Dani Sordo and Marc Marti provisionally finished a fine third, notching up Hyundai Motorsport’s third consecutive podium finish of the season. However, the Stewards received a report from the FIA Technical Delegate stating that competitor No.4 (Sordo/Marti) used 29 tyres during the rally instead of the 28 authorised as per Art. 7.2 of the Supplementary Regulations. The Stewards levied a two minute penalty to competitor No.4. As a consequence, Mads Østberg/Ola Floene moved into third, and Sordo/Marti dropped to fourth.

In the FIA World Rally Championship, Ogier continues to top the leaderboard, the Frenchman adding three additional points for the Power Stage win to his tally of event points. Mads Østberg is second and Andreas Mikkelsen third. In the Manufacturers’ Championship, an emphatic one-two for Volkswagen sees it take a maximum haul from Mexico to head the series by 36 points over Hyundai. It is also the 12th consecutive win for the Polo R WRC, a record that began back in Portugal last year.

The closing day may have been the shortest of the event but was no less of a challenge with 96.47 kilometres of competition, kicking off with the daunting 80 kilometre Guanajuato test, the longest WRC special stage in nearly 30 years. The event then concluded with the 16.47 kilometre Agua Zarca Power Stage, where Latvala and Hayden Paddon picked up additional points for second and third fastest in this single stage. With the running order reversed, the stage victories belonged to Ogier today and the Frenchman clawed back time from Latvala. But, with far too big a deficit to overcome he was solely focused on maintaining position and bagging the maximum Power Stage points. Latvala had no reason to push and the Finn racked up his 16th WRC career win in stunning style. Mads Østberg was elevated to third for M-Sport and secured a 200th consecutive points-scoring finish in the Manufacturers’ Championship for the M-Sport/Ford partnership. The record started at Rallye Monte-Carlo in 2002 when Carlos Sainz and Colin McRae finished third and fourth with the Focus.

Sordo had consistently run in the top three all weekend until dropping to fourth with the Stewards Decision. Hayden Paddon achieved his goal of a top five finish and Ott Tanak took sixth, happy to have gained experience for future tyre development. Martin Prokop, on his return to the Championship, claimed seventh and Lorenzo Bertelli was pleased with eighth.

Skoda Fabia R5 driver Teemu Suninen finished ninth and claimed maximum points in the FIA WRC 2 Championship. The Finn won by over 20 minutes, such was the rate of attrition in the category. Valery Gorban rounded off the top 10 and Michel Fabre completed the route to take the FIA WRC 3 Championship win.

The FIA World Rally Championship contenders next head to South America for Rally Argentina (21-24 April).

Rally Mexico – Final Official Results

FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers (after 3 of 14 rounds)

FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers (after 3 of 14 rounds)