What crashing into a lake looks like in first person....

"oh, oh..."

What it looked like when M-Sport/s Ott Tänak and Raigo Moldar understeered into a Mexican reservoir.  

Ott's rubber duck mascot, taped to his hand brake, survived.

The team heroically rebuilt the car overnight and started the race the next day.  Not surprisingly, moisture related gremlins proved difficult to tame but they did not retire completely.

Raising the "Titänak": From drowned to race ready in three hours!

I'm sure that by now you've seen pictures of WRC's Ott Tänak Ford Fiesta sinking in a Mexican reservoir on just about every other car site on the internet.  

What you might not have read about is how the team, M-Sport, was able to rebuild the car overnight after it had been submerged for 10 hours!

"In the day's most terrifying off, the Estonian's Ford Fiesta RS WRC became submerged in a reservoir. Caught out under braking over a compression in the road, Tänak damaged the front-right suspension of his Ecoboost-powered Fiesta, 2.6 kilometres into the first stage of the morning (SS3, Los Mexicanos 1, 9.91 km). Unable to make the following left-hand corner, he and co-driver Raigo Mõlder were forced into a roll down the steep embankment – coming to a stop in the deep water.

Thankfully both driver and co-driver were unhurt in the incident, and were determined to continue the event. Showing true professionalism and determination, Mõlder even rescued his pacenotes from the watery depths – heading straight back to the hotel to dry what are one of a rally driver and co-driver's most precious pieces of equipment.

The team were determined to see the crew back on the stages. Despite the car being completely submerged for almost 10 hours, M-Sport's technicians were prepared to work throughout the night in an effort to repair the Fiesta, and repair it they did – with the help of both Tänak and Mõlder who stayed by their team's side until the work was complete.

Changing the gearbox, fuel tank, turbo, cooling package, boost control valves, electronic components, brake components, front and rear suspension components as well as a number of cosmetic components, the team also repaired the engine block and drained the engine of excess water.

Completing the work in just three hours, it was an outstanding job by the technicians who have once again proven themselves to be in a true class of their own. To complete this epic story, the number six Fiesta RS WRC was driven into parc fermé by Tänak and Mõlder...."

Another epic WRC moment!

(via M-sport)

Once Upon A Time In Mexico

Andale, Andale, arriba yeeee-haw! Rally Mexico, probably the only one where the leader will run into a locked gate on the actual course (as opposed to the Kimi Raikkonen type locked gate...)

As of Sunday morning Ken Block has not crashed yet,  shocker!   In fact Ken's doing fairly well, sitting in 6 place after the first day.

Find all the latest news and standings on WRC.com

Sebastien Ogier's co-driver probably did not have this on his pace notes. Ogier had time deducted by officials.

2012 Rally Mexico

ERIC VARGIOLU / DPPI 

Rally Mexico 2012, call it a double sombrero trick for Sebastien Loeb who after six wins there needs to open a rally school to teach others how to fast enough to  make his week ends interesting.

The video is by the highly recommended Best of Rally.com

Rally Mexico Day 2 Highlights

Day two of Rally Mexico saw another amazing performance by Sebastien Loeb making up a 20 second first day deficit and adding almost a minute to P2 in the process.

Ken Block ended up crashing out, not quite as spectacularly as Kimi Raikkonen but at least he made it much further into the rally!

Full highlights after the jump.


















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Rakkinen on a Roll in Mexico

Not the good kind of roll, in fact it was more like six rolls... out for the rally, car was too beat up to repair. Meanwhile Ken Block survived the first day in 10th spot, last in class but still with the shiny side up!



Here is an added bonus, a helmet cam from Sebastien Ogier car. Two in fact, we also get a Navigator cam... cool





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Rally Mexico Preview

Rally Mexico starts Friday and with it of course the debut of internet sensation Ken Block. Along with Kimi Raikkonen's move from F1 this has been the most anticipated moment for the WRC this season. The Rally will be show in the USA on Discovery Channel's HD Theater starting on March 18th. More after the jump.