SWRC: Rally Mexico: Czech FNT leg 1 summary

Mexico - Despite of problems Martin Prokop second after the leg 1

Martin Prokop and his co-driver Jan Tomanek won two special stages and they hold second position in S-WRC classification after the first leg of Rally Mexico, although they were worried by strong smell of the petrol inside the car all the day.

The firsts leg of Rally Mexico 2010 started on Friday, March 5. The competitors were tackling 9 special stages (137 kilometres) today. Martin Prokop with his co-driver Jan Tomanek and with their Fiesta S2000 arrived in the first service park after SS3 with mixed feelings. Czech Ford National Team's crew experienced a stressful moments, when on SS3 the strong smell of petrol inflated the car. They were relieved to get the car back to service at all after a problematic morning, though, Martin and Jan won SS2 and they were holding second position in S-WRC standings.

Unfortunately the team failed to resolve the problem in the service park and Martin Prokop have complained about the smell of petrol also in the afternoon section. After SS5 Czech driver lost second position, but on the next stage retired previous leader Michal Kosciuszko and Czech Ford National Team's crew moved up to second place. Martin and Jan defeated this place in the rest of the day, winning last super special stage of the day, and they will start the second leg only 8 seconds behind the new leader Xavier Pons with another Ford Fiesta S2000.

Martin Prokop: "On SS3 there was a rock in the racing line, maybe thrown by car running ahead of us. We hit it in high speed. It was really hard hit and it demaged the bottom of engine space of our car, particularly oil sump. We are not able to repear it completely here, so we should to continue with it. But of course we should be very carefull, because we know, one more hit can be the end of our rally. We will try to fix it in the service park as much as possible and we will see.

"There was a very strong smell of petrol inside the car all the day, so we have headache. Horrible. More than racing it is fight for survival. In the afternoon frightened us oil pressure indicator light. Fortunately it was only small problem with sensor.

"I have to say, that I practically don't follow results of other drivers and rivals. We just try to stay on the track, monitoring temperatures and try to get to finish. I have some experience in WRC,but I have to say, it is extremely demanding rally."

-source: martin prokop