Podium for Stohl.

Manfred Stohl secured the third podium of his WRC career on Sunday, when he brought his OMV backed Peugeot 307 WRC home behind Rally Mexico winner, Sebastien Loeb and runner-up, Petter Solberg.

The Austrian though was lucky to reach the finish after hitting a cow on SS13 on Saturday. Despite scooping 6 points though, he wasn't completely happy as he never really found a good set-up with the 307. He was also concerned that he was over 4 minutes behind Loeb and Solberg at the finish.

"All in all I'm obviously satisfied with the result," he said, "but still the time difference to the top two does bother me. We'll have a lot of work to do to find the right gravel set-up. But a place on the podium is great in any case. This time I had luck on my side, especially since I didn't expect too much here in Mexico."

Asked to elaborate on his handling problems, Stohl revealed that the main issue was a failure to predict what the stages would actually be like.

"The biggest mistake was not expecting the road to be so loose on top," he confirmed. "I changed suspension and the anti-roll bars which gave me more confidence in the car, but still it was not perfect. On this surface, the feeling in the car is perfect, but the times are not perfect so we have to work on that. I don't know too much about the car on this surface, I was much happier on the snow."

OMV Peugeot Norway World Rally Team manager, Jackie Bozian meanwhile was delighted with the result, especially as Henning Solberg also finished in the points, bringing the sister car home in fifth. In total the OMV squad notched up 11 more points, taking their total to 21, which keeps them third in the manufacturers' - one point ahead of Subaru.

"Two cars within the top 5, one even on the podium - that is a great result we might have dreamt of but have hardly expected," concluded Bozian. "The Peugeots have proven their stability under the harshest conditions. That is something to build on. Now we'll have to focus on preparing the cars perfectly for Argentina, our next assignment in the Manufacturer 2 ranking. But I'm sure that Manfred will hold his own at the two tarmac rallies in Spain and Corsica, as well, and win points for the drivers' WRC."