P-G Andersson out of Rally Mexico

Per-Gunnar Andersson has retired from Rally Mexico because his Suzuki SX4 has a broken engine.

The 27-year-old, who had been sixth overall, said his car started to run on three cylinders as it crossed the finish line of SS3, the last stage of the morning’s loop.

Andersson was able to bring the car back to the Suzuki World Rally Team’s service area in Leon, but an inspection revealed the engine had suffered piston damage and would not be able to continue the rally, even under Superally regulations.

“It’s very disappointing because we’d been going well up to that point,” said Andersson. “I was feeling happy with the handling of the car and my driving and pace notes were okay too. Our speed overall was encouraging; we were about 1 second per kilometre behind the leaders, and considering the amount of uphill sections this morning that’s a promising sign for us on only our third rally.”