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6 Machines Supported by TEIN Competed
in the First Gravel Match of the Season

K. Sohlberg placed in 3rd, Jumping Up in Ranking!

Shifting the stage from the harsh & icy Sweden to a country under burning sun, Mexico, P-WRC (Production car World Rally Championship) Mexico round was held from March 9th to 11th, 2007. The hosting town was Leon, located in a mountainous region with ground level over 2,000m in central Mexico. The course layout made this event extremely severe, where sections from highly technical zones to high speeding areas were mixed, requiring wide range of capability from the crews and their machines.
Because this was the very first Gravel match for this season, 15 elite machines entered in Rally Mexico. There were 6 entries as TEIN Gr.N users: S.Pavlides (#37, SUBARU IMPREZA GDB-F) and K.Sohlberg from SYMS RALLY TEAM (#38, SUBARU IMPREZA GDB-F), L.Kuzaj from SUBARU POLAND RALLY TEAM (#41, SUBARU IMPREZA GDB-F), A.Drosinskiy from SUBARU RALLY TEAM RUSSIA (#42 SUBARU IMPREZA GDB-F), and B.Bennik (#43 MITSUBISHI LANCER EVOLUTION IX) and S. Vojtek (#49 MITSUBISHI LANCER EVOLUTION IX) from STOHL RACING.
Rally Mexico started out with unexpected accidents, such as the sudden stop of Drosinskiy's machine; however, the event ended up well with Sohlberg placing 3rd, Vojtek 6th, and Pavlides in his very first match in Mexico took a spot in 8th place.

After the ceremonial start in an ancient city called Guanajuato, Rally Mexico moved its stage to the mountainous area in the vicinity of Leon from March 9th for the start of race. No one could have expected the outcome of this race, as last year's champion N-A. Atiyer (SUBARU IMPREZA GDB-F) rolled over and retired in SS2. TEIN-supported drivers were no exceptions of this challenging race: Drosinskiy retired from broken arm parts this day, and Sohlberg suffered from a flat tire in SS5, resulting in a slow down.

Also, all the crews suffered from rocks and stones, placed on courses and/or thrown at the cars by the ruthless spectators. Kuzaj, Pavlides and Bennik all had broken windows, and Sohlberg's tires got damaged. As a result, Kuzaj's 5th place was the best of TEIN supported teams, and Sohlberg placed 6th in Leg 1.
The next day was full of un-expectancy as well. Fumio Nutahara (MITSUBISHI LANCER EVOLUTION IX) couldn't keep up the pace in 4th place due to mission trouble, and Kuzaj, who was placed in 5th, seriously damaged the machine in SS11 and lost the tire on front left side, resulting in a retire. Drosinskiy also damaged the arm parts whose time obviously dropped. Just imagine how you really had to "survive" this race.
Sohlberg in 6th place was the one to show what he's got to the crowd and marked his best scores in 3 stages. Despite the flat tire in SS10 and gearbox trouble in SS13, the crews managed to minimize the time loss and to finish 3rd in Leg 2.Finally in Leg 3 on the 11th, all TEIN-supported drivers drove cautiously, and Sohlberg finished 3rd in the end. This will be his second time in a row to be on the winner's podium, improving his ranking even more. Vojtek and Pavlides who had shown a constant drive finished 6th and 8th. Again, TEIN-supported drivers ranked in high positions in P-WRC.

Pos.	No.	Driver	Car	Time	Diff	Remarks
1	34	Mark HIGGINS Scott MARTIN	MISTUBISHI LANCER EvoIX CT9A	4:08:44.5		overall 10th
2	31	Toshihiro ARAI Tony SIRCOMBE	SUBARU IMPREZA GDB-F	4:10:05.4	+01:20.9	overall 11th
3	38	Kristian SOHLBERG Risto PIETILÄINEN	SUBARU IMPREZA GDB-F	4:11:15.2	+02:30.7	TEIN Gr.N Damper overall 13rd
6	49	Štěpán VOJTĚCH Michal ERNST	MITSUBISHI LANCER Evo IX CT9A	4:25:43.3	+16:58.8	TEIN Gr.N Damper overall 16th/td>
8	37	Pavlides SPYROS Denis GIRAUDET	SUBARU IMPREZA GDB-F	4:34:23.7	+25:39.2	TEIN Gr.N Damper overall 20th
10	42	Alexande DOROSINSKIY Dmitry EREMEEV	SUBARU IMPREZA GDB-F	4:41:17.4	+32:32.9	TEIN Gr.N Damper overall 23th
12	43	Balazs BENIK Laszlo BUNKOCZI	MITSUBISHI LANCER Evo IX CT9A	4:46:24.3	+37:39.8	TEIN Gr.N Damper overall 25th
R	41	Leszek KUZAJ J.Jarek BARAN	SUBARU IMPREZA GDB-F	-	-	TEIN Gr.N Damper Retirements (Technical SF 13)