Minority of fans spoil Rally Mexico?

Sebastien Loeb has called for a solution to be found after a minority of spectators thought it would be a good idea to throw rocks at the competing crews and place them deliberately on the road in front of the cars.

A number of drivers' had problems during the three-day event in Mexico, and in addition to Seb, his Citroen team-mate, Daniel Sordo, as well Manfred Stohl and PWRC competitors, Mark Higgins, Mirco Baldacci, Andreas Aigner and Fumio Nutahara all reported that some of the fans were acting unacceptably.

Indeed Citroen boss, Guy Frequelin branded the actions 'stupid and irresponsible': "The incidents that affected several drivers were inadmissible," he stated at the end of leg 1. "Rallying comes with enough inherent risks as it is and we can well do without such stupid, irresponsible acts."

Speaking in the post-event press conference, Loeb added that while the event was a good one, the spectators were a problem.

"For me, Mexico Rally is a very nice event. Generally it is well organised and the stages are really nice to drive. The only bad thing this year was that some spectators threw some stones into the windscreens of the cars and into the middle of the road, especially on the first day," he continued.

"That is really dangerous. Some drivers had some accidents because of that. That is a bad point for me. We need to find some solution for that in the future."

Marcus Gronholm's co-driver, Timo Rautiainen also felt that it tarnished the event somewhat, although he was keen to emphasise this was only a 'few' people.

"When you ask Seb about the rally, I would like to add, spectator behaviour is only a few people who try and destroy the image of the rally, even though the vast majority of fans are really supporting the event and the teams," he noted. "A good information system is needed to control this."

Rautiainen also pointed out though that the marshals needed to act in other ways too.

"On SS18, the first three or four kilometres were like 10 years ago in Portugal. Both sides of the roads were crowded," he added. "If you have a problem, then you take spectators with you and that is not very clever."

Despite the obvious problems though, Mark Higgins' co-driver, Scott Martin felt that the event is definitely deserving of a place on the schedule.

"It's been a great event for me. The way the rally has run has been perfect. There were some problems with spectators, but the rally definitely has a place in the championship and I hope we come back again," he noted.

Whether the Rally Mexico will return is uncertain, but whatever happens it doesnt look like it will be on the calendar in 2008, as it has already been left off the provisional draft, to make way for some new events, such as the Jordan Rally and the Rally Australia, which returns next year.

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