Based:
Leon

Surface:
Gravel

Stages:
20

2007 winner:
Sebastien Loeb/Citroen C4 WRC

Rally website:
www.rallymexico.com

Mexico made an eagerly-awaited debut on the WRC schedule in 2004 and has quickly proved to be a popular addition to the calendar, with a compact series of well-organised, high-speed gravel stages through the Sierra de Lobos and Sierra de Guanajuato mountains and plains around the cities of Guanajuato and Leon.

The high-altitude stages make for spectacular viewing with a mixture of mountain peaks and flat open valleys. The altitude has downsides, though, as the engines struggle to breathe in the thin air and suffer a drop in power of about 20 per cent. The road surface is dry and sandy, but rocks can get on the road, so drivers have to balance high speeds with caution.

  New for 2008

A new and compact route of 839km which is even shorter than last year's - then the shortest in WRC history. The FIA's new event rotation system was going to cause the event to be missed this year but it re-entered the series because organisers wished to be in the world calendar again in 2010, the country's foundation anniversary year.