The Japanese manufacturer’s number-one driver, Petter Solberg, led for much of the rally before giving way to SÉbastien Loeb due to power steering problems after hitting a rock.

The result of the third round in the World Rally Championship is, however, more than positive and underlines the rapid improvement in performance and reliability of the Impreza WRC, supported by its Pirelli P Zero tyres.

The competitiveness of the Pirelli tyres in Mexico was demonstrated by the first and second places scored in Group N, in which the P Zero-shod Subaru Imprezas of Toshi Arai and Nasser Al-Attiyah dominated the category.

While not being able to repeat last year’s magnificent victory on the same Mexican special stages, Petter Solberg was pleased and said: “The tremendous commitment of Subaru and Pirelli in recent weeks immediately bore fruit and I am very pleased with the performance of the P Zeros, especially the K2Evo variant. I would have certainly liked to win, but regaining our competitiveness and reliability is already sufficient to mean I’m looking forward to the Rally of Spain with impatience.”