Sebastien Loeb has lead home a Citroen hat-trick to win the Mexican round of the World Rally Championship at the weekend (4-7 March 2010) with the six time world champion followed home by Petter Solberg in his privateer Citroen C4 WRC and Citroen Junior Team member Sebastien Ogier putting his Citroen C4 WRC on the third step of the podium, more than a minute ahead of the chasing Ford Focus pack.

Solberg set the pace on the first day of the event, which challenges the drivers and their cars not just with heat, rocks and dust, but also with stages as high as 2800 metres adding to the strain on man and machine. However, taking over the job of 'sweeping’ the stages as first on the road allowed Loeb to take the lead after four devastatingly quick fastest stages.

Loeb may have gone into the final day with a comfortable lead and with two fellow Citroens following in his dust, but he was now the road sweeper and he knows from previous Mexican experience that it’s an event that can bite back at the last moment.

“Even if the two stages include sections we’ve already covered over the past two days, I’m going to be the sweeper. I’ll have to find the right rhythm and that’s not really my cup of tea! I prefer pushing as hard as possible!”

At the finish of the 30-kilometre Guanajuatito stage (SS19), the six-time world champion had lost 16 seconds to the quickest drivers.

“Sebastien Ogier and Petter Solberg are going very quickly as they’re fighting for second place. As far as I’m concerned things are okay. I didn’t take any risks and I won’t really push in the last two stages.”

Seb and Daniel continued in this vein, and when they came back to Poliforum de León for the last time, the whole team gave them a hero’s welcome.

“They did a fantastic job on the second day and that’s where they consolidated this mind-boggling victory,” smiled Olivier Quesnel, the Citroen Racing Team Principal. “The C4 WRCs have dominated this rally as they set all the quickest times. They also scored the first triple by a French manufacturer in a gravel rally. I’d also like to congratulate Petter Solberg and Sebastien Ogier for their great duel in the best possible sporting tradition.”

”This victory’s done us a power of good,” Loeb confirmed before stepping up onto the podium. “We controlled our race well and I think that we can look forward to the next events with confidence, as they’ll be run on similar surfaces. Thanks to this victory we’ve taken the lead in the championship and opened up a small gap over Mikko Hirvonen. It’s a good situation even if we’ll have to sweep the road in Jordan.”

After an 'off’ on day one, Dani Sordo rejoined in the Super Rally and did the job he’d been asked to do; namely, reach the finish and bag the points that went with seventh place in the Manufacturers’ Classification.

“I’ve put yesterday’s disappointment behind me and I’m happy to have set some good times while the other two C4s were battling for second spot. Thanks to this result Citroen has scored more points than its rival in this rally — and that’s the most important thing.”