Jari has to settle for third.

BP Ford Abu Dhabi's Jari-Matti Latvala had 'no complaints' at the end of the Corona Rally Mexico, even though a mechanical problem cost him the chance to continue challenging for his second WRC win.

Jari, who took the lead on Friday and finished the first leg 9.6 seconds in front of eventual winner Sebastien Loeb, lost out to the Citroen driver on Saturday morning and he was only 12.9 seconds adrift when a broken turbo pipe dropped him out of contention in SS13.

Despite having to settle for third though, the 22-year-old wasn't too disappointed. Indeed his pace throughout the three-days has increased his confidence even further - and it was already pretty high after he took his maiden win on the previous round in Sweden last month.

"It's an important result for me and it's a good result for the team and our championship challenge," he reflected. "I achieved my goal of being on the podium and it's just a shame we had a problem yesterday when fighting for the lead.

"But if I think about things closely, it has been a good weekend and I don't have any complaints. The best aspect was being able to challenge Loeb and match his times and I hope I can get just as close to him in the future because I had good speed this weekend."

Asked in the post-event press conference if he now considers himself a strong contender for the title, the Finn said it is probably too soon to say.

"I was thinking about that after Sweden and the World Championship is not my target yet. My driving is improving here, but the Drivers' Championship is not the main thing. The Manufacturers' Championship is the main thing," he explained.

"It would be a big bonus to win the Drivers' title. But it is something too early maybe. I need to improve my driving on tarmac still. Let's see how many steps we can take this year."