Rally of Nations – Final preparations before the race

By offering a very concentrated course, the Mexican organizers allowed all the competitors to complete their reconnaissance in a single day. With times very close to the city of León where the event is located, the crews did not have much contact to do. “ The stages are really beautiful, explained Adrien fourmaux at the end of Thursday. It's often very fast, but you don't want to be surprised in a corner where the grip suddenly changes. With Alex (Coria his co-driver, editor's note), we operated as we do in the World Cup and I think we worked well. We want to do well, but our major objective remains learning this terrain. »

Also riding a Fiesta Rally2, Matthew Wilson is not a complete neophyte in Mexico unlike the Frenchman. “ My last participation here dates back to 2011, indicated Malcolm's son. Even though it's been several years, I still remembered some places. I think it's going to be a fun weekend. » Having the vast majority of production cars absolutely unprepared for dirt roads, the crews had to avoid punctures so as not to compromise their day. “As soon as we got our car back,” Fourmaux explained, “we increased the pressure in our tires and we had trouble-free reconnaissance. » Others like the Finn Roope Korhonen or the German Niki Schelle did not have the same success and they had to stop to change their wheel.

Drivers registered in the Rally of Nations will operate cars from Mexico or the United States. The shakedown therefore took on even greater importance than usual. “ Our Fiesta won a race last week so it is performing well even if it is not the ultimate evolution, affirmed Adrien Fourmaux who received a visit from Julien Ingrassia present to spread his knowledge to young Mexicans passionate about rally. " It's been a long time since I drove a Gr N, worried the Norwegian Eyvind Brynildsen, I hope I can find the instructions soon. » In the morning, bad news fell for the France team. A death in Didier Auriol's family forced the 1994 world champion to urgently return to France.

The teams for the Rally of Nations Guanajuato 2022

Team Mexico 1

Benito Guerra/Dani Cué (Škoda Fabia Rally2)

Benito Guerra Sr/Jorge Salmones (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX)

Team Mexico 2

Ricardo Cordero/Marco Hernández (Citroën C3 Rally2)

Geraro Hernández/Sergio Contreras (Mazda Rally5)

Team Mexico 3

Emilio Velazquez/Javier Marín (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX)

Patrice Spitalier/Nicolás Spitalier (Renault Clio)

Team Mexico 4

Francisco Name/Armando Zapata (Subaru WRX)

Gustavo Uriostegui/David Hernandez (Renault Clio)

Team Norway

Mads Østberg/Johan Johansson (Škoda Fabia Rally2)

Eyvind Brynildsen/Roger Eilerstein (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X)

Team Finland

Harri Rovanperä/Angélica Fuentes (Citroën C3 Rally2)

Roope Korhonen/Viinikka Anssi (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX)

Team France

Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria (Ford Fiesta Rally2)

Team Italy

Alberto Batistolli/Simone Scatollin (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX)

Andrea Mabellini/Virginia Lenzi (Renault Clio)

TeamUK

Matthew Wilson/Stuart Loudon (Ford Fiesta Rally2)

Tom Williams/Ross Whittock (Ford Fiesta Rally3)

Team Spain

Nils Solans/Marc Marti (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X)

Josep Bassas/Axel Coronado (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX)

TeamEurope

Sebastian Barbu/Bogdan Iancu (Renault Clio)

Niki Schelle/Lina Meter (Ford Fiesta Rally5)

Team Japan

Hiroki Arai/Yasui Takahiro (Subaru WRX)

Hirotaka Ishi/Fernado Segura (Ford Fiesta Rally5)

Team USA

Dave Carapetyan/Nick Dobbs (Subaru WRX)

Mike Glover/Glen Ray (Subaru WRX)

Team Latin America

Miguel Granados/Adrián Carmona (Škoda Fabia Rally2)

Julián Jaramillo/Gabriel Marín Jr (Volkswagen Proto Evo IX)

Team Ecuador

Javier Serrano/Juán Sánchez (Ford Fiesta Rally5)

Diego Serrano/Juan-Felipe Serrano (Renault Clio)