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Guanajuato, Mexico — From extreme rock racing and rock crawling to world rally racing, Jose Manuel Ponce has managed to finish another WRC MEXICO rally race. The rookie driver amongst mexicans of WRC MEXICO 2008, returned with his own homologated car and a new co driver this year yet had to overcome all kinds of adversities. Rally Tires were stuck at customs, no new brake parts were available on time and his crew chief and pit crew were not able to show up for this race. A prayer goes out to Johnny Despain who is still in the hospital in Laredo Texas under intensive care. Get well Big John.

"I could feel the pressure since the new year kicked in and always tried to maintain positive and go with the flow. This year WRC scruteening was really tough but I learned plenty about how to prep a rally car. I guess you could say I took a crash course, I worked on that car until 4am and did some more running around the next morning to be able to pass tech. Thank you Jerome Toquet and Paco Diaz and the rest of the mexican scruteening staff for all the advise and patience. A huge shout out to my buddy and WRC Costa Rican racer, Remy Espinoza for lending some race gear." said Ponce.

Coming from the rock motorsports racing world into a FIA sanctioned one is still new to the GTOROCKS RACING crew and Ponce has now learned that the little details are the ones that make you finish a rally. There is more safety gear and constant updates involved with the FIA regulations that one must keep updated in order to pass tech and race safely. Ponce's rock motorsports racing experience has helped him also prepare him mentally for endurance rally racing. These included the KING OF THE HAMMERS alias the ultimate desert rock race, Venezuela Fun Rally Race, Nordic and Euro Offroad Trial, and MXRRA rock racing, which he organized and raced as well.

As far as the aftermath, Jose Manuel Ponce and Bill Bridge managed to finish 2nd in class A6 and an overall 25th out of the 30 teams. Click here to see the 30 teams that raced. Bridge did and excelent job of controlling Ponce's skinny pedal and saving the car. http://www.wrc.com/jsp/index.jsp?lnk...ly_id=MEX&sl=2
By finishing this WRC race they have moved up on the WORLD RANKING CHARTS to a respectable 156 spot after 2 rallies. http://www.juwra.com/wrc_rankings.html

"We raced our hearts out and did our best to keep the car alive with what little we had to work with. On day 1 we lost one shock and had to replace it with stock chevy pickup shocks, welcome to mexico where there are no racing parts. From that day on we kept losing our shocks every first stage of Day 2 and 3. It was really hard to control the car and we risked some jumps and survived. The 4 used Goodyear NCT 5 Racing tires also survived the whole rally. Talk about being lucky, hey. We need to go to Vegas and try black jack!" said Ponce.

Bridge and Ponce are now preparing to race WRC Bulgaria and WRC Germany and one Grimstad Norway regional rally. Ponce has visited Bulgaria in 2007 and says it reminds him of central mexico and the pacific coast, the folks are great and the rally trails look fun. They are also trying to see if they can get an invite for this year's Rally X Games. Ponce says they will end the year at the Rally America regional Rallye de Paris in his once home state of Texas. Taylor Fell, the team's backup co driver, will also be practicing with Ponce in case Bridge cannot attend a rally due to his full time work with Ford. Taylor resides in Guanajuato, GTO Mexico.

Ponce will be working full time to prepare for all the racing for the rest of the year. He will return to Laredo Texas to finish convincing his youth hometown of Laredo Texas to have him race under their gateway flag. He also plans on aquiring an awd rig. The homologated Peugeot 206 XS, alias the little bongo machine, departs for Europe in May. Read more about this unique low budget team that races rock crawling, rock racing, desert racing and rally at a professional level at www.gtorocksracing.com “We don’t only race hard, we also make it look spectacular!”

Ponce would like to thank the following sponsors and friends for all their support.
My girlfriend Maria Henningsen, Tecate Beer, Mr. Wu of U Taisan, Jorge Santillano Navarrete, Manuel y Maria Ponce, Rally Buzz, Casanova Speed, Waldo Castellanos Kim, Despain Automotive, Oscar Garza, Jorge Segoviano, Remy Espinoza, Rogelio Bautista, Periodico AM y El Correo, RCM, Tablapack, Hiram Ballesteros Coria, World Rally Sport & Francisco La Torre, Armando of Pronto Muffler, Patrick Suberville, Bonnie Lee, Gilles Spitalier, Jorge Campos, Pete Soper, Octavio y Juan Pablo Padilla, Northstar Motorsports, FRS Energy, Goodyear, Puegeot Chagudi, Antonia Zaprianova, Perla Vallecillo, Quintos Automotriz, Mario Pomponio, Wine Country Motorsports, Jose Marcocchio, Impact Helmets, Rage Cams, Dra. America Alvarez Granados, Ruta Rally, Revista Chopper, TV8, TV4, Laredo Morning Times, Pro 8 News, Jacaman Wines, Taco Palenque, Lalo ¨Frut Loops¨ Orozco of GTO, Alex Calcas, Susquehanna Motorsports, Spontaneous Films, Bill Caswell, Ben Slocum, and all the little and big people that cheered on us all week especially all the kids! BONGO!

Ponce dedicates his racing in memory of his little brother Louie Ponce, an Austin texas guitar legend, and his parents Manuel y Maria Ponce.

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Image Copyrights: GTO Rocks Racing
Photo: Ponce and Bridge survive WRC Rally Mexico 2010

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