Ogier wins Guanajuato SSS

Volkswagen’s Sebastien Ogier has taken the early lead on Rally Mexico following the Guanajuatito Street Stage on Thursday evening.

Ogier completed the short 1.01km test, which was lined by over 50,000 fans and which requires drivers to negotiate winding alleyways and mine shafts of the silver-mining city – a UNESCO World Heritage Site, in 52.9 seconds. That put him 0.3 seconds up on Ott Tanak, who was a fantastic second in his Drive DMACK Ford Fiesta R5: “The real start is tomorrow,” Ogier told the official WRC site. “It is always slippery here and you have to be careful. No risk at all tonight.”

Andreas Mikkelsen was third in his VW Motorsport II Polo R WRC, followed by Citroen’s Kris Meeke and current championship leader, Jari-Matti Latvala. Thierry Neuville, Mads Ostberg, Mikko Hirvonen, Robert Kubica and Lorenzo Bertelli filled positions 6 through to 10.

Chris Atkinson’s debut event with Hyundai meanwhile got off to a poor start, with the Aussie’s i20 WRC stopping in the stage. He lost over 20 seconds: “I don’t know what happened. But we re-set the car and it started again,” he explained.

Rally Mexico now starts ‘proper’ on Friday, with ten stages on the bill covering a competitive distance of 148.62 kilometres.

SS2, the 9.88 km Los Mexicanos 1 test, is due to start at 08.32 hours local time [14.32 hours UK time, i.e. a 6 hour time difference].

Rally Mexico: Overall standings after Stage 1 (Top 10):

1. Sebastien Ogier Volkswagen Motorsport Polo R WRC 52.9s M

2. Ott Tanak Drive DMACK Ford Fiesta R5 +00m 00.3s WRC 2

3. Andreas Mikkelsen Volkswagen Motorsport II Polo R WRC +00m 00.4s M

4. Kris Meeke Citroen Total Abu Dhabi WRT DS3 WRC +00m 00.6s M

5. Jari-Matti Latvala Volkswagen Motorsport Polo R WRC +00m 00.8s M

6. Thierry Neuville Hyundai Motorsport i20 WRC +00m 01.1s M

7. Mads Ostberg Citroen Total Abu Dhabi WRT DS3 WRC +00m 01.3s M

8. Mikko Hirvonen M-Sport WRT Ford Fiesta RS WRC +00m 01.4s M

9. Robert Kubica RK M-Sport WRT Ford Fiesta RS WRC +00m 01.7s M

10. Lorenzo Bertelli Ford Fiesta R5 +00m 02.3s WRC2

Others

11. Quentin Gilbert Ford Fiesta R5 +00m 02.8s WRC 2

12. Nicolas Fuchs Ford Fiesta RRC +00m 03.0s WRC 2

13. Benito Guerra M-Sport WRT Ford Fiesta RS WRC +00m 03.1s

14. Elfyn Evans M-Sport WRT Ford Fiesta RS WRC +00m 03.5s M

15. Martin Prokop Jipocar Czech National Team Ford Fiesta RS WRC +00m 03.6s M

=. Yuriy Protasov Ford Fiesta R5 +00m 03.6s WRC2

23. Chris Atkinson Hyundai Motorsport i20 WRC +00m 24.7s M

WRC2 standings after Stage 1 (Top 3):

1. Ott Tanak Drive DMACK Ford Fiesta R5 53.3s WRC 2

2. Lorenzo Bertelli Ford Fiesta R5 +00m 02.0s WRC2

3. Quentin Gilbert Ford Fiesta R5 +00m 02.5s WRC 2

Notable retirements:

None.

all times unofficial

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