew almost 60,000 fans.
